Here are the 'smartest' dog breeds, according to a psychologist.

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There's no easy way to rate dog intelligence.

As the psychologist Stanley Coren wrote in the '90s, there's adaptive intelligence (i.e., figuring stuff out), working intelligence (i.e., following orders), and instinctive intelligence (i.e., innate talent) — not to mention spatial intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and more.

As the animal behaviorist Frans de Waal has argued, humans tend to judge animal intelligence in limited  and unfair termsand often bungle the experiment.

While labs at Yale and Duke, and  around the world, are studying this question, for now we have data on at least one metric: working intelligence.

In his book " The Intelligence of Dogs," Coren featured the results of a lengthy survey of 199 dog-obedience judges. The responses, he said, were remarkably consistent. However, he noted that many judges said that there are exceptions in every breed and that a lot comes down to training.

Here's what he found:

TOP TIER— the brightest working dogs, who tend to learn a new command in less than five seconds and obey at least 95% of the time.


A border collie shows how it's done.
1. Border collie

2. Poodle

3. German shepherd

4. Golden retriever

5. Doberman pinscher

6. Shetland sheepdog

7. Labrador retriever

8. Papillon

9. Rottweiler

10. Australian cattle dog

SECOND TIER— excellent working dogs, who tend to learn a new command in five to 15 exposures and obey at least 85% of the time.


Don't underestimate the small Pembroke Welsh corgi.
11. Pembroke Welsh corgi

12. Miniature schnauzer

13. English springer spaniel

14. Belgian Tervuren

T15. Schipperke

T15. Belgian sheepdog

T17. Collie

T17. Keeshond

19. German short-haired pointer

T20. Flat-coated retriever

T20. English cocker spaniel

T20. Standard schnauzer

23. Brittany spaniel

T24. Cocker spaniel

T24. Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever

26. Weimaraner

T27. Belgian Malinois

T27. Bernese mountain dog

29. Pomeranian

30. Irish water spaniel

31. Vizsla

32. Cardigan Welsh corgi

THIRD TIER— above-average working dogs, who tend to learn a new trick in 15 to 25 repetitions and obey at least 70% of the time.


The Chesapeake Bay retriever is an above-average working dog.
T33. Chesapeake Bay retriever

T33. Puli

T33. Yorkshire terrier

T36. Giant schnauzer

T36. Portuguese water dog

T36. Airedale

T36. Bouvier des Flandres

T40. Border terrier

T40. Briard

42. Welsh springer spaniel

43. Manchester terrier

44. Samoyed

T45. Field spaniel

T45. Newfoundland

T45. Australian terrier

T45. American Staffordshire terrier

T45. Gordon setter

T45. Bearded collie

T51. American Eskimo dog

T51. Cairn terrier

T51. Kerry blue terrier

T51. Irish setter

55. Norwegian elkhound

T56. Affenpinscher

T56. Silky terrier

T56. Miniature pinscher

T56. English setter

T56. Pharaoh hound

T56. Clumber spaniel

62. Norwich terrier

63. Dalmatian

FOURTH TIER— average working dogs, who tend to learn a new trick in 25 to 40 repetitions and obey at least 50% of the time.


The soft-coated wheaten terrier is about average at following orders.
T64. Soft-coated wheaten terrier

T64. Bedlington terrier

T64. Smooth-haired fox terrier

T67. Curly-coated retriever

T67. Irish wolfhound

T69. Kuvasz

T69. Australian shepherd

T71. Saluki

T71. Finnish Spitz

T71. Pointer

T74. Cavalier King Charles spaniel

T74. German wirehaired pointer

T74. Black-and-tan coonhound

T74. American water spaniel

T78. Siberian husky

T78. Bichon Frise

T78. English toy spaniel

T81. Tibetan spaniel

T81. English foxhound

T81. Otterhound

T81. American foxhound

T81. Greyhound

T81. Harrier

T81. Parson Russel terrier

T81. Wirehaired pointing griffon

T89. West Highland white terrier

T89. Havanese

T89. Scottish deerhound

T92. Boxer

T92. Great Dane

T94. Dachshund

T94. Staffordshire bull terrier

T94. Shiba Inu

97. Malamute

T98. Whippet

T98. Chinese shar-pei

T98. Wirehaired fox terrier

101. Rhodesian ridgeback

T102. Ibizan hound

T102. Welsh terrier

T102. Irish terrier

T105. Boston terrier

T105. Akita

FIFTH TIER— fair working dogs, who tend to learn a new trick in 40 to 80 repetitions and respond about 40% of the time.


It's not easy to win an obedience trial with a Skye terrier.
107. Skye terrier

T108. Norfolk terrier

T108. Sealyham terrier

110. Pug

111. French bulldog

T112. Brussels griffon

T112. Maltese terrier

114. Italian greyhound

115. Chinese crested

T116. Dandie Dinmont terrier

T116. Vendeen

T116. Tibetan terrier

T116. Japanese chin

T116. Lakeland terrier

121. Old English sheepdog

122. Great Pyrenees

T123. Scottish terrier

T123. Saint Bernard

T125. Bull terrier

T125. Petite Basset Griffon

T125. Vendeen

128. Chihuahua

129. Lhasa apso

130. Bullmastiff

SIXTH TIER— the least-effective working dogs, who may learn a new trick after more than 100 repetitions and obey around 30% of the time.


The Afghan hound doesn't care what you want.
131. Shih Tzu

132. Basset hound

T133. Mastiff

T133. Beagle

135. Pekingese

136. Bloodhound

137. Borzoi

138. Chow chow

139. Bulldog

140. Basenji

141. Afghan hound

Again, there are exceptions. Coren talks in his book about a trainer who managed to win obedience competitions with multiple Staffordshire bull terriers (No. 94).

There are also, again, other ways of measuring intelligence.

Coren tells us about a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever (No. 24) he owned that was in some ways too smart for competitions.

"He was so bright and attentive that he read my every motion, head turn, and even the direction that I was looking with my eyes, as a command," he wrote in an email. "That made him very difficult to compete with in obedience trials, since, for instance, a glance with my eyes in the direction of the high jump might be interpreted by him as a command and that would send him off, taking the jump beautifully of course, but nonetheless disqualifying us from that round of competition."

De Waal, in " Are We Smart Enough to  Know How Smart Animals Are?" defended the Afghan hound (No. 141), saying that they may not be unintelligent but rather independent-mined, stubborn, and unwilling to follow orders.

"Afghans," he wrote, "are perhaps more like cats, which are not beholden to anyone."
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