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? 
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff.
I think they missed one. I didn’t see the Pelosi listed there among the dumber breeds...;’}
Clearly an anti-hound survey (Houndist?) ;^)
In any case, from MY personal experience, the beagles and basset hounds have been WAY smarter than the Labs/Retrievers have ever dreamed of being.
And my wife and I have a good bit of experience with all three breeds.
I’ve got a Lab and am planning to train her to be an avalanche search and rescue dog. She seems to be pretty smart (especially about earning treats and hanging around people).
Forget a border collie as a lap dog.
They have to be one of the most active breeds.
We got one, a rescue, not knowing how active they are. Not good house dogs and we don’t have a fenced yard.
Managed to keep her somewhat happy with puzzles in the evenings and walks on weekends.
But when she got bored she’d chew the furniture. Common I’ve learned.
Oh, one more negative, they shed like mad.
Our Weims are smart...they know how to find the most comfortable chair, bed, or sofa and claim it as “their space.”
Amen, brother.
Chows aren’t dumb, they’re just misunderstood.
You have to remember that they were herded in droves across Asia and Eastern Europe by Genghis Khan’s mongol warriors as a food source, thus they are very wary of humans and don’t want to do what you say.
I trained my daughter’s chow by
1. never approaching him from behind and
2. by carrying a make-believe cast iron skillet in my hand while walking him. Every time he pulled on the leash, I pretend whopped him over the head with the pretend skillet, with pretend sound effects. In no time at all, he was walking like a gentleman and reliably sitting and staying. Like cats, I discovered, Chows are visual. They get mental images rather than verbal commands. Once you understand how to talk to them, they’re fine obedient dogs.
re: Goldens
My family has raised several Golden Retrievers over the past 25 years and I would say they are very very smart dogs - they learn things instantly and you find them doing and thinking of things you wouldn’t expect. They have surprised me many times and made me wonder who is the “master” in the relationship...... :^) I wouldn’t ding labs for all-around loveability, adorability and fun, but the ones I’ve been around (quite a bit, for years at a time) did not seem nearly as clever.
Not a scientific sample to be sure, and I love labs, they’re wonderful doggies..... but I’m not at all surprised to see Golden Retrievers listed in the top 4.
My older boy is a lab/chow and has always been smart. He would have never made a good police dog or working dog but smart in ways that he knows alot of words and is good at reading my body language. He’s old and set in his ways now. He gets grumpy if his routine is changed...
The lab/beagle 1yearold is just plain goofy. I would’t say he’s dumb because he already knows alot of words and is obedient but GOOFY.
lol.
Had a dog like that once. He taught me how to drag my butt across the livingroom carpet. That always went over well. :-)
“Free Cat”
LOL
Like a saying I saw the other day,
"Thousands of years ago cats were worshipped as gods. They still remember that."
One of them died and the other didn’t notice.
That cracked me up. Dumb dog.
Googled pictures - not actual pictures of my dogs
Dumber than a box of rocks, but they sure are perdy!
Poodles probably hate the foo foo thing too. I knew a herd of standard black untrimmed poodles who lived at a dude ranch we went to for years who were the most delightful intelligent companion animals you could ever want to meet.
I think my Cardigan Welsh Corgi was the smartest dog in the world.
I have known an Irish Setter to chase the spot illuminated by a flashlight beam in a dark room. If you moved the light around, he would chase it.
Another Setter chewed up a boat model I made as a kid, using glue and flat toothpicks. I spent maybe twelve hours on that thing. It was nothing but white glue and toothpicks. He thought it was food.
As an intelligent dog, the Irish Setter is very pretty.
BTW, the Poodles are really smart.
Yes. Some of them seem too smart to be dogs.
OMG!! Surely this has got to be the LAUGH of the day!!!....ROTFLMAO!
My lab will fetch a ball and stuff like that. But when feeding time comes, he’ll get the little football in his mouth and stand in front of the dog food and whine and look at me then back at the food, because it takes him a few minutes to figure out that he has to put the football down before he can get food in his mouth!.............
I wonder why they don't run that very often?
