Why does everyone believe Stanley Coren's proclamation that Border Collies are the smartest breed?

He was simply going by the results of a survey of obedience judges that he did. No rocket science here.

Why does everyone believe Stanley Coren's proclamation that Border Collies are the smartest breed?
Because most people want to be told what to believe and that way they don't have to actually strain their brain figuring out that saying a breed is the most intelligent because it might be easily trained is erroneous on face. Intellect/being the smartest has a lot more components to it than simply being trainable - BCs are easily trained -- that is a given. But that doesn't equate to being the 'smartest'. Definitions of 'smart' can vary but usually they also include the capability to have abstract thought processes and for the most part, BCs don't necessarily exhibit this characteristic. There are other aspects to 'smartness' that don't includ being able to follow commands 100% of the time --- that isn't actually even a part of intelligence as an intelligent being can often be disobedient because there are reasons to be disobedient -- self-preservation - how smart is it for a dog to be so obedient that it will follow commands until it kills them? Not too bright in my book :)





But the reason 'everyone' or at least 99% of the population most likely :) believe what some guy says about BCs is because they want to believe it -- don't want to have to actually make that leap to figuring out for themselves what characteristics the 'smartest breed' would need to have to be considered as the smartest breed.... being the dog of the day in obedience competition isn't one of these characteristics :)





add: 'willing to do anything' hardly equates to being smart... it equates to being easily led and directed, sort of like the masses are easily directed by TV commercials and some guy espousing that BCs are the smartest dog :) A truely smart dog would not be 'willing to do anything' - they would be capable of reasoning when they should not do something that would be detrimental to their or their person's welfare...
Reply:haven't worked with many good Dobermans, have ya :) I too have worked/trained dogs of all varieties/mixes and there are a lot of easily trainable ones but very few that will ignore their training for an considered change that is for the best. Report Abuse

Reply:It depends more on the individual dog, but for the most part, BC's are an incredibly smart and loyal breed. I don't know, however, that they are the smartest breed. Jack Russell terriers, for example, are a breed that I have had experience with as well, and they are extremely smart, even as smart as the border collies in some cases.
Reply:My family and i own a border collie and it is one of the smartest dogs i have ever seen.


Its mother was the same way and so was its siblings.
Reply:Breed helps, but I really think its more of the individual dogs.
Reply:I've always wanted one but dang they're so smart I've got nothing for one to do. Except chase frisbees at the beach looking like some idiot.
Reply:I'd say BC's are the smartest but they are not the "dog of the day" for obedience trials. I think that title would go to the Golden Retriever. Most of the top scoring dogs in the upper classes at trials I have shown in or worked have been the GR's. Here in the midwest there is a fairly large group of Golden handlers that make the trial circuit. We had 5 of the top 10 GR's in obedience show up at one of our trials. These are the folks working on OTch #.....


I have seen 6 month old BC's go in the ring with sheep the first time and instictively know what to do. Not many retrievers are hunt ready at 6 months. The only problem with the BC's is some are too high strung especially the agility dogs.
Reply:I do agree I have come across many dogs but the overall breed of the smartest dogs i have met are definetly border collies. they are willing to do anything.
Reply:I don't...
Reply:Because most people equate following orders with being smart.


And. I think, a lot of people like a dog they can tell what to do all the time. Intelligence does not always equal trainability.


You tell aDog to jump off a cliff, it does, is that smart?


You tell another dog to jump off a cliff, it ignores you, opens your refrigerator and eats the butter (I have an Afghan that does this!)


Which do you think is smarter?
Reply:The smartest breed is actually the poodle - they flirt with the Border Collies %26amp; get them to do all the work!
Reply:Have you ever seen a bored BC? Sure, other breeds get bored and they dig or tear apart the furniture or bark for hours on end. But a BC will rearrange your CD collection in nice little holes all over the backyard. Yep, I've seen it done:)





That said, the main gift of the dog species is their ability to read human social cues. Coren's tests are unintentionally designed to test how dogs read the cues. The dog knows where the food is, it just may take some time to figure it out. Of course his tests are timed on the FIRST try, not how quickly the dog learns when repeating the test.





Let's say your BC gets 3 points consistently across the board. A Golden gets 2 points consistently across the board. If you repeat the tests and the BC gets 4's and the Golden gets 5's whose smarter? The Golden LEARNED more than the BC but wasn't INNATELY more intelligent. Personally I'd take the dog that can learn, then you can teach them pretty much anything:)
Reply:Of those here touting against the intelligence of BC's, I say, own one, and then you'll know WHY they're considered the smartest dogs.





I'm owned by two. Soon to be three Borders. Of all the breeds I've owned and bred, the BC's outrank them in the IQ field by a LONG shot. Trainability is called aptitude in humans, yet when a human shows aptitude, we don't say they're "trainable". Instead we call them smart. The same thing applies with dogs.