Adaptive intelligence or the ability to solve various problems; instinctive intelligence or the genetically-dictated behaviors of an animal; and obedience intelligence which is the ability to follow commands, these are the three kinds of intelligence exhibited by dogs according to Dr. Stanley Coren from the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada.

Coren's studies and assessment measuring dog's intelligence is often mentioned whenever pet intelligence is discussed. However, Coren have made a couple of mistakes and some flaws in his studies and some of his conclusions as well. He made the fault of using the ability of dogs to obey commands as a measure of intelligence. According to Coren, specific breeds of dogs that are slow to respond to new commands are branded as stupid.

All in all Coren's studies left a lot of things hanging. There were a number of inconsistencies in his conclusions, theories, and even his assumptions. Nevertheless, his book made an interesting argument and could be an interesting read.

Animal psychologist Juliane Kaminski showed that her Border Collie was able to learn more than 200 words, remember the names of several items, able to interpret phrases in terms of its component words, and could give the sock to an identified individual.

Meanwhile, ethologist Frans de Waal discussed an experiment on dog's guilt and criticism. De Waal observed that a female Siberian husky who had a habit of shredding newspapers always felt guilty when her owner returned home and scold her. But, when the owner himself shredded the papers without the dog's knowledge, the husky displayed the same guilty expression and behavior as when she created the mess herself. This led De Waal to conclude that the display of guilt is not actual guilt but rather an anticipation on the angry reaction that her/his master will later on show.

Determining the dog's actual intelligence is rather difficult since the concept of "intelligence" itself is hard to define. There are different measures and factors that would come to play, all of which can indicate that intelligence of the animal. For example, a problem-solving test could indicate that the dogs are intelligent. So would the dog's ability to learn quickly. But their learning capabilities and obeying commands are not the only way to measure their intelligence.

Dog owners can measure the general intelligence of their pet dogs through some do-it-yourself tests. One test that Cohen mentioned in his book as well as mentioned in the internet was letting your dog smell some of his favorite food then putting the same food under a can. The test involves timing how long the dog would knock over the can before he can get the food.

Whatever tests you employ, however, we do suggest that you take it easy and not consider everything too seriously. Such tests are intended to be fun for both you and your dog.