Its True: My Dog is smarter than your kid!

[Groch]

Great article on Canine intelligence on CNN:

Your Dog is Smarter Than your Kid

The findings:

My dog is as smart as your 2 year old.

The average dog can understand 165 words, including signs, signals and gestures.

The average dog can also count to about 5

And not all breeds are created equal:

Border collies, poodles (YEAH!!!!!!), retrievers, German shepherds and Doberman pinschers were the dogs at the head of the class.

The intellectual runts? The borzoi, chow chow, bulldog, basenji and -- finishing dead last -- the Afghan hound."

What do you think?

Myself, I have little perspective, but I do think my poodle is FAR more in tuned to what I think/want than my spaniel was.

I had a friend with an Afgan Hound. He thought the dog was not dumb, but it just did not give a hoot what people wanted...it was more intuned to other dogs and chasing things.

 

[bubbatd]

I sure believe it !!! My Goldens were potty trained and obeyed much better than my toddlers !

 

[Lilavati]

I fully believe it! Dogs are truly intelligent, fascinating animals . . .some estimates have put them more on par with a 3 or 4 year old if you ignore language skills. Sarama continually surprises me with a capacity for problem solving that she is not supposed to have. Docket's escape stunts are the work of a clever (and determined) mind.

The breed intelligence ratings are based on a survey of AKC obedience judges . . . in other words, its really a measure of how good the breed is at learning and performing obedience. Now some of that is intelligence, but some is the willingness to work with people.

I know a basenji quite well . . . Hope is many things, but stupid is not one of them. Disobedient, difficult, often downright strange, but not stupid . . . and Hope was at one point (may still be) the top agility basenji in the country. Do I believe basenjis are a, um, challaging choice for obedience and are hard to train? Yep. Stupid, not at all. The other breeds . . . my grandmother swears her Afghan was as dumb as a brick, but that was partially because it always ran off, so . . . I think some breeds are smarter than others, but one, there are different kinds of smart, and smart is not the same thing as obedience.

 

[bubbatd]

Some breeds are just too smart to bow to our demands !

 

[drmom777]

Uncle Fred clearly thinks obedient dogs are stupid. He feels a smart dog can think for him/herself.

Some years ago I had two dogs for a long time. One was my husky hybrid, Nik-nik. Nik-nik is unquestionably the smartest animal i have ever had. She was also reliable when working, so she could be trusted to pull the kids in their sled when we went skiing, even when she got out of sight. When we went backpacking, you knew she would never forget and damage the stuff she was carrying. And she was a terrific, powerful hunter, catching everything from innumerable mice she ate like potato chips, to raccoons, woodchicks, and incredibly, one badger.

Nik-nik was the most hopeless obedience dog ever. She KNEW sit, down, stay, come....but was reliable on none of them. If you told her to sit and it was wet, she would look for a dry spot first. She really thought she knew best about most things.

Rosie was the Sheltie. She did all basic obedience crisply and promptly. She also knew a whole bunch of parlor tricks. Dumbest dog I ever had. in fact her stupidity remains legendary in our family. Once she and Nik-nik got through a small hole in a fence. I called them back. Nik-nik came back through the hole.

Rosie couldn't find the hole. She ran back and forth up and down the fence, panicking. I finally had to crawl through and get her. This was much like a fish trap. Rosie was as smart as a trout.

By the standards CNN used, Rosie was smart and Nik-nik was dumb. Their idea of a smart dog is one that will bend to your agenda.

 

[iibao]

I would agree that they are smart,
but some of the dogs listed as dumb
aren't true. Most of the "smartest" dogs
want to please their owners. I have a
husky and klee kai and they have their
own mind. Like my husky, he knows
how to sit but won't unless he wants
to.

