VILMOS Csanyi, a Hungarian ethologist who has experimented with dogs, wolves and their owners for years, has found that dogs are not just “smarter” on many tests than wolves, but smarter than chimpanzees. They readily signal by glancing to communicate with their owners, for example – something no ape can master.
If Dogs Could Talk is a clever book. It explains why dogs, coevolving with humans, have developed abilities that often amaze any non-dog-owner. Without patronising either readers or dogs, Csanyi also tells dozens of entertaining stories about Flip and Jerry, his own ill-mannered pets, which beg at the table,…
