[LowDog]

Show me some evidence that pigs are "way smarter" than dogs.

Although figures seem to vary, there is evidence that dog domestication began at least 30,000 years ago. Dogs co-evolved with humans to the point that we can communicate with them to a really impressive extent - humans can understand dog emotions and vice versa. It has also been shown that dogs can understand human pointing, a feat that even chimps are unable to accomplish, and I don't see any evidence of pigs doing the same either.

Dogs have been used for hunting, pest control, guidance (as in guide dogs), and companionship (individuals with PTSD or emotional problems) amongst many other uses. I have never heard of pigs being capable of any of these tasks. Their only other major use appears to be for truffle hunting.

I do not eat pork and I respect that pigs are highly intelligent creatures, but to claim that they are "way smarter" than dogs is absurd. To insinuate that we should eat dogs because they are supposedly less intelligent than pigs is even more ridiculous, and shame on anyone who thinks that. Without dogs, many human populations would not have survived, the Thule and Inuit being prime examples.

All of my claims are backed by this video, which does a lot more to explain how amazing dogs truly are: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/dogs-decoded.html

[morsch]

> Show me some evidence that pigs are "way smarter" than dogs.

A paper recently made the rounds regarding pigs: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8sx4s79c

For example: "Additionally, pigs can use pointing by humans (under certain circumstances) to lead them to a food reward (Nawrothet al., 2013b)."

But from a cursory glance, it seems that pigs are not "way smarter" than dogs, however they may be "about as smart" as dogs, which is surprising in and of itself.

[LowDog]

I never doubted that pigs are pretty much on par with dogs, but the original poster claimed that pigs are "way smarter," and there isn't any conclusive evidence to support this. I went through that paper and as you mentioned, it just points to the fact that all evidence suggests that pigs are fairly comparable to dogs in intelligence.

One key point about the paper is that we still have an incredibly long way to go in the research of animal intelligence, especially with regards to animals apart from chimps and cetaceans. Even though dogs are so tightly ingrained in human lives, there is still so much that we have yet to understand about their intelligence, even more so with pigs and other animals.

In any case, I think it's silly to prioritize one life over another solely based on intelligence. I consider dogs to be family so eating one would essentially be cannibalism in my book, but I also really value animal lives in general and I would never eat a pig either.

[JoeAltmaier]

Had a pet pig; had a pet dog; pig was way smarter.