Dog Intelligence Rated by Breed

[Bucky's Mom]

I ran across this on the net and thought you might be interested in this rating page:

http://petrix.com/dogint/intelligence.html

Particularily #9 (LOL) - Lisa (Bucky's Mom)

[Mattweiser]

I have read Stanley Coren before...

regarding the list, I have 2 big complaints

there is no way the Boxer should be that low..

and the Belgian Tervuren and Malinois are really the same dog.... with obvious coat differences

[angrygenius]

More of those "generalizations" somebody was talking about. Any general list is going to be fallible, because they are taken from fallible sources. Every person has an amount of predjudice for their favorites, and AGAINST the ones they don't know or have had bad experiences with, all INDIVIDUAL instances, not general truths. The brightest, quickest dog I ever had was a working Cocker, #20 on the list. That dog would search, point, retrieve, and even flush on command(I don't recommend this, in GENERAL), and was the finest tracker I had seen in years. That dog brought me a pheasant that no one had shot, and it was uninjured and flew off when I released it. I would hazard that the majority of Cocker Spaniels are not that smart or that good, but that individual was. JG

[Rottlva]

I've read part of Stanley Coren's book, seen him in magazines and on Animal planet. The biggest problem I have is the breeds he has tested to be the "smartest" are breeds trained to work by and for man. Animals that do thier jobs alone are rated low. You have to wonder if compliance is smart or if independence is. I am a firm believer that there is a healthy mix..... You'll find representatives of different breeds showing up other representatives. Intelligence is individualistic! :D

[Debbie]

Gotta love it....I have three dogs....three different breeds and all three in the top ten. Keeps me young trying to stay a step ahead of the pack!

[poohbearsmom]

And I'll say it again....

Never want a dog that's smarter than I am....that's why I don't have a Border Collie....lol

The more of them that I meet, the more resolute I am in that statement!! :D

Chuckle chuckle

Elisabeth

[ILoveRotts]

Although I am glad to see the Rott in the top 10 and don't necessarily disagree with their other dog choices.....


I do not necessarily equate intelligence with obedience.


But then again - I started life as a cat person!
:D

[TrishB]

The explicit understanding of the criteria used in any study is important. If you don't know the criteria or have the same perspective of any study or metrics you encounter, the results are useless to you.

New / different criteria would provide you with completely different results. ;)

So always take any stats / metrics / studies with a grain of salt. I could say that the Rottweiler was the perfect dog of all that were in the study - but without knowing what breeds were evaluated, under what criteria, for what values - it means nothing.

[damp]

First I would like to know the context on which the results are rested on.

Brightness, intelligence or working abilities… relating to what???


I don’t think it’s fair or POSSIBLE to compare a poddel working in a circus or a wonderful welbehaved pet to dogs working as police dogs, SAR dogs, hearding dogs, seeing eyes dogs, hunting dogs etc. even ALL are living up to the expectations.

Also in yr. 2002 dogs are bred for a special purpose (not talking about BYB’s and “hole in the fence” breeding) and reputable breeders endeavour that their dogs and offspring lives of to the breed standard as a minimum…and still each dog is an individual.

What makes a dog a good dog regardless of breed is living up to the standard. Then no one can complain they didn’t have what they wanted. The rest is up to the owner, to see, work and manage the abilities of that unique.

In other words… a dogs brightness, intelligent or working abilities are much more comparative in the same breed and also depends of the owner's intelligence… to give the dog a chance to develop and show the best of it’s abilities


PS.

there is no way the Boxer should be that low..

Mattweiser I agree... may be because I have owned 3 Boxers. ;)

I have seen an excellent group of about 10 Boxers perform in soccer but I have never seen a mini poddel with a Sch H title. :D

[Kranis]

I don't even see american eskimos listed and they're so smart :(