A Dog's IQ

Yesterday Mom and I tested Biscuit's IQ with five simple tests. We got the idea from a TV show about a dog who can do math. If you would like to test your dog you are going to need the following items: a pillow, a cup, two chairs that can be put on their side, some string, and a bag of dog treats.

The first test is the spacial awareness test. To do this test you will need to put a pillow on a low-lying piece of furniture then you must drop the treat on top of the pillow and see if the dog looks up to the pillow or under the furniture. If the dog looks up at the pillow the dog passed. If they look down the dog failed. Biscuit failed this one.

For the next test place a treat under an (opaque) cup. This tests to see if the dog cannot see the treat if it with think it's not there. If the dog thinks the treat is there it will try to get it. If the dog starts to wander away it means that the dog failed. Biscuit passed this one.

The next test is the chair maze. To do this test you take two chairs and line them up on the ground so that the backs of the chairs are facing each other. Then take the dog to one side and put a treat on the other. If the dog tries to take the shortest route the dog failed. If the dog goes around chairs the dog passed. Biscuit passed this.

Probably the trickiest of the tests is the string test. To do this test you need to tie a treat to a string and a knot in the string. In this test we will see if a dog can figure out how to use the string to pull the treat out from under the low-lying piece of furniture. For this test you may show the dog how to get the treat. Even after seeing the solution the dog still might have a problem with this test. Biscuit did this after she found out that we were not going to do it for her.

The final test is the memory test. For this test you're going to need at least four treats. To do this test bring the dog into a room and show the dog where a treat is hidden and let the dog eat it. After the dog eats it take the dog out of the room and hide one treat in the same location and a few others in different locations to throw the dog off. Now bring the dog back into the room and see if the dog goes straight for the treat in the location you showed it earlier. Biscuit found one of the treats that was meant to throw her off.

In the end Biscuit did pretty well. If you want to test your dog you will have to remember to give the dog treats if successful on a test. Well that is the end of this essay.

I told you that this essay is over! Do you understand???