Posted on 04/28/2008 1:05:46 PM PDT by Clint N. Suhks
The CBS "Early Show" ran a story this week about dogs and their intelligence, or lack thereof. In the story, they shared their list of the top 10 smartest and top 10 dumbest dog breeds. These were their picks.
#10 Dumbest: The Basset Hound may be so sad-eyed because it was ranked the tenth least intelligent dog breed.
2 of 20 : #10 Smartest: The immensely trainable Australian Cattle Dog was called the tenth smartest breed. 
3 of 20 : #9 Dumbest: Don't tell the Westminster Kennel Club, but Uno, the beagle who won their 131st annual dog show, belongs to the ninth least intelligent dog breed. 
4 of 20 : #9 Smartest: The Rottweiler was called the ninth smartest breed. This one looks a tad surprised by the ranking. 
5 of 20 : #8 Dumbest: This Mastiff hangs its head in shame over being ranked the eighth least intelligent dog breed. 
6 of 20 : #8 Smartest: The Papillon, ranked eighth smartest, floats like a butterfly and knows its ABC's. 
7 of 20 : #7 Dumbest: The Pekingese is more famous for its "dustmop" look when groomed correctly. This one must be getting a haircut to avoid being associated with the seventh stupidest dog breed. 
8 of 20 : #7 Smartest: The most popular dog breed in the nation is also the seventh smartest: the Labrador Retriever. 
9 of 20 : #6 Dumbest: We know the Bloodhound has a brain somewhere beneath all those lovable wrinkles, but the "Early Show" rankings had them pulling sixth among the dumbest breeds. 
10 of 20 : #6 Smartest: The Shetland Sheepdog's agility, as shown here, helped it rank sixth smartest. 
11 of 20 : #5 Dumbest: Borzois are considered the fifth least intelligent dogs. 
12 of 20 : #5 Smartest: The Doberman Pinscher's intelligence is on full display here on a rescue mission. 
13 of 20 : #4 Dumbest: This Chow Chow can live with being considered the fourth least intelligent breed, so long as you keep its hair nice and fluffy. 
14 of 20 : #4 Smartest: Golden Retrievers were fourth on the list of smart dogs. 
15 of 20 : #3 Dumbest: The Bulldog was rated the third stupidest dog breed. 
16 of 20 : #3 Smartest: Loyal workhorses, the German Shepherds were ranked as the third smartest breed. 
17 of 20 : #2 Dumbest: The Basenji is considered the second least intelligent dog breed, but hey, it could be worse. 
18 of 20 : #2 Smartest: Love 'em or hate 'em, Poodles were ranked as the second smartest dog breed out there. 
19 of 20 : #1 Dumbest: Stylish and mysteriously ancient, the Afghan Hound nonetheless merits the dubious honor of being ranked the single least intelligent dog breed. 
20 of 20 : #1 Smartest: The Border Collie was ranked the single smartest dog breed. Do you think this one looks just a little bit proud of it? 
To counter the agility Setter, there's one in our agility club who began training in the same class as my Lab, some 4 years ago. My Lab has her AX and AXJ and is running in Masters, while last time I heard, that poor Setter had yet to get his FIRST qualifying score in Novice.
Having raised toy poodles for 12 year years, that has not been our experience whatsoever. The toy poodles were we raised seemed crème de la crème in intellenge. Of course owners were a different breed.
I used to breed and show Siamese cats, and I bred first for temperament, next for health, and only last for conformation. Had one champion, just the same.
Lots of folks weren't that picky and bred just for looks. There were plenty of mean, sickly Siamese around.
Oh really? I do hunt tests. My Reagan had her HRCH in the UKC and a CGC. She was a great hunter. Check out my home page.
Never tried any agility, guys in my training club might make fun, or any obedience either since you need that to get to that level. Looks like fun tho, I watch it on TV sometimes.
That’s not dumb; that’s rebellion. Very clever rebellion.
I assume you’re familiar with the Golden Retriever creep. You put one on a down & stay, and over the course of time, he creeps farther and farther away from where you put him, a little at a time.
