Since dogs can't readily communicate with us like other human beings can, it can be all too easy for dog owners to forget that their dogs have brains of their own. Dog owners constantly worry about the physical quality and well-being of their dogs, but they hardly pay attention to the mental and intellectual aspects. Physical health, mental health, and emotional health are all different variations of the overall encompassing health that makes up human beings and dogs. All three need to be kept in check during your and your dog's lifetimes.

You may be asking yourself, “what's the point in increasing my dog's intellectual capacity?”. This is a really dumb question if you think about it. The smarter any creature is, the better it's chance at survival, and the better life it will have when everything is said and done. There's no reason to want a dumb dog. I wouldn't want a dog that couldn't respond to my commands, or even learn what those commands are. The only reason people are able to train dogs is because of their ability to discern different forms of sound (such as you saying “sit!” in a commandeering voice) and symbols (pointing to the ground). The more you can increase your dog's mental capacity, the smarter your dog will ultimately become and be able to figure these things out on his or her own.

A great way you can strengthen your dog's mental abilities, is by playing a game with him or her. Frisbee is wonderful for this because it teaches your dog vital hand-eye coordination skills (not to mention your dog and you will be having a lot of fun playing Frisbee together). Another game that I play with my dog to strengthen his mental abilities, is 'scent and go seek', which is a play on the children's game 'hike and go seek'. What you do is make your dog recognize a particular type of scent, and then put it on a piece of paper or something similar somewhere inside your house (or outside, but it works better if it's in a controlled environment), and then have your dog go sniff it out until he or she finds it; when they successfully find it and bring it back to you, or point you to it's location, reward your dog accordingly.

A simple way to train your dog's mental abilities is by teaching it easy-to-learn tricks, such as sitting, staying, rolling over, and playing dead. These might not seem like very intellectually stimulating tasks to you, but for your dog, learning these tricks can be like taking the ACT. Be patient with your dog if he or she doesn't learn them right away, and over time your dog will learn these tricks and be performing them on command with ease. Keep in mind that rewarding your dog after he or she does something you command correctly will greatly incentivize them to continue the desired behavior.

Dogs are not stupid creatures. However, without proper mental stimulation, they can become mentally and intellectually lazy. If you want your dog to be the smart dog on the block, use the techniques laid out in this article daily, and you will see the results you desire within months, if not weeks.