# Dog Breed intelligence Ratings



## Heatheranne (Dec 7, 2002)

The border collie is believed to be the most intelligent.

I have 3 Springer spaniels and I was surprised to see that they ranked so high. :bouncy: 

My daughter has a Shih Tzu and this breed made last place out of 70. Thats okay. If it was a cuteness rating her dog would be in first place!! 

See http://joesfosterdogs.blogspot.com/2008/11/dog-intelligence-rankings_23.html


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

I seem to recall the chow was right at the bottom, lol. Oh well. They lack smarts but make up for it in eternal cuteness!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

There is a difference between IQ and trainability. I think the chow is considered not as trainable, which would bring it's rating down. As for the rating, I think my Irish Setter was smarter than my Border Collie


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

I'm not surprised in the slightest that border collies are at the top. Not only are they trainable, but they problem-solve.
Ours do calculus. 



However, I am very surprised to find wiener dogs are only #49. I would have guessed them to be somewhere around 253rd.  
(Or perhaps it just _seems_ that way in comparison to the border collies. lol)


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## moonspirit (Dec 22, 2009)

Wahooo pomeranians made the list!


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## tyusclan (Jan 1, 2005)

Maura said:


> I think my Irish Setter was smarter than my Border Collie


I had an Irish Setter once that was an absolutely beautiful dog, but was the dumbest dog I've ever seen. I couldn't train him anything, and he couldn't smell a bird if it was sitting on his nose.


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## mawalla (Oct 28, 2002)

I had an American Eskimo that was the absolute smartest and most loyal dog that I've ever had. High cute factor, too.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

No way. NNNOOO WAYYY! Australian Shepherd #42 ????? NO WAY


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

Poodles are #2. I knew they would be high but never figured that high on the list. Mine are smart their only bad when I am not looking LOL


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## Veronica (Oct 31, 2008)

I have 2 shepherds and a retriever. Knew they were smart but maybe too smart - I think they actually think of ways to keep from obeying - lol!


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## texastami (Sep 13, 2002)

Interesting.... Chihuahuas were 67 on the list.... and perhaps many chi's aren't that intelligent... but our little gal (all 3 1/2 lbs of her) is SOOOOO stinking smart its crazy!!

I also had a chi years ago as a kid, and she didn't deserve a 67 either!!! Smart little dogs...


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## RandB (Aug 13, 2002)

You have to take these kind of things with a "grain of salt". I think this one was measuring canine intelligence as meaning how well the dog interacts and responds to human commands and training. Some breeds are just wired to be more responsive to this than others. My family had a beagle who was incredibly smart, but he would never do what we wanted him to do, he did what HE wanted to do. He had US trained to do his bidding. How smart is that? Yet the beagle is low on the list, and I can understand why. It's all in who is compiling the list, and what they are considering signs of intelligence. 
If you want to read a really interesting book, try "The Social Life of Dogs" by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. She is an anthropologist by profession, but has done several books about the intelligence of domestic animals. In this one, she has observations about her own dogs, how they interact with people, other dogs, cats and even her parrots. Very good read if you are a dog lover.


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## amyd (Mar 21, 2005)

We have two boxers. I'd have thought they'd rate higher than a 48, Although one is WAY smarter than the other one.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

One of my chows, Scooter, is actually one of the smarter dogs I have ever known. Get the scene...

It's quiet in the kitchen. Each dog is happily munching on a biscuit in a corner of the room. Suddenly, Scooter hears a noise!! He jumps up, barking ferociously, and attacks the front door! Who could it be? WHO? The other dogs, even though they aren't sure they heard anything, also abandon their treats to go bark at the door. WHen Scooter has them all fired up and barking at nothing...

...he sneaks off, steals their biscuits, and hides them. Then he goes back to his biscuit and calmly finishes munching it.

Now who is smart, lol? AGreed, they aren't very trainable, they have no real human-pleasing desire to them. Chows, Arabs, I guess I like to wrok for an animals's loyalty!!


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## JasoninMN (Feb 24, 2006)

Look at it this way. Are your siblings as smart as you? I know mine got the short end of the gene pool.....LOL There is variation in each breed just as there is in humans plus the testing if all based on train ability. A husky is far from a highly trainable dog, but you can't tell me they are dumb when they can are mast escape artists.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

JasoninMN said:


> Look at it this way. Are your siblings as smart as you? I know mine got the short end of the gene pool.....LOL


Hey wait a sec... 