He seems to know when your attention is not on him.
Here is a ranking site;
http://petrix.com/dogint/intelligence.html
My Yorkie is listed #27 out of 79 breeds. He is smart and listens well.
My last dog, “Potlatch”, was a Peke-a-Poo, half Pekinese and half Poodle and he was very smart. Looked like a tiny Shish Tsu.
Strange how a few of the smartest are ones likely to attack people, lol. I did not look at the rating of Pit Bulls, or Staffordshires.
Basenji’s stupid? If your idea of dog intelligence is a slavish slurping furbag, I guess so.
Mine are brilliant dogs, they just don’t obey for the heck of it. They’ve survived for thousands of years in the Congo, used for hunting small game. In that environment smarts are more important than slipper fetching, afterall you’re in competition with leopards, lions, cape dogs, hyenas... etc...
Plus, the neighbor’s love them because they don’t bark.
Face it... if it isn’t a Basenji it’s just a DOG.
I worked 3 years for a vet nearly went into the field... toy poodles IS a good breed.
Here's one that real.
Anybody know where the Pit Bull shows up on the list? I mean not mine, he is a total numbnut. I mean pits in general
Boarder Collie #1
I’ve never had a dog, but I’ve had quite a few friends and neighbors who had dogs, and I have to more or less agree with the list. Although my all-over favorite dog (or dogs) is the litter of Golden-Labradoodle puppies my neighbors’ dog had one summer... they were so much fun!
I doubt the rankings very much. Basenjis are incredibly clever and seem to spend most of their time outsmarting their owners.
Some dogs are amazingly intelligent and didn’t make the list.
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There was a great show on the ultra liberal PBS-TV about this
They put all breeds of dogs through a series of various tests
One test was to simply put a towel over the dog’s head and accurately measure how long it took for the dog to remove the towel
Dogs like Border Collies just shook them off instantly
Some dogs took many minutes to figure our how to remove the towel - it was amazing!
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Primates also have very different levels of intelligence
Chimp, Orangatan, Gorilla, etc.
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Some birds can mimic human speech - some are killing predators, some sing outside your window, some drop colorful fragrant gifts on your new car
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I will not infer that humans may also be very different in cognitive skills, jumping, mental processes, running, violence, lifting heavy objects, logic, sports, civil behavior, removing a towel from their head, etc. as it would not be “PC”
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We had a Collie when I was young - “Heather” was smarter than many of the current crop of idiots you are now seeing on FNC, CNN, MSNBC
That includes the media staff, guests, and some controversial idiots we now see on the news; especially one alleged primate who uses many prison/gang hand gestures and body movements when he speaks -
DISCLAIMER: You’re on your own on this one; it may not be intelligent to post in print or discuss this with others
Basenji’s are smart, just not slavishly obedient.
Have you laughed so hard that it hurts? I just have after reading your post. OMG that was funny. Did you really do that?
I was at a friend's house, and they had two of them. They distrusted me at first as watchdogs should, and then it became "trust but verify". I was literally watched the entire time by one of them to make sure I was good people. Even if it was a "tailing" distance, it was there. It wasn't an unfriendly watch, just good situational awareness.
They are very manipulative as well. After I was petting one of them, she barked. I made the mistake of responding to the bark.
I wouldn't want to tangle with them either. The two of them killed a deer once. One of their neighbors was very unhappy about it. The response "They are elkhounds. That's what they do."
Lol, I’ll bet you and Heather had some deep discussions.....! Sorry, couldn’t help myself!
Piper loves me to throw the sheet or blanket over him and then wrestle him around with my hand [he’s tiny]. All four legs start ‘fighting’ at you’, it’s cute.
“Removing a towel from their head” may become an ‘issue’, people-wise!
Free Republic slowed to a crawl for me and the pager just went out!!
I know a bunch that were, except when it came to finding food or something that passes for food. They had great noses, that's for sure. One neighbor's Golden found a gutted deer that someone hunted. The deer's stomach was brought back as a showoff. I was there. I was gone soon after.
