Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Afghans to Collies – Which Dogs Are the Cleverest?
Published on August 10, 2009 by Ryan O'Meara · 3 CommentsThe following interview is from Chris Evans’ BBC Radio 2 show – discussing a new report which claims Afghan Hounds are the ‘least intelligent’ dog breed and that dogs have the equivalent intelligence of a 2-year old child. I tend to disagree!
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Readers Comments (3)
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Good interview. You are right. I have Irish Setters, who are often said to be thick and stupid, but they are certainly NOT if you tailor the training to the way they think and learn. In fact they are a breed who really enjoy mental stimulation and greatly benefit from it.
The breed who are considered to be the most ‘intelligent’ (border collies) IMO are robotic in the way they think and learn and can be easily mind controlled. That to me is not intelligence – as there is no real thought, only actions and reactions. However, even there it is wrong to generalise, as some collies are very intelligent and will just say “sod that, I am NOT going along with this nonsense”. I like a dog who will put thought into things and reach its own conclusions.
yh tbh i have my doubts about the human iq test, cuz all that tests is logic
I partly agree with this interview. I am a guide dog trainer. Most lists rating dog intelligence use obedience trial scores as indicators of intelligence, while they are merely indicators of obedience. I think both the most intelligent dogs, and the least intelligent dogs; are difficult to train. A highly intelligent dog may, or may not, want to work with you. Its not an indicator of intelligence, but of either complience or of willingness to work. My favorite breed for guide dog work, the German Shepherd Dog, has a high degtee of problem solving behavior. If trained by a trainer who uses rote training; it will become bored and not comply. But give it a job where it is needed, such as guiding a blind person; and it will excell. An intelligent dog with less of a willingness to work (as many sight hounds are), will only do so for its own reasons. So obeying, or not obeying, doesn’t reveal whether or not the dog is intelligent; only whether or not it is complient.