My kid brother was teaching college computer classes when he was 15, was offered a full ride to both Stanford _and_ Berkeley for grad school, was recruited _out_ of grad school by MIT and is currently director of something or other for Google in the EU...

What you're saying is I'm probably lucky I can form coherent sentences and not drool on myself.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

My weimaraner may not be trainable (well, he's trained but he's smart enough to not do tricks unless he gets treat motivation - he ain't dumb!) but he's the smartest dog we've ever had... Trying to keep him out of rooms is impossible in the long run, and his ability to 'figure stuff out' is astonishing. Like getting a stick that is 2x the length of his body through a doggie door, then into the house, then onto my dad's bed.  

According to trainability is one thing, actual 'intelligence' is another, IMO.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

I forgot, the towel trick! Put a bath towel over your dog's head and see how long it takes him to get his head free. The faster they are in removing it, the smarter they are. Now Duke just lays there and doesn't even try to take it off. He knows evetually I'll take pity and take it off him. Does this make him smarter?


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

beccachow said:


> I forgot, the towel trick! Put a bath towel over your dog's head and see how long it takes him to get his head free. The faster they are in removing it, the smarter they are. Now Duke just lays there and doesn't even try to take it off. He knows evetually I'll take pity and take it off him. Does this make him smarter?


Patient and trusting, yes. 
Smart? No. 

For me a dog's intelligence is determined by how long it takes them to figure out how to open a latched door. 
(They have to be _trained_ to shut it behind them, though lol)


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

ErinP said:


> For me a dog's intelligence is determined by how long it takes them to figure out how to open a latched door.


Horses are inherently good at this maneuver!!


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## Pink_Carnation (Apr 21, 2006)

Swissys weren't on the list but I am sure that is just because there aren't that many. So where would you place a dog that opened gates and doors, used the ice and water dispenser on the fridge, figured that mouse traps wouldn't hurt him, but thought sit and down were the same thing, tended to forget he needed to go outside, and constantly broke the rules he learned. He also could manage to get his leash off...but didn't usually notice it was off.


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## TwoAcresAndAGoat (Jul 19, 2003)

beccachow said:


> I forgot, the towel trick! Put a bath towel over your dog's head and see how long it takes him to get his head free. The faster they are in removing it, the smarter they are. Now Duke just lays there and doesn't even try to take it off. He knows evetually I'll take pity and take it off him. Does this make him smarter?


What if you hear snoring coming from under the towel?


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Then you, too, obviously own a wiener dog.


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## lauriej57 (Nov 20, 2008)

ErinP said:


> Patient and trusting, yes.
> Smart? No.
> 
> For me a dog's intelligence is determined by how long it takes them to figure out how to open a latched door.
> (They have to be _trained_ to shut it behind them, though lol)


My boxer/shepherd mix opens the back screen door. It's a real pain in the summer, always have to shut the big door or she's out like a flash!

Rocky, male boxer, will sometimes just sit at the door, whining at Sophie, as if to say, come on, come one, open the door for me. lol.


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## rio002 (Jul 30, 2002)

I looked twice for Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dog on there and nothing.......was hoping my girls would be on there to atleast give me hope that she's really not functionally retarded but alas no. My girl Tater, (5 months old) got a hold of a 6 pack of C batteries all hooked together for an r/c car and licked the connector, this shocked her so she did it again, stared at it and did it again stared at it, one more time stared at it.......then I stopped her didn't want to risk more mental damage by allowing her to give herself electric shock therapy, I was laughing so hard, and now I keep reminding myself "atleast she's cute" LOL


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## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

they rate springers too low on the totem, irish water spaniels too high and basset hounds just about right! many other breeds outa wack as well!


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## Reptyle (Jul 28, 2005)

ford major said:


> they rate springers too low on the totem, irish water spaniels too high and basset hounds just about right! many other breeds outa wack as well!


I can't remember the program, but they had video of a Spring Spaniel that figured out how to open the car door so it could sleep in the cushioned seats at night.

Its owners putting it in the garage at night when it got too cold. They kept noticing that the dome light was on each morning and couldn't figure out why so they finally set up a video camera to record what was going on.

