Of all the dogs I have shared my life with, while all have been smart, none can compare to how smart Jake is. Someone actually took the time and effort to establish a canine IQ test which ranks every one of the 140 some-odd breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club. No one ever guesses which breed is number one. It's the standard poodle. Yes, that frou-frou foppish French import is ranked as the most intelligent breed of dog. (Note: we're only talking about the standard not the miniature or toy poodles.) Then comes the Border Collie, the German Shepard, and pulling into fourth is the Labrador Retriever. The bottom of the list, alas, is that living throw rug, the Afghan hound.
You may not consciously be aware of how smart these particular dogs are unless your into Scottish sheep-herding trials or obedience competitions, but you all have seen two of these dogs in action in every day life. Both the Labrador Retriever and the German Shepherd are the dogs of choice as seeing-eye dogs. They have an innate instinctive intelligence, they are highly
trainable, they are intuitive, and their entire being is focused on receiving the praise and reward of their human companions. They live for it. (Side note: the dogs in the top tier of intelligence can acquire a vocabulary of over 150 words.)
But for all their intelligence and abilities, they are totally incapable of complex reasoning and decision making. Most of the canine behavior we observe and marvel at has been the product of human reinforcement and heightening of the dog's natural instinctive genetic traits. They're not people on four legs. Over thousands of years, we have bred these animals for specific purposes and always for our needs.
Some humans though are a lot like them. They too have an innate instinctive intelligence. They are highly trainable. They are intuitive. And they are totally focused on pleasing their teachers and protectors. They do well in certain forms of competition which require some intellectual reasoning but for the most part are exercises of merely rote repetition of learned behaviors.
What we have seen so far from Sarah Palin have been some excellent performances which require solely the ability to react to key words and phrases with a particular set of responses. Such was the case last night in her debate with Senator Biden. While proving that she is a quick study and can regurgitate a wide range of phrases and talking points, she lacks the ability to comprehend the rational bases for them. And the proof of this is a total inability for spontaneous thought. The reason we all cringed during her disastrous performances with Katie Couric was more out of embarrassment than anything else. We shuddered at the sight of a candidate for the second highest office in the land being incapable of either coherent thought or, at times, rational response.
The Republicans are busy patting themselves on their collective back this morning over her performance last night. But they aren't ecstatic over how she bested Joe Biden (which she didn't according to every poll out this morning). But rather they are pleased as punch that she managed to get the talking heads in the media to give her a decent score overall. That was way more than they ever expected, all things considered.
Unfortunately for the McCain campaign though, while she did prove adept at learned behavior, the more her actual performance is analyzed and dissected, that will be the only thing she proved last night.
And Jake just came into my office with his leash. So it must be time for his walk. Good boy!
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