The Intelligence of Dogs

The Intelligence of Dogs: A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of Our Canine Companions

The Intelligence of Dogs: A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of Our Canine Companions is a 1994 book about dog intelligence written by Stanley Coren, a professor of canine psychology at the University of British Columbia. In this book, Coren shares his ideas about how different breeds of dogs have different levels of intelligence. He updated his book in a second edition in 2006.

Coren talks about three main types of intelligence in dogs.

The first type is instinctive intelligence. This is how well a dog can do the jobs it was bred for, like herding, pointing, fetching, guarding, or being a companion.

The second type is adaptive intelligence. This is a dog’s ability to solve problems by itself.

The third type is working and obedience intelligence. This is how well a dog can learn from people.

Methods

The book ranks dogs by how well they follow commands. Judges from dog clubs in America and Canada chose the rankings. Only breeds with enough votes were included.

The judges agreed on the smartest dogs. Border collies were often first, while Afghan Hounds were usually last. The top dogs were Border collies, Poodles, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Doberman Pinschers. Some dogs, like the Jack Russell Terrier, were not included.

Evaluation

Stanley Coren's book lists dog breeds by how smart they are. He made this list from a survey of 208 dog obedience judges in North America. When the book came out in 1994, many people talked about it and had different thoughts. Over time, many began to think Coren's way of ranking dogs was a good way to see how easy or hard different breeds are to train. In 2009, another study looked at dog intelligence in a new way and mostly agreed with Coren's rankings. Coren updated his studies and added new facts in the 2006 edition of his book.

Some researchers and dog trainers have wondered if surveys are the best way to understand dog intelligence. The 1995 edition of Coren's book has 130 different dog breeds, placed into 79 ranks (with some breeds sharing the same rank), grouped into six levels from highest to lowest intelligence.