Clever dog (generally, clever animal) must have an increased neural network. Neurodevelopment of the brain is stimulated by hypoxic hypoxia, i.e. by breathing air with low oxygen content. Mild dose of such hypoxic influence results in mild neurodevelopment, which is accompanied by naturally increased mental capacity. Excessive dose results in abnormal, excessive neurogenesis, which may lead to abnormal behavior. (It is described more detailed in the article “The role of hypoxia in the neurodevelopmental model: stimulator of mental disorder, means of therapy and prevention, or stimulator of genius?” in this blog).
So, to breed clever dogs it is required to increase neural network by mild hypoxic hypoxia influence.
In animal experiments, increased “mental capacity” should be reflected in better learning of conditioned reflexes.
As was shown in [1], regular training of adult rats in the hypobaric chamber to intermittent effects of altitude hypoxia causes a pronounced activation of protein synthesis and an increase of the RNA concentration in the brain. This activation is accompanied by a better preservation of developed conditioned reflexes of passive avoidance and an increase in the resistance of time relations to the electric shock effect.
It was found [2] that neonatal exposure to intermittent hypoxia enhances the performance of mice in water maze and in 8-arm radial maze tasks. Intermittent hypoxia was simulated in a hypobaric chamber at 2 km (16.0% O2) or 5 km (10.8% O2) for 4 h/day from birth to 1, 2, 3, or 4 week(s), respectively.
Authors of the [3] state that mild intermittent hypoxia (16.0% O2, 4 h/day for 4 weeks) is known to markedly enhance spatial learning and memory in postnatal developing mice.
Optimal parameters for hypoxic hypoxia stimulation of the given dog breed should be found by experiments. Obviously, the use of normobaric hypoxia (see the abovementioned article) is preferable.
References
1. Meerson FZ, Kruglikov RI, Meerson AZ, Maizelis MYa, Leikina EM. [Activation of RNA and protein synthesis in the brain and increase in memory resistance to stress effects under the influence of altitude hypoxia adaptation]. Kosm Biol Med 1971; 4:56-59 [Article in Russian].
2. Zhang JX, Chen XQ, Du JZ, Chen QM, Zhu CY. Neonatal exposure to intermittent hypoxia enhances mice performance in water maze and 8-arm radial maze tasks. J Neurobiol 2005; 65:72-84.
3. Lu XJ, Chen XQ, Weng J, Zhang HY, Pak DT, Luo JH, Du JZ. Hippocampal spine-associated Rap-specific GTPase-activating protein induces enhancement of learning and memory in postnatally hypoxia-exposed mice. Neuroscience 2009; 162: 404-414.
