Stressmagnet Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 I love my Labrador because he's actually the dumbest of all the dogs I've owned. Or to rephrase - he doesn't do a lot of thinking for himself so it's easy for me to tell him how I want him to behave. Not every family dog should be super smart and problem solving. My kelpie was an awesome dog but she was not cut out to be a family pet. My amstaff was equally awesome but independent and stubborn. The sprinters I grew up with had a hard time shutting off and the family Westie was a terror in small pants. My Labrador does what he's told, looks to me for guidance and doesn't have an independent bone in his body. While breed certainly does matter, generalising an entire breed is a gross oversimplification. Some of the dogs this graphic rates highly, I wouldn't, based on personal experience. It all depends on the temperament you are looking for, and careful conversations with the breeder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory the Doted One Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 I can clear up their 'inexplicable-ness' over the overrated-ness of some breeds. WE THINK OUR DOGS ARE AWESOME!!! :raspberry: Apologies for shouting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trisven13 Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Information like this pisses me right off. I have friends with Border Collies who live two houses away. They constantly tell me that their dogs are sooooo much better than mine because they're sooooo much smarter. They're not smarter - they're just more obedient and have been bred for generations to BE more obedient. Intelligence and obedience are two vastly different things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 The table isn't just about intelligence. Not sure if this is in answer to my previous post. I didn't think the table was about intelligence, but I disagree with their classification of sighthounds as being dumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Exactly, BCs are bred to be more amiable, doesn't mean they are smarter, in fact you could argue that they are dumb because they are waiting for intructions rather than working it out for themselves. Whereas terriers are bred to work it out, mine certainly won't do anything unless theres something in it for her, which could be classed as dumb. ( however i admit they aren't the shapest tool) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph M Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 http://petrix.com/dogint/intelligence.html This is also interesting, along the same lines the Afghan comes up as "least intelligent" but its based in part on learning and obeying new commands. Um, no. That dog is just smart enough to know it doesn't have to do jack. Also if anyone has met my flat coat, he is no canine genius. Like stressy said, he looks to us for direction and works hard, but I've seen him walk into a glass door more than 3 times before realising he couldn't teleport through... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Sorry border collies are also smart and do think for themselves. If this turns into a border collie bashing thread I am going to get very pissed off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Love your work Gus I was once told by a vet that she'd never own a Dalmatian because she didn't like living with dogs that were smarter than she was :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph M Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 That's it! But for you, he's perfect right? Thats how it works! Haha. And again, no one bashing border collies, but this chart basically calling them top dog is calling questioning. No one is being critical, just making differing points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pjrt Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Whenever a client expresses their exasperation over having a naughty dog, I tell them how lucky they are. That their dog is actually really smart. It's worked out how to be so 'naughty' that it will have no trouble working out how to be 'smart' once they smarten themselves up and communicate more effectively with the dog. Personally I prefer to live with a dog that is not twelve steps ahead of me. I like dogs with dog smarts rather than a bag of tricks to show off. For me the ChowChow is the ultimate dog and I will have another one day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkycat Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 My Borzoi- Bosco is the smartest, fastest, sneakiest thief I have ever known :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Sorry border collies are also smart and do think for themselves. If this turns into a border collie bashing thread I am going to get very pissed off. BC have come up as smartest breed on about every study undertaken, they are certainly not silly!! Guys I didn't intend for this to be breed bashing I actually disagree with a lot of it. I found it interesting.. They only select a few of the breed when testing these silly things, certainly no example of the entire breed!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canisbellum Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 No Shar Pei = No Care although the dumb or intelligence rating seems useless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Whenever a client expresses their exasperation over having a naughty dog, I tell them how lucky they are. That their dog is actually really smart. It's worked out how to be so 'naughty' that it will have no trouble working out how to be 'smart' once they smarten themselves up and communicate more effectively with the dog. Personally I prefer to live with a dog that is not twelve steps ahead of me. I like dogs with dog smarts rather than a bag of tricks to show off. For me the ChowChow is the ultimate dog and I will have another one day... I LOVVE the chow!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 IMO intelligence is also something that the owner develops in the dog, I have met dogs from the same litter where one is super smart and learns really quickly and the other who didn't have as much training or development seemed 'dumb' and lacked the same ability to problem solve or work under pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 I think anything that has neglected the "horses for courses" aspect of breed selection is seriously flawed. If I wanted a big, dozey dog, I would not be happy with a border collie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph M Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 But huski how would you define intelligence? Is it problem solving? Obeying commands? Ability to work? Learning new.skills? Retaining info? I'm not.convinced you can line up two dogs, especially of different breeds and say one is smarter than the other. Its like people, I'm hopeless at math, but really great in other areas. Does this make.me less smart? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 You're all neglecting to respect the cats status amongst them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 When I say my dogs are smart I am not really thinking about obedience stuff. I am thinking more about the everyday things that they do. Things like knowing each route that we walk on and stopping at the turning points to see which way I am going to go. Things like coming and barking at me because a horse is stuck in a fence. Knowing the difference between dog walking clothes and gym clothes. Poppy was quite disobedient doing herding. But she knew what she was doing better than I did so I used to just get out of her way. But looking at the other things on the list I find border collies really good dooers with food, they don't need a heap of food. Grooming is pretty easy. Apart from the Amber I haven't had too much go wrong with them medically (and even though she has the shunt she is pretty healthy). They aren't super expensive to buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 But huski how would you define intelligence? Is it problem solving? Obeying commands? Ability to work? Learning new.skills? Retaining info? I'm not.convinced you can line up two dogs, especially of different breeds and say one is smarter than the other. Its like people, I'm hopeless at math, but really great in other areas. Does this make.me less smart? Yep I think all of those things factor into how 'intelligent' a dog may be. Most dogs that people will call intelligent are highly driven or motivated which means they have more desire to earn reward than lower drive dogs who have less desire to try or persist. IMO intelligence is something that is hard to measure in dogs because different breeds are designed for different purposes. And a lot of the time people may refer to a dog as 'dumb' or stubborn, the dog has no interest in working with the owner for a variety of reasons so it's not that the dog lacks ability to learn but lacks motivation to do what the owner wants it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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