The Belgian Malinois is a deeply intelligent medium-sized herding dog.
(Photo: MAESTRO15/Depositphotos)
Canine intelligence is a fascinating topic of study.
Prestigious Yale University even has aCanine Cognition Centerdedicated to applying rigorous psychological research to pooch decision-making.
The Belgian Malinois is a deeply intelligent medium-sized herding dog. (Photo: MAESTRO15/Depositphotos)
Such abilities and inherent intuitions have developed over thousands of years of domestication as human’s best friend.
But which breed is the smartest of them all?
The researchers put 1,002 participating dogs through the smartDOG cognition test.
The Belgian Malinois is very agile. (Photo: CYNOCLUB/Depositphotos)
The test examines problem-solving proficiency, strategy, memory, logical reasoning, and impulse control.
It also scores the ability to read human gestures and to copy human behavior.
Each breed was scored out of 39 points.
A Belgian Malinois, the smartest breed. (Photo: LOSHADKAMASMASHA.YANDEX.RU/Depositphotos)
It was not great, however, at the cylinder test.
When it is replaced by a clear cylinder, a smart dog remembers and goes through the end.
The Malinois, however, like the German Shepard, went through the side.
Puppies of the breed at play. (Photo: OOV/Depositphotos)
These herding breeds may be too reactive due to generations of breeding for their job.
Border collies came in second overall, true to their clever reputation.
Other breeds had strengths and weaknesses in different categories.
The Finnish Lapphund did poorly in a human-directed task despite its herding genetics.
This indicates the functions of working and herding breeds may not correlate to their performances on the tests.
Some breeds, such as the Shetland Sheepdog, scored quite evenly in almost all tests.
The Belgian Malinois is very agile.
A Belgian Malinois, the smartest breed.
Puppies of the breed at play.
