I am sick as heck of people saying Dalmatians are dumb. My Birdy is smarter than a lot of adult humans I know. She knows over 30 “tricks” and she “speaks” both English and Spanish.

And Beagles??? I grew up with Beagles and they are NOT in the least bit dumb. They are very smart and cunning. Manipulative as well. BOL.

I also wanted to see what this Dog IQ test was. So I did two of the problem solving tests on my 2 dogs. Not shockingly, the Chi didnt fare so well. However, my MinPin turned the whole thing on its head. Technically he didnt do “well”. However, he kept looking to me to tell him what to do. Thats because I do a TON of training with him. He is used to me being the reward lady, and I wasnt cueing him, so he was confused. I have also taught both dogs the “Leave It” command, so I think they were skeptical I was setting them up for that as well.

I guess my point is that these tests/lists are never really going to be conducted on a “fair” playing field. Pretty much impossible.

I also liked someone else’s comment that we obviously assign the “Most Intelligent” award to those breeds who are like “little humans in suits”. So true! I do love me a Border Collie, probably because they can ready my mind!

If I’m lost in the woods, send in the “dummies” — the bloodhounds, beagles and other hounds — instead of the border collies, please.

Different breeds were bred for different uses, of course. It’s no huge surprise that the “smartest” dogs are those bred for herding, protection and retrieving. These are dogs largey bred to work directly with humans. Bringing up the bottom? Dogs largely bred to work independently of their owners.

As noted above, the term intelligence should be biddability. Coren certainly knows that (by now.) My beagle is just as intelligent as her GSD “sibling.” She knows just as many tricks, has just as large of a vocabulary, does sophisticated obedience as well, and does agility and tracking. I couldn’t train her using traditional methods though. But she is very trainable, as he is.

The problem is that we like to look at dogs as little people in fur suits then congratulate those who are most like us. Stanley Coren’s subsequent books show that he understands fully about true breed intelligence. But I guess the idea of the “most” intelligent dog is too alluring for the casual dog owner.

At least, all of those border collies are super easy to train…and reason with.

Heh..