Helping our dogs be all that they can be

Hannah grabs the tennis ball out of the air, drops it on the floor, and nudges it toward the colorful plastic pins with her nose.

She scores a spare - and a chicken-flavored treat.

Not bad for an 8-year-old yellow Lab who started bowling only a few months ago (albeit eons in dog years) at Doggie Style's Camp Dogwood, the Passyunk Avenue pet boutique and dog care that provides cognitively challenging activities to its four-legged charges.

Increasingly, pets are getting mental workouts, as research - and savvy marketers - touts the intelligence of creatures great and small, as well as the benefits of stimulating play: Smart pets behave better. They're in tune with their natural instincts. And, like precocious children, bright pooches give their owners bragging rights.

Think of it as the era of Doggie Einstein.

"People's interests in smart or interactive toys have definitely increased in the last five years," said Liz McGuinness, marketing and business development manager for U.K.-based The Company of Animals, which carries the popular Nina Ottosson puzzles, among dozens of other games. "Ten years ago, you had to convince people why they should train a pet."

Now, the marketplace cannot stock enough of these products, she said. The Company of Animals alone has expanded its smart-toys offerings to more than three dozen, including the recent Dog Casino.

It's "a booming, million-dollar industry," McGuinness said.

Debra Mazda of South Philadelphia is Hannah's owner, and while she enjoys teaching her Lab tricks, she thinks it's essential for the dog's well-being. "My Hannah has the intelligence of a fifth grader," the proud mama said, "a smart fifth grader."

Well, the old girl might not be quite that clever. But dogs do score as well as toddlers on skills tests. The brightest breeds can learn to identify colors, count, and read. Cats are not far behind, but the barkers get more attention.

"Dogs who are worked, given problems to solve, tasks to do, taught things, actually grow new connections and systematically become more intelligent," said canine expert Stanley Coren, a Philadelphia native who is professor emeritus of psychology (the human kind) at the University of British Columbia and researches both people and animal behaviors.