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When we think about animal intelligence, we tend to use humans as the benchmark.
And it seems especially irresistible to make such comparisons with dogs.
Even scientists do it!
Like, you've probably heard that dogs are basically furry toddlers, as their cognitive abilities are on par with a 2 year old human.
But, while there are definitely some interesting comparisons to be made between the mental abilities of dogs and humans of whatever age, the minds of different species can work very differently.
Comparing dogs to kids makes intuitive sense because we see our dogs as our children to some extent.
That's why we call them our "fur babies" and we are their "dog parents".
And there's actually research supporting the idea that our relationships with them are very similar to the relationships we have with our kids.