Uncle Fred clearly thinks obedient dogs are stupid. He feels a smart dog can think for him/herself.
Some years ago I had two dogs for a long time. One was my husky hybrid, Nik-nik. Nik-nik is unquestionably the smartest animal i have ever had. She was also reliable when working, so she could be trusted to pull the kids in their sled when we went skiing, even when she got out of sight. When we went backpacking, you knew she would never forget and damage the stuff she was carrying. And she was a terrific, powerful hunter, catching everything from innumerable mice she ate like potato chips, to raccoons, woodchicks, and incredibly, one badger.

Nik-nik was the most hopeless obedience dog ever. She KNEW sit, down, stay, come....but was reliable on none of them. If you told her to sit and it was wet, she would look for a dry spot first. She really thought she knew best about most things.
Rosie was the Sheltie. She did all basic obedience crisply and promptly. She also knew a whole bunch of parlor tricks. Dumbest dog I ever had. in fact her stupidity remains legendary in our family. Once she and Nik-nik got through a small hole in a fence. I called them back. Nik-nik came back through the hole.
Rosie couldn't find the hole. She ran back and forth up and down the fence, panicking. I finally had to crawl through and get her. This was much like a fish trap. Rosie was as smart as a trout.
By the standards CNN used, Rosie was smart and Nik-nik was dumb. Their idea of a smart dog is one that will bend to your agenda.

:lol-sign:

 

[Renee750il]

Yup, DrMom.

I prefer a dog who can -- and will -- think for themselves. I also like that Bimmer and Kharma will pick up on what I want or am intending to ask before I even say it, sometimes to the point of me being in another room and they come just as I'm thinking about calling them, or checking on them to see why they're so quiet, or, more importantly, one of them goes to see what Tallulah's into :rofl1: But what I truly love is that they're intelligent enough for me to be able to depend on their judgment in a tight spot, or for me to be able to tell them something off the wall, like this evening when I was out picking blackberries with Kharma. It was getting late and getting dusky fast and I knew the coyotes would be coming out, so I told her to take us back to the truck the easiest way. The grass in the pasture is waist high on me now, so it's a hard, long slog. She found the easiest way -- not the shortest -- and took us in a loop around by the farmhouse, up onto the back porch where we could just walk down the driveway to where the truck was parked across the fence.

Llulah's sharp as a tack. A Terrier tack. The fly in her perceived intelligence is her attention span. There are some things that will get her attention and she'll focus in on them and nothing can shake that focus short of picking her up and removing her from the area, and then there are the times when she's all about the "OOOOHHH!!! SHINY!!!!" :wall:

One of the most impressive displays of intelligence was what Bear did regularly. Dad and I took him on our rural or mountain surveys. He was a big help when we had long back sights or shots that were easy to lose. I could tell him to take me back to the last set up and he'd take me back to the last place Dad had the instrument set up so we could get a back sight, or I could ask him to take me to the last point and he'd take me right back to the last place I held the prism. We had human helpers who never learned the difference between the two. :rofl1: Bear also was smart enough not to pee on an electric fence. Something several of the guys who worked for Dad didn't know.

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah i don't really buy those lists though I do like that papillons are usually listed in the top few.

All my dogs have been in the top 10 of the list I've seen. I've had three shelties, two were highly intelligent and one was just not. Nikki was one of the smartest dogs I've had and Trey was probably the dumbest (though I loved him so much). Nikki's personality was almost spitz like instead of sheltie like. She was cunning and independent. As a kid I trained her to do a lot of things and tricks but she wouldn't really work for most people, just me. Trey would perform commands like an expert but stick him in any real situation where he'd have to think for himself and he'd be lost.

I do believe that paps are pretty darn smart though. I've never met one I'd call stupid in any way. They typically have a nice combination of common sense and desire to work with you. I have said they're like having little toddlers (or monkeys), they always want to know why and are always wanting to figure things out. They're team players too, and I've seen them work together to achieve something many times. At the same time, they're very easy to train if you're a consistent handler. Beau has a better grasp of the English language than any dog I've owned. Not things we've taught him but words and phrases he's figured out on his own. We're constantly having to think of new ways to say things to try to fool him. We can't even spell certain words in front of him.

