The 21 cleverest dog breeds, according to scientists – with border collies the geniuses of the canine world - iNews
Dogs are widely accepted as being among the brighter creatures of the animal world and every so often the canine kingdom turns out a veritable genius.
Researchers scoured the globe for extra specially intelligent dogs and – making sure to discount their proud owners' exaggerated boasts, pinpointed six that were able to learn as many as 12 new toy names in a week.
At least one of them could even remember in excess of 100 names for toys over a period of months.
Since the first six dog geniuses were identified – all of them border collies – a further 15 have been located, among them German Shepherds and Pekinese.
"We were definitely surprised by the dogs' performance. It takes a while for most dogs to link an action, like 'sit' or 'down' to a word. So we were not expecting that the dogs will be able to learn 12 new words in one week," said Shany Dror, of Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary.
Names of objects are much harder to learn than commands as they are not linked to an action and so being able to do at high speed is a good indicator of intelligence.
Nonetheless, she stressed that the gift was rare, with experiments suggesting these kind of genius dogs account for an extremely small percentage of the overall pooch population
"For more than two years we searched around the world for dogs that had learnt the names of their toys, and we managed to find six," said Ms Dror, who has since found another 15 as word of her Genius Dog Challenge has spread.
In a related test of 36 family dogs chosen at random, only one was able to learn the names of two or more toys.
Ms Dror says the findings may also teach us more about human genius.
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"Gifted dogs are especially interesting because they show that among other species there are also individuals that are uniquely talented," she said.
"These dogs present a unique talent in a way that might be similar to the expression of talent in humans. Uniquely talented people, such as Albert Einstein and Mozart, have shaped our history and yet we know very little about the circumstances under which their talent has emerged. We hope that these gifted dogs can help us understand the conditions that enable the emergence of exceptional performance."
The study is published in the journal Royal Society Opens Science.
Dr Dror added that she is looking for more gifted dogs and hopes owners willing to join the research project will get in touch with the genius Dog Challenge.
How the different breeds shape up
Border Collies: In the experiments, Border Collies were particularly good at learning toy names such as Silver the fish, Alien the green puppet, Crocs the sandal and Newspaper – the rubber newspaper.
"Originally Border Collies were breed to work as herding dogs, so most of them are very sensitive and responsive to the behavior of their owners. However, although the ability to learn names of toys appears to be more common among them, we found that even among this breed it is very rare" said Shany Dror, of Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary.
"At the same time, this talent is not unique to this breed. We are constantly searching for more gifted dogs," she said.
The exceptional name-learning gift has also been demonstrated in the following breeds – and is probably found in many others, the researchers said.
They include:
-German Shepherds: As a herding dog, German Shepherds are working dogs developed originally for herding sheep. Since that time, however, because of their strength, intelligence, trainability, and obedience, German Shepherds around the world are often the preferred breed for many types of work, including disability assistance, search-and-rescue, police and military roles and acting
-Mini Australian Shepherds: Frequently abbreviated to MAS, this is a small herding dog breed that is often trained for dog sports such as herding, agility, obedience, canine freestyle and hurdles.
-Pekingese: The Pekingese is a breed of toy dog, originating in China. The breed was favored by royalty of the Chinese Imperial court as both a lap dog and companion dog, and its name refers to the city of Peking where the Forbidden City is located
-Yorkshire Terrier: One of the smallest dog breeds of the terrier type, and of any dog breed. The breed developed during the 19th century in Yorkshire, England.
-Australian Kelpie: Also known simply as a Kelpie, this is an Australian sheep dog capable of mustering and droving with little or no guidance. It has been exported throughout the world and is used to muster livestock, primarily sheep, cattle and goats.
When it comes to dogs that are a bit lacking in the brain department 'scenthounds' are often held up as prime examples.
Basset Hounds, Beagles and Bloodhounds were named as the dumbest dog breeds in The Intelligence of Dogs, by the psychologist Stanley Coren. But whether it's because their intrinsically thick, or just difficult to train, is a moot point.
"Pretty much all scenthounds are governed by their noses," Dr. Dodman says. "They're hard to train because they don't really look up, they look down. They're not really interested in listening or pleasing anybody, they're just interested in tracking with their noses," said animal behaviour specialist Nicholas Dodman, of Tufts University in Massachusetts.
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