It is my personal and driving headcanon that Zuma is gradually becoming smarter than the PAW Patrol understands. This poor labrador is almost never used, mournfully left behind while the other five run off into the action to be loved and adored. What does that leave him with?
Nothing.
But there is no use wallowing around an empty tower; Zuma instead spends his days' worth of freetime reading books, people-watching around Adventure Bay, even observing active missions from afar. He knows every single dog, every last notable person in the town. He knows their strengths and weaknesses, what they strive for and desire every day, what gets them up in the morning and what they hate seeing, knowledge that is all too valuable. And this is Zuma's ultimate strength: Knowledge.
He's learning how to see the world like a chessboard, how to say what people like hearing and adapt to new situations. Days are no longer the same to him, every hour is an opportunity to learn something new, observe someone in action, study patterns in meticulous detail. He has no idea what to do with these abilities yet, but the allure is intoxicating, the knowing of how better he could be compared to them. If he can't do something, he knows exactly how to make someone else do it. If he doesn't know something, he knows where to go to find out. It doesn't mean he will do these things, but he certainly knows how.
I imagine he lies awake at night, gazing into the stars of possibility. His future is a blank canvas, and he holds the pencils, free to draw his path to whatever world he desires. With or without the PAW Patrol.