Dogs are often used in all types of tasks to assist their humans, which has led many people to wonder how smart dogs really are. There are some ways that experts measure the intelligence of dogs, and different breeds have been found to be more intelligent than others. The following article will cover why dogs are so useful for certain tasks, what is known about each breed’s intelligence, and how dog intelligence is tested.
So, how smart are dogs?
The easiest way to answer this question would be by giving an IQ score because it provides a very specific metric for measuring cognition. No one knows exactly how smart any animal is but there are tests to at least get close enough for us to determine which animals are the most intelligent based on our own criteria for what intelligence actually is.
What is the IQ of a dog?
What many people don’t understand about IQ tests is that the scores are normalized using a standard distribution. So, an IQ test for a dog would be just like the IQ range for humans. So, a dog’s IQ score would range from 0-160(ish) but there is no way to directly test exactly how intelligent a dog is. The concept of an IQ or an Intelligence Quotient was first introduced by psychologist William Stern in the early 20th century as a way to measure human intelligence.
How are dogs’ intelligence levels measured?
One of the most widely used tests for determining how intelligent a dog is where they can find hidden food in one hour with no more information than the smell, the feel or sounds that might have alerted each dog to where it could be found.
Other tasks include maze experiments which test how fast a dog learns and what type of cues/training they respond to best. As I mentioned above, all dogs are capable of doing these tasks but it seems as though some breeds are better suited for specific jobs rather than others which is why you don’t see labradors acting as guard dogs or dobermans performing surgery on humans. This brings up another good point which is that there is always more to an individual dog than just their breed because even though they come from a long line of dogs who may have excelled at specific tasks, it could be that this special trait never actually developed in their lineage. This means that if you were to breed any two random stray dogs together, the offspring might not necessarily inherit the same abilities as either parent since their genetics are not entirely predictable.
Based on the latest research, scientists believe that some breeds are more intelligent than others but there isn’t one breed that always makes the smartest dog. The breeds that tend to be on top are considered working dogs or herding dogs while others like greyhounds or poodles who were not specifically bred for this type of work tend to do much worse.
How intelligent are dogs compared to other animals?
If you google “species IQ”, you will find lists which have been compiled by using data from several different sources and I think you would agree that there is no universal way to measure intelligence. It all depends on what types of tasks researchers decide should be included in the study and that can vary from one experiment to another. For example, researchers have concluded that chimpanzees are the third most intelligent creatures on earth so it’s a pretty safe bet to say that they would be smarter than the average dog even though there isn’t a test designed to measure this.
What are the smartest dog breeds?
It’s difficult to accurately say one breed is smarter than another, despite what you may hear from dog owners. Each breed has its own unique strengths which might make them better at some tasks but probably wouldn’t score very well if they were measured using human standards. For example, did you know that border collies can be up to 20% faster at processing visual stimuli than humans? It is true that they are viewed as one of the most intelligent breeds which has been tested but these tests were created with a human in mind so this type of stimulus might come across as total gibberish which isn’t really fair to compare because it wasn’t designed for a dog.
Regardless of the trappings of the scoring systems of human IQ tests, border collies have earned a reputation as super intelligent dogs because of how adaptable they are. They excel at learning new tasks quickly and can usually figure things out within minutes or seconds. This makes them some of the best herding dogs in the world because their instinctive intelligence allows them to easily control cattle without any prior training. Dogs excel at follow-the-leader games that require communication with humans, such as ‘fetch’ and ‘tug-of-war,’ and they easily learn to interpret gestures like pointing.
German shepherds are one of the best all-purpose dog breeds because of how loyal, intelligent, confident and protective they can be. They do well in search and rescue missions, police work, military operations, security roles and more. Some of these dogs have saved countless lives while others have been the heroic last line of defense between a cornered criminal or an armed fugitive. It is clear that German Shepherds are extremely valuable to humans which is why so many police officers love this breed because it’s almost impossible for them not to find work which matches their skills perfectly.
Golden Retrievers were some of the first dogs to be used as guide dogs and hearing ear dogs due to their learning ability. They make excellent family pets because they do well with children and other pets and can easily pass the necessary training required for this type of work. These dogs are often chosen by families who have small children or live in an apartment or condo.
Doberman Pinschers are popular guard dogs who are highly intelligent, protective, energetic, confident but also loyal to their owners. They are some of the best guard dogs anyone could ever own because of how brave they usually are. Their loyalty makes them think that if they protect something or someone it is theirs forever.
Labrador retrievers were first trained as gun dogs which meant that they were taught to spot and retrieve birds during hunting. Now they are popular family dogs who excel at obedience training, have a friendly demeanour and love to please their owners. Labrador retrievers’ excellent sense of smell makes them suited to search and rescue missions. They also make good therapy dogs due to their gentle, patient natures.
Dogs can be trained to do almost anything but unlike most other higher order animals, they need constant direction from humans in order for them to understand what is expected of them. For this reason alone it’s safe to say that some tasks which might appear easy will probably be more difficult for a dog than you would think because we simply don’t know how much we may actually be limiting the overall intelligence of dogs.
