The Intelligence of Dogs

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 explores his ideas about how different breeds of dogs have different levels of intelligence. He updated his book with a second edition in 2006.

Coren talks about three main types of intelligence in dogs. The first is instinctive intelligence, which 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, which is a dog’s ability to figure out problems by itself. The third type is working and obedience intelligence, which is how well a dog can learn from people.

Methods

The book ranks dogs based on how well they work and follow commands. The author asked judges from dog clubs in America and Canada to rank different dog breeds. About half of the judges responded, and only breeds with enough responses were included.

The judges agreed on which dogs were the smartest workers. Border collies were often at the top, while Afghan Hounds were usually at the bottom. The top-ranked dogs included Border collies, Poodles, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Doberman Pinschers. Some dogs, like the Jack Russell Terrier, were not included because they weren’t recognized by the dog clubs.

Evaluation

Stanley Coren's book offers a list of dog breeds ranked by their intelligence. He based this list on a survey of 208 dog obedience judges in North America. When the book was first published in 1994, it got a lot of attention from the media, with people having different opinions about it. Over time, many people began to accept Coren's way of ranking dog breeds as a good way to show how easy or hard different breeds are to train. In 2009, another study that looked at dog intelligence in a different way agreed mostly with Coren's rankings. Coren updated his studies and added new information in the 2006 edition of his book.

Some researchers who study how dogs think and some dog trainers have questioned the value of using surveys to understand dog intelligence. The 1995 edition of Coren's book includes 130 different dog breeds, placed into 79 ranks (with some breeds sharing the same rank), grouped into six levels from highest to lowest intelligence.