Mine either. He’s not dumb, but I certainly wouldn’t rate him near the top for smarts.
Based on the ones we had when I was growing up, Irish Setters come in as the #1 Silliest dogs.
He, and our female Springer Spaniel took off yesterday and were gone six hours. He was clearly traumatized by the ordeal as when we found them, he jumped in the car whining.
LOL!!
Aussi Shepherd.....
Oh that's for sure. My experience with Goldens are at the field trials I ran my Chesapeake Retriever in and they were very far and few between as were Chessy's. Labs rule in those events for sure.
It appears that this list was based primarily on looks equalling intelligence. Generally speaking, the more attractive to people the dogs are, the better they ranked with intelligence/worse on stupidity.
I’d have to disagree with several of them, but for the most part, they got #1 Smartest right on the button. (I own two Borders.)
Vee vill make you give me snausages....
Hounds follow their instincts, but they aren’t particularly trainable. My friend’s beagle could track rabbits like nobody’s business, but wouldn’t sit or stay.
On the other hand, I knew a woman who ran her bloodhound in agility trials. I think she dragged a scent trail through the course until he got good at it.
Where did the toy poodle and chihuahua rank? They’re some of the dumbest mutts I’ve ever seen. Psychotic, even.
The inability to train a dog has no bearing on their smarts. Chows are highly inteligent but will not submit to training.Even inteligent human beings question being trained to rolling over or fetching.
bump for later
This article is wrong. I have a Border collie and a Beagle. The Beagle is the dumbest animal alive. The Border collie however, is the smartest.
Our Lab clearly has the priorities straight. The ball is quickly dropped during a squirrel sighting/chase, but easily retrieved later. Food/treats are priority one. Poodles are smarter though, but the Labs are a better companion.
Thats funny. My dogs do that only when they have an object in their mouth and I throw a different object.
At feeding time I say “Ya’ll ready for a can?” and they come running.
“Can” is a word that makes them perk up and turn their heads sideways at me and they go stand in their spots in front of their bowls. They know what “can” means.
I can say...”Yeah the weatherman predicted rain ..CAN..” and they perk up.
Same thing with “ride” or “outside” or “kitty”
Its not so much the excercise, although they do need to be able to runn a lot, the most important thing with Borders is to engage thier mind. I mess with my Borders mind all the time. Problem is . . .he turns right around and messes with me back!
Oddly enough, our cat loves attention almost as much as our dogs.
We’ve a Queensland mix that is hyper but also trainable and a purebred Great Pyrenees that has been pretty easy to train.
Wouldn’t trade any of them, as they’re always thrilled to see us when we get home or get up in the AM.
HAHHAHAHAHAH!!! Scoobie is the name of one of my Border Collies!
Sorry Bah, I didn't make the list...
Our dog is a mutt with Australian Shepherd, Husky, ??? in him. Pretty smart dog. Back in college my roomate had a mutt (part Australian Shepherd) that was REALLY smart. You could be in the front yard and tell it to do in the huge backyard and “get your stick”. It would come back with the stick and play. Then “go get your ball”, go get your frissbee, go get your rope, etc.
Also, the only strangers that he would bark at when they came to the door were the Jehovahs Witnesses and the Mormons, and it sounded like he was trying to get them through the door. Mail man, repair guy, friends, etc. no barking (he didn’t bark much actually). Weirdest thing!
“What about weiner dogs?”
Don’t despair: the dachshund, wiener dog, or `Teckel’, wins “Grouchiest Canine” award.
Why?
You’d be grouchy too if you spent all day dragging your junk on the sidewalk.
Your comment doesn’t really square up with the list or with the comments of others on the thread.
So true. I have a rescue dog, half Weimaraner and half Chocolate Lab. Within two minutes of being adopted and let into the house he found my bed and made a nest for himself at the head, a location he will use to the end of his days, except for when I'm sleeping in the bed. Then he tries to sleep on top of me.
I had a friend that had a dog the was half Wienerschnitzle and half Chihuahua. She called it a Beanerschnitzle. I loved that dog.
LOL! And the fact that it was voted the dumbest dog is purely coincidental............or is it?
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