Do you have a clever canine or quick-witted kitty?

New research from Petplan, the UK’s favourite pet insurer, reveals that Britain is a nation of genuine canine and feline Einstein’s with over 40% of people claiming they own a clever pet and almost another 5% branding their animal a ‘genius’.

In fact, some people even claim their pet is smarter than their human companions, with almost one in five claiming that their pet is smarter than some of their friends. As a result, Petplan is launching an IQ test for owners to calculate their pet’s IQ with support from Dr Deborah Wells, a leading psychologist in pet behaviour.

Whilst some pet owners struggle to differentiate between a gifted pet and an obedient one, Petplan’s IQ Test will help pet owners know how intelligent they really are.

However, if Petplan’s IQ test reveals a pet to be a ‘doggy dumbo’ all is not lost. Dr Wells comments, “As in humans, the intelligence of dogs and cats is not completely fixed, but can be influenced by rearing and how we stimulate and nurture our pets. Some of the dimensions that contribute to an animal’s overall intelligence can be improved through training, even though genetic predisposition can ultimately determine how ‘bright’ an individual animal ends up being.”

Alison Andrew, Petplan Marketing Manager comments, “It’s a well known fact that pets are known to play on their owner’s emotions, hence the phrase ‘puppy dog eyes’ and our new data shows that over 60% of pet owners feel that their pet has manipulated them to get their own way. There are some clever pets out there!”

If pet owners have a clever cat, a brainy bird or a dexterous dog, they can head to petplan.co.uk/petiq/ to see if their pooch is ‘Petsa’ worthy or just a pretty face.