Each night after everything settled down the dog would open the door and sleep inside, but each morning when it heard its owners stirring around it would open up the door again and jump back out.

If I hadn't of seen the video I never would have believed it.


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

rio002,

Actually I consider catahoulas very smart dogs having had several. Mine knew how to open doors, climb refrigators to sleep on top of 'em, hunted hogs, would help me catch fish and many other things. I think your dog is typical that they have a high pain tolerance and will come back for more...they had to have it bred in them in order to herd hogs/cattle that were feral and would often fight back so they had to be able to take hits from the animals and come back to make them re-consider their errors and to make them move along! Wish I had one now.


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## rio002 (Jul 30, 2002)

Thanks for the encouragement Ted, Tater sure is a sweet girl, and once she learns something she's got it for good........just concerned me a bit how much and how many times I am having to go over the same things. She is very intuitive, already "knows" what I'm going to go do before I do lol and is ready to come along. She has this thing where she waits until I'm asleep real good and then jumps on the bed and literally curls up around my head: one paw goes under my pillow the other over my neck and she rests her head on my cheek--surprisingly this doesn't wake me up, it's cute now at 5 months but as she gets bigger she may suffocate me lol gave me a shiner last week from this process when she flopped her elbow into my eye at 1am. Catahoulas aren't real common here in Wenatchee, took me 2 months to find her (at the pound) she was only 2 months old and had been confiscated from a puppy mill,horribly starved. I'm sure with enough work she'll be just as great as my old dog (whippet/lab Rio) that passed after 13 years wonderful years with her this last spring.


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

LoL got a good chuckle from that list. I have to say in my opinion it should not be dog intelligence ranking but train-ability and even then I might argue some points. I once had a rotty that was soooo easy to train both hand and voice signals heck she practically read my mind should be number 1. I have an aussie right now that is so smart she acts stupid but _finally_ she can differentiate between bath room or mom's room plus the basic obedience training stuff and I only had to tell her once not to pull the feathers out of the roosters tail!


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## Mooselover (May 4, 2009)

my baby Moose is 1/2 rott / 1/2 brittany. (i know, very weird combo!! sorta makes ya wonder EXACTLY what he looks like, huh??) i have to say that he is the smartest dog i've ever owned. he came to me at 5 months (currently 6.5 yrs old). he had never been in a house prior to living with me (you know what that could mean...). he has never pottied in the house (but never been house trained), never got into the garbage (inside or outside), has 5 very distinctive barks (and i know what each means), never chewed on anything that wasn't his, and never jumped on the kitchen counter. we did do obedience training with him when he was about 7-8 months and he was taught basic commands. he understands the ASL for sit, stay, and down. has the most gentle mouth and is the biggest lovebug. i must admit, he is a bedhog!! if i'd know he was going to be such a fantastic dog i would have had his semen frozen before i got him fixed (if there was such a thing). i do know one thing about him, if he gets a whiff of something he wants to 'play with', he's gone in a flash. and NOTHING can get him back until he's ready to come back. 

not so sure about the list. and not saying it explains my moose. is there really such thing as a dumb dog?


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## rio002 (Jul 30, 2002)

Mooselover--LOL yes there is a such thing as a dumb dog, some are simply untrained but others (some I've owned) are really just a few sandwiches shy of a picnic--however these are in my experience the sweetest most lovey dogs you'll ever find


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

My shelties were brilliant and my pug and chihuahua are pretty darn smart. The pug doesn't come across as real smart, but he manipulates the whole house so yeah, I think he's pretty smart - he runs the house! LOL


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

rio002 said:


> Mooselover--LOL yes there is a such thing as a dumb dog, some are simply untrained but others (some I've owned) are really just a few sandwiches shy of a picnic--however these are in my experience the sweetest most lovey dogs you'll ever find


I agree.

Aditionally, I think the fact that we love and know our dogs makes them seem more intelligent than they actually are. 



But that said, anyone who has ever had border collies will know they _always_ top the charts for a reason. :icecream:


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## duggie (Sep 6, 2009)

aus.cattle dog smart and they can reason


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

texastami said:


> Interesting.... Chihuahuas were 67 on the list.... and perhaps many chi's aren't that intelligent... but our little gal (all 3 1/2 lbs of her) is SOOOOO stinking smart its crazy!!
> 
> I also had a chi years ago as a kid, and she didn't deserve a 67 either!!! Smart little dogs...


