Size matters! Bigger pooches are smarter than smaller ones

According to a new study by William Helton of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, bigger dogs are better at following pointing cues from humans than their smaller counterparts.

Researchers believe that larger fidos have a wide set of eyes which gives them better depth perception. As a result, they can more easily discern the direction a person is pointing, the Discovery News reports.

104 dogs studied
To test the hypothesis, Helton and his colleagues studied 104 dogs: 61 larger dogs (weighing more than 50 lbs) and 43 small dogs (weighing less than 50 lbs).

Researchers briefly trained all the dogs to retrieve food from a bowl. Then, two bowls of food were placed in front of the dogs, who were held by their owners.

The experimenter moved six to eight feet away from the dog. After making an eye contact with the dogs, the researcher pointed to one of those two bowls for less than a second.

The dogs were then released and allowed to take food from the bowl. This test was repeated 20 times for each dog.

The study found that bigger doggies correctly recognized the bowls compared to the little ones. In fact, middle-sized dogs performed better than small dogs, who most of the times failed in following pointing cues.

“Larger dogs should, all other things being equal, have greater inter-ocular distances and this may improve their visual abilities for some tasks,” Helton said.

Findings of the study are published in the journal 'Behavioral Processes.'

What others say?
While present study findings might help explain why some dog breeds appear smarter than others, various dog experts have debunked the theory saying the experiment is inconclusive.

Dog specialist Benjamin Hart of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, said, “There are proven breed differences in dog behavior that reflect hundreds of generations of intentional breeding for roles such as going to where the sheep herder points and that are paired with the body size needed to do the herding work.

“One expects larger breeds, selected for working roles, to be more likely to go to where a handler points," he added.

On the flip side, small breeds like terriers react quickly and scramble after fast-moving rodents, said Hart.

"The (smaller) reactive breeds are going to be less likely to patiently sit still while a person pointing finally points."