Recently we were having a family conversation about which dog breeds were most intelligent. I recalled watching a documentary a few years ago in which dogs were tested using a very simple deductive reasoning test – a large towel was placed over the dog's head, and the number of seconds it took for the dog to remove the towel was tracked. Some dogs were awfully slow, taking well over a minute to complete the task. Other dogs completed the task in mere seconds. If I recall, the clear “winners” were Border Collies and Poodles (not sure about the order).
Since it has been many years since I saw that documentary, I decided to do a bit of research to see what researchers have been up to since then. Here's the current obedience/working rankings of some popular dog breeds. The criteria – how long it takes to learn a new command. The top obedience and working dogs learn new commands in fewer than 5 repetitions and get it right the very first time over 95% of the time, while the lowest ranked dogs take 80-100 repetitions and get it right the first time less than 25% of the time. (Keep in mind that this does not measure the absolute intelligence of a dog breed, but rather how easily they can be trained).
- Border Collie
- Poodle
- German Shepherd
- Golden Retriever
- Doberman Pinscher
- Shetland Sheepdog
- Labrador Retriever
- Papillon
- Rottweiler
- Australian Cattle Dog
- Pembroke Welsh Corgi
- Miniature Schnauzer
- English Springer Spaniel
- Belgian Tervuren
- Schipperke, Belgian Sheepdog
- Collie, Keeshond
- German Shorthaired Pointer
- Flat-Coated Retriever, English Cocker Spaniel, Standard Schnauzer
- Brittany
- Cocker Spaniel
- Weimaraner
- Belgian Malinois, Bernese Mountain Dog
- Pomeranian
- Irish Water Spaniel
- Vizsla
- Cardigan Welsh Corgi
- Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Puli, Yorkshire Terrier
- Giant Schnauzer
- Airedale Terrier, Bouvier Des Flandres,
- Border Terrier, Briard
- Welsh Springer Spaniel
- Manchester Terrier
- Samoyed
- Field Spaniel, Newfoundland, Australian Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Gordon Setter, Bearded Collie
- Cairn Terrier, Kerry Blue Terrier, Irish Setter
- Norwegian Elkhound
- Affenpincher, Silky Terrier, Miniature Pinscher, English Setter, Pharaoh Hound, Clumber Spaniel
- Norwich Terrier
- Dalmatian
- Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, Bedlington Terrier, Smooth Fox Terrier
- Curly-Coated Retriever, Irish Wolfhound
- Kuvasz, Australian Shepherd
- Saluki, Finnish Spitz, Pointer
- Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, German Wirehaired Pointer, Black & Tan Coonhound, American Water Spaniel
- Siberian Husky, Bichon Frise
- English Toy Spaniel
- Tibetan Spaniel, English Foxhound, Otterhound, American Foxhound, Greyhound, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon
- West Highland White Terrier, Scottish Deerhound
- Boxer, Great Dane
- Dachshund, Stafforshire Bull Terrier
- Alaskan Malamute
- Whippet, Chinese Shar-pei, Wire Fox Terrier
- Rhodesian Ridgeback
- Ibizan Hound, Welsh Terrier, Irish Terrier
- Boston Terrier, Akita
- Skye Terrier
- Norfolk Terrier, Sealyham Terrier
- Pug
- French Bulldog
- Brussels Griffon, Maltese
- Italian Greyhound
- Chinese Crested
- Dandie Dinmont Terrier, Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, Tibetan Terrier, Japanese Chin, Lakeland Terrier
- Old English Sheepdog
- Great Pyrenees
- Scottish Terrier, Saint Bernard
- Bull Terrier
- Chihuahua
- Lhasa Apso
- Bullmastiff
- Shih Tzu
- Basset Hound
- Mastiff, Beagle
- Pekingese
- Bloodhound
- Borzoi
- Chow Chow
- Bulldog
- Basenji
- Afghan Hound
Test Your Dog's IQ!
Dog IQ Tests
Dog Intelligence and Abstract Reasoning
Imagine this: You work in a warehouse. You see a worker with his arms full of boxes enter a room. The lights in the room are not on, so the worker uses his elbow to flip the light switch on. If you were to later enter the same dark room (without carrying anything), you would […]
Another Look at Dog Intelligence
I stumbled across this article while surfing for dog brain size info. It was originally entitled “Dogs and the Human Brain Size – Theory Suggests Greater Role for Man's Best Friend.” It was posted to primate-talk@primate.wisc.edu, and the credit for authorship goes to Shelly Simmonds. The article is quite fascinating, and adds an interesting twist […]
More On Dog Intelligence
Here's another take on Dog Intelligence as reported in this post. Dog intelligence is the ability of a dog to learn, think, and solve problems. It can be exhibited in many different ways, and a dog who might not be easy to train might still be very good at figuring out how to open kitchen […]
I found your blog on Google. I’ve bookmarked it and will watch out for your next blog post.