Top 10 Smartest Dogs

May 16

How can you measure intelligence in dogs? Most people who want a very smart dog, want one because they want the dog to learn quickly so it’s easy to train. In his bestselling book, The Intelligence of Dogs, neuropsychologist Stanley Coren, PhD, focuses on trainability as a marker of intelligence. Here is his list of the smartest dogs:

1. Border Collie: A workaholic, this breed is the world’s premier sheep herder, prized for its intelligence, extraordinary instinct, and working ability.

2. Poodle: Exceptionally smart and active. Bred to retrieve things from the water. The miniature variety may have been used for truffle hunting.

3. German Shepherd: The world’s leading police, guard, and military dog — and a loving family companion and herder.

4. Golden Retriever: Intelligent and eager to please. Bred as a hunting companion; ideal as a guide and as assistance with search-and-rescue operations.

5. Doberman Pinscher: Known for its stamina and speed. Bred to be a guardian and in demand as a police and war dog.

6. Shetland Sheepdog: The “Sheltie” is essentially a miniature working Collie. A rough-coated, longhaired working breed that is keenly intelligent. Excels in herding.

7. Labrador Retriever: An ideal sporting and family dog. Gentle and intelligent.

8. Papillon: A happy, alert breed that isn’t shy or aggressive. Known as Dwarf Spaniels in the 16th and 17th centuries, they reach 8-11 inches high.

9. Rottweiler: Robust and powerful, the breed is happiest with a job. Suitable as a police dog, herder, service dog, therapy dog, obedience competitor, and devoted companion.

10. Australian Cattle Dog: Happiest doing a job like herding, obedience, or agility. Energetic and intelligent.

You might think a smart dog will always do what you want it to do. Not necessarily.

A Doberman is going to get bored easily and destroy your furniture if you’re out of the house for 8 to 10 hours. If a Border Collie doesn’t have an opportunity to work or exercise, it will be miserable and take out it’s frustration by being destructive, running away and maybe even nipping at kids.

But keep in mind that the smartest dogs often don’t make the best pets, trainers and vets say. Your job is to find a breed that suits your lifestyle and to focus on bringing out the best in your dog. Picking a dog based on just one factor is never a good idea. In fact, other factors might be even more important, like size, temperament and body type. A very small dog that is very smart may not be a very good choice for someone with small children. Not only could the dog get hurt, it might be too high strung for kids. The most important thing to remember is that positive and consistent training will almost always make a good dog.

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About Me

Hi! My name is Rachel and I’ve been a dog owner since I was 10 years old! I started this blog so I can jot down some of the things i’ve learned in my passed experiences AND because I just got a new puppy :-). Please help by writing comments and giving me your experience and advice. I’ll try to highlight your comments if I believe it to be helpful. Thanks all!

Comments

Cindy Genal
May 17th, 2011 at 5:42 AM
These are all big dogs. I know there must be some smaller breeds that are just as smart. My experience has been that our Bichon is a very, very smart dog. I’m not sure if that translates to the entire breed, but every Bichon owner I’ve spoken to has also had the same experience.
Given his size as an adult (35 pounds), I started thinking that he may have had some poodle in him and at the very least he probably wasn’t a pure bread. But we have AKC Registration Papers, so I have no idea of why he was that size. No matter what though, he was the smartest dog I’ve ever known and the best friend I’ve ever had. We had to put him down last year and I still miss him– just writing this is making me cry.
John Basalt
May 18th, 2011 at 6:27 AM
I have to agree with the author in a strange kind of way. I went for a beagle. Although he’s good at some things, I would not classify him as a Rhodes Scholar. But unless he smells a rabbit, he’s pretty calm. Not only that, our two year old had tweaked his nose a few times, but for some reason he doesn’t seem to remember. I know that sounds kind of mean because he repeatedly gets tweaked but it also means he won’t learn to be afraid of the baby.
I should also say that we minimize the number of times he gets tweaked by watching and keeping the kid away from him but sometimes we just miss.
Mark Lamster
May 19th, 2011 at 5:45 AM
I’ve owned four dogs and our Border Collie is the smartest dog I’ve ever known. She can learn any trick we teach her in less than a week and sometimes it only takes days. If you can, watch how well they’re trained. You can find videos of sheep herding contests and you’ll be amazed at how they react perfectly to small noises and hand signals that the owners use. They use those so they don’t spook the sheep.
And yes, they try and herd the kids. But it’s pretty funny watching them try and nose four kids into a group. When the kids were small, she could actually get them all in the same corner of the room. Now, not so much.
Daniel Sieberg
May 19th, 2011 at 5:55 AM
I’ve noticed that only pure breds are listed here so I have a suggestion: Labradoodles. They combine two of the smartest dogs on the list and now you can get MINI Labradoodles which go up to about your knee. We have two and find them to be really, really smart. They were housebroken in a week and now if they have to go out, they come get us and let us know by gently putting a paw on your leg.
The only thing is that they can be stubborn about certain things, so you can’t screw up. For example we let them sleep on the bed when they were puppies and now we just cannot get them off. It’s like they demand to be there and they get dejected if we want privacy.

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