Ditto! My chi is extremely intelligent!


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

beccachow said:


> I forgot, the towel trick! Put a bath towel over your dog's head and see how long it takes him to get his head free. The faster they are in removing it, the smarter they are. Now Duke just lays there and doesn't even try to take it off. He knows evetually I'll take pity and take it off him. Does this make him smarter?


I think so! LOL I have a pug that manipulates the whole family. I think he is the smartest dog at our house - he runs the whole show. LOL He gets us to do everything for him, including taking the towel off his head. Yep, in my opinion manipulation equals great intelligence!


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## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

Aww my LGD boys would take offense to being so far down the list. They are not 64's  lol

I am not surprise at all that Aussies came in at 42 I was thinking more like 82! I will never own one again. Well I do not own this one, he found me and a more annoying and hard to train dog I have not met! Some days I tell him I want to strangle him with his tail but he does not have a long enough one lol. 

My Golden and Border collie mix are pretty good dogs and were easy to train.


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## nancy237 (May 29, 2008)

tyusclan said:


> I had an Irish Setter once that was an absolutely beautiful dog, but was the dumbest dog I've ever seen. I couldn't train him anything, and he couldn't smell a bird if it was sitting on his nose.


I had a really dumb & really wonderful Irish mix..


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

I used to have a lab, well not really mine, she belonged to a friend who was living with me.
We had to teach the dog her name every day, she couldn't remember it longer than that.
Real friendly dog and wanted to please so much. Just dumb as a rock.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Not sure I ever met an Airedale I would call smart, but I have seen Westies way smarter than the list suggests. I think border collies write all these lists anyhow just to get people going.


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## BlueMountainGal (Jul 10, 2010)

Well, that rating system doesn't do it for me. Aussie's number 49? They right up there with border collies. Something is not right.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I agree it's about how trainable they are not how smart. My pyr is smart enough to sit on command ONLY when I have a treat in hand. He ignores commands unless I bring a treat. I guess that means he has trained me to bring treats if I want him to do what I tell him. LOL

The smartest dog I have is actually a chihuahua/chinese crested cross. She watches TV, and can even tell a cartoon dog. She barks at them. All the other dogs ignore dogs be they real or cartoon on TV.


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## Willowynd (Mar 27, 2005)

Funny you say that... I have several dogs here that I cannot trust with certain locks on thier areas and I always buy latches that have a hole in them so I can put a bolt snap through them. Thier only saving grace is once they are past thier adolescent stages if they get out, they come straight up to the house (after a quick trot around the kennel to tease the other dogs ...na na na boo...I am out and your not!). They have opened windows (unfortunately, one who opened a window years ago then ran up to the highway), opened door knobs, sqeezed through openings I could not imagine they would fit (cattle panels), taken off fence ties (much to the detriment of thier front teeth), etc. My runs look like some mishmash of metal as I have to use hose clamps in place of fence ties, my kennel building is so secure, I can't get out of it if I lock myself in accidentally (have to have a self latching gate latch on the door), unless I crawl out the dog door and undo a bolt snap on the gate latch....and in winter they are usually frozen shut- so have to climb over the 6 ft fence.


ErinP said:


> Patient and trusting, yes.
> Smart? No.
> 
> For me a dog's intelligence is determined by how long it takes them to figure out how to open a latched door.
> (They have to be _trained_ to shut it behind them, though lol)


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## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

I didn't see the Red Tick Coonhound on the list, but I have been amazed at how smart she is... and how she's able to pick up new things/tricks. Her issue is stubbornness, which would probably hurt her ranking. 

I would have ranked St. Bernards lower. Our Saint (who I love dearly) is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. For that matter, she wouldn't even know where to find a knife, much less know that its sharp!


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## 4piecesof8 (Apr 7, 2010)

I was wondering if this listing took into account.....The Owner's ability to get the point across so the dog breeds look smarter or dumber?

I know my GSD is handler impaired 90% of the time!


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

I think these guides are pretty flawed. Its so hard to judge breeds when you have drive vs intelligence vs problem solving vs willingness to please vs independance.

I have a few Border Collie clients that act pretty wacky, zoning out and fixating on a fly that buzzes by, like they are in a trance.


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