Nik-nik was the most hopeless obedience dog ever. She KNEW sit, down, stay, come....but was reliable on none of them. If you told her to sit and it was wet, she would look for a dry spot first. She really thought she knew best about most things.

Omg, that is Rose 100%.

 

[Doberluv]

My GSDs, needless to say were smart and wonderful to train. My Lab seemed very smart too and so very willing. But after having a Doberman, there's no comparrison, at least with the Lab. He made my Lab look dim. The number of repetitions to pick up on something were very few as compared to a lot of dogs. It just flat out didn't take him long at all to get onto something new. And he retained what he learned so well. The only trouble with him was as a young dog especially, he was easily distracted....more than any dog I ever saw, lol.....very busy and you had to find creative ways to show him things because he got bored with too much repetition. But once we'd both get on the same page, he was all ears....very into me and very into training.

I totally notice a difference between my Doberman and my girl Chihuahua. Jose`, my boy Chi is pretty darn quick on the uptake. But Chuli....although she's a breed that was meant for companionship and being close with the owner, is not as quick. It takes a lot more reps for her to get onto something. And she is perfectly willing. It just doesn't get through as easily. Noticeable difference.

I've heard that about Paps...that they were, on one test number 10 on the list for intelligence.

But yeah...these tests are really hard to go by. Some dogs may be smart enough but in different ways. Or their smarts just doesn't show up because we're looking for a certain type of intelligence and just not seeing. I mean a dog might pick up on an obedience trick quickly, but another dog, like they were saying about hounds, is doing his own thing, but using some kind of intelligence. But we're not noticing because we're looking for one kind of smarts.

Yesterday I saw a big dog in my yard and went to close the blinds so Tokie wouldn't see and start a rukus. I was on the phone at the time. I didn't act any differently, I don't think, as I was chatting away and calmly went to close the blinds. Chulita, who was completely buried under a blanket on the couch, (she could not see anything) started this little muffled barking. I have no idea what she was alamed about. It made me wonder what does she know. Is there something she is sensing that the other dogs aren't? I mean, there was nothing typical that would cause her to start barking. I just wonder sometimes what they know or sense that is more "out there" than we ever thought.

 

[Lolas Dad]

Now here is a license plate frame that says it all.

 

[suthrnladi]

I believe it too, in fact I think they're smarter than most kids. All my dogs are more obediant than my kids and even most of my students. LOL.

 

[sammgirl]

I agree with Uncle Fred, LOL! ;-) I think that just because a dog knows to sit or stay, that doesn't necessarily make them bright.

Northern breeds tend to think for themselves, especially the sled breeds. They often had to make decisions with out the aid of a handler, or make decisions that went against what the human "in charge" was telling them if the human wasn't making a good decision.

I guess if you're being pulled by dogs in a sled, you can't tell if the ice ahead is solid.

I know my mom's keeshonden are/were exceptionally bright dogs and also very intuitive. I'll bet that dogs understand more words then those studies show. With my mom's one girl, you can tell her to go upstairs and get her blanket, and she does. You can ask her to bring her toy to someone, and she does. You can ask her to find a specific toy, and she can do that, too.

You can see her problem solve, too...for example with multiple commands, she'll pause first, and then figure out which commands to do first.

Pretty amazing, I think. Keeshonden are certainly not known for being obedience dogs, but I swear that dog is almost human.

 

[dobesgalore]

I saw that also. My Dobes were on the list! Yea!!

 

[smkie]

My mother's beagle is the dumbest dog i have ever met and she knows sit.

 

[Giny]

Umm..no I don't think my dogs are smarter then kids...lol

They are smart and surprise me day to day with things they understand but no matter how much I've been training them to clean my bathrooms and do some house choirs they still don't get it.... :rofl1: