No, really! Apparently the US military did research in increasing intelligence in dogs by using techniques during the early stages of life. The video below describes the project and the methods used.I knew that I'd read this somewhere before, so I took a look in my "dog library," to find out where. In The Art of Raising a Puppy
, the Monks of New Skete discuss the benefits of stress, suggesting that "Puppies exposed to mildly stressful experiences from an early age (1-6 weeks) usually develop into dogs possessing superior problem-solving ability, with less emotional imbalance than their counterparts raised without such stimulation." They also say that mild stress will activate the immune system. The monks achieve this stress mostly by having various people handle the dogs multiple times each day. Obviously the military goes further in the video above (and in other ways).It just goes to reinforce the well-known fact that you need to spend time with your puppies.
2 comments:
Interesting, makes sense as well. The psychological benefits make perfect sense, but the physiological differences later on are most intriguing.
I'm guessing that stressful stimulations at a very early age cause development of more brain pathways and this increases the available brain power for the dog as it gets older. If this is right, it's similar to a child learning a musical instrument at an early age.
It also puts a new spin on the old adage, "Stress can be good for you."
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