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Heather was a great watchdog too
Tex was the ultimate watchdog
He controlled the excessive speed of vehicles and got irritated if they slowed down or stopped near our house
Good comment about “towelheads”!
He's been gone more than five years, but I miss that little guy every day.
Have to disagree about the Basenji. We had two of them and the female was so smart it was almost scary. Basenji’s are a very different breed of dog. They are cat-like and are aloof. This alone might make them seem dumb to people who don’t understand the breed.
So, you’re named after your dog?
Thanks for the Chow training insight. Interesting.
LOL, I occasionally come up with something good!
We love our dogs and never forget them.
[So, you’re named after your dog?]
LOL, you should have known that from over 6 years ago! I’ve mentioned it a lot, posted his picture.
Think I have an old thread in my links on my profile page where people told how they chose their Freeper name.
Duchess thanks you.
She is a very proud Olde English Bulldogge. She’s quite certain that this article referred to the smaller British bulldogs as Madam is a very intelligent creature.
She certain reigns in this household! :-)
Hense, Lassie.
“Lassie, go do my taxes and after that go to Timmy’s PTA meeting and straighten out his teacher”.
As you know Labs are the brightest dogs there are.
They should have the right to vote.
We develop codes so the dog doesn’t know what he’s in for next and we have to constantly revise them because he breaks the code in days.
We’ve resorted to telepathy.
I’ll let you know how long that lasts.
Extremely intelligent dog.
Also very territorial and protective. High energy, too. Not the kind of dog for everyone, but we love him and he takes care of us.
I have two border collies and sometimes I question that they are the smartest.
True to their German lineage they can be adorable and fun as you say, or extremely temperamental. The latter is probably due to the back problems that often develop later in their lives - like in my Grandma’s Heidi, who lived 17 years.
Both my Lab girls have their CGC (wrt the black 18 month old field bred pup, the judges must have been bribed! What a wild woman!)
My Choc has her SHR, we're working on HR but just haven't gotten to the hunt tests (we live in a major metro, so it's always a long drive). She walked on and passed both days of AKC JH in a very tricky hunt test. She also has her AX and AXJ.
The Black is ready for Started now, she retrieves splendidly on land and water and is (mostly) delivering to hand. She has had her 2nd agility class and is doing well. She jumps low jumps and bores through the chute with aplomb. And she is FAST - much faster than the Choc, who is a steady plodder who always gets there . . . eventually.
He was a big old moose, very affectionate but stood no nonsense from the dogs (including the one who lived in the house). She went in absolute respect of him.
He was smart, too (could open locked interior doors with a claw, and open the cabinet to help himself to the cat food bag).
"Tard" refers to the ping list members and not to the subject of the thread!
List of Ping Lists
BINGO!!
I knew I recognized that hairdo.
Fun Doggy Thread.
Come - give your .02.
Wow. Which is which?
The one in the first photo looks like it’d make sure you have the reward before it would roll over and do tricks for you, though.
I heard of one Border Collie who passed the time waiting for the leaky faucet to drip. Mine grew to be huge (50#). She lived to herd - anything, anywhere. We lived in the suburbs, so she had to content herself with herding the neighborhood kids.
Total bliss, for her, was a kids soccer match. Every time the ball would try to ‘break out’ of the herd of kids, she would be there!
We tried to have her bred once, but there were some cows near by, and neither she nor the stud could take a break from herding long enough to finish the job.
She was very jealous of the baby (our youngest), but she would also defend her with her life. Our youngest had to learn to crawl going in circles.
Fine dog, but not meant for laps. She died 6 years ago...
How about if a cute little Black Lab girl came sidewinding up to Mowgli, wagging her tail and grinning, puppy-bowed and then reclined at his feet, licking the corner of his mouth and asking, very respectfully, if she could borrow his Frisbee?
He’s so handsome.
Post one with his sister and brother with him.
pleeeease?
"Hi! I'm having tons of fun! Want to join me?"
He does have a weakness for girl dogs. He drops the alpha male thing and acts all puppy like around them.
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