Vol. Ill, No. 1 



March, 1928 



The Quarterly Review 

 of Biology 



THE SENSORY CAPACITIES AND INTELLIGENCE OF 



DOGS, WITH A REPORT ON THE ABILITY OF THE 



NOTED DOG "FELLOW" TO RESPOND TO 



VERBAL STIMULI 



By C. J. WARDEN and L. H. WARNER 



Animal Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Columbia University 



THE material selected for discus- 

 sion in this paper naturally falls 

 into two major divisions as 

 indicated in the title. The at- 

 tempt is made in the first general section 

 to present, very briefly indeed, a fairly 

 systematic account of the more important 

 aspects of the capacities and behavior of 

 the dog, insofar as these have been 

 revealed by careful observation and 

 experimental analysis. Vastly more in- 

 formation is at hand on the sensory 

 capacities of the dog than on what we 

 usually think of as general intelligence. 

 The sections covering such capacities, 

 especially visual, olfactory and auditory, 

 are accordingly large while that on in- 

 telligence is correspondingly small. The 

 distinction here made is, of course, one of 

 convenience only, inasmuch as general 

 intelligence must be, in the very nature of 

 the case, a function of sensory and other 

 capacities. A short section treating of 

 the special fitness of the dog to serve as a 

 subject for extensive and intensive be- 



havior studies in the modern animal 

 laboratory will follow that on intelli- 

 gence. The second major division of the 

 paper will consist of a fairly detailed 

 account of certain tests, recently conducted 

 by the writers, on the German Shepherd 

 Dog "Fellow" — widely known on stage 

 and screen — to determine to what extent, 

 if any, his reputed ability to understand 

 human language is justly warranted. 



Before entering upon the main discus- 

 sion it may be not entirely out of place to 

 remind you that the attitude of the mod- 

 ern comparative psychologist is one of 

 healthy skepticism toward supposed cases 

 of animal genius and human-like levels 

 of animal intelligence. It is not that the 

 student of animal behavior has a grudge 

 against the infra-human kind, or any 

 scientific or philosophical objection to a 

 high evaluation of their abilities. For, in 

 point of fact, no one more than the com- 

 parative psychologist welcomes evidence 

 tending to confirm his belief in the essen- 

 tial continuity of all living forms on the 



QOAK. BEV. BIOL., VOL. Ill, NO. 1 



