The Life of My Dog

How smart is your dog?

According to S. Coren, author of “The Intelligence of Dogs”, there are three types of dog intelligence:

Adaptive Intelligence (learning and problem-solving ability). This is specific to the individual animal and is measured by canine IQ tests.
Instinctive Intelligence. This is specific to the individual animal and is measured by canine IQ tests.
Working/Obedience Intelligence. This is breed dependent.

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How they tested:
To find the smartest breeds, scientists tested each breed based on learning a series of new commands. Breeds were then ranked according to how many repetitions it took for them to understand and obey the first command.

TOP 10 SMARTEST BREEDS for Obedience/Working

1 Border Collie (No surprise here, even as a biased BC owner!)
2 Poodle
3 German Shepherd
4 Golden Retriever
5 Doberman Pinscher (I admit surprise here.)
6 Shetland Sheepdog
7 Labrador Retriever (The lab I raised was clearly not in the test group.)
8 Papillon (Yes, really! These are awesome little agility dogs.)
9 Rottweiler
10 Australian Cattle Dog

Breeds in the Top 10-
Understand New Commands: Less than 5 repetitions.
Obey First Command: 95% of the time or better.

10 DUMBEST BREEDS for Obedience/Working(but they’re awfully cute!)

70 Shih Tzu (they get fed fresh pate every day and you call them dumb?!)
71 Basset Hound
72 Mastiff/Beagle (I guess a tie)
73 Pekingese (probably their hair was just in their eyes)
74 Bloodhound
75 Borzoi
76 Chow Chow
77 Bulldog (maybe they dribbled on their test results)
78 Basenji (points off for not speaking up?)
79 Afghan Hound (yes, but they get the Best Hair award)

Breeds in the Bottom 10-
Understand New Commands: 80 to 100 repetitions or more.
Obey First Command: 25% of the time or worse.