Thanks to a study conducted with a thousand dogs of different breeds, it was determined which is the most intelligent dog. The Border Collie took second place.
A border collie. Photo credit: Pixabay
there dog breed smarter in the world is the Belgian Shepherd Malinois, an International Cynological Federation (FCI) official recognized breed of Shepherd Dog originating from the northern European country. Although it is commonly believed that the border collieIn a special study in which the scientists evaluated, the Malinois beat the competition thousand dogs belonging 13 different racesconsidered particularly efficient cognitive and intellectually. These include the Shetland Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, English Cocker Spaniel, German Shepherd, and others. The dogs underwent a series of tests (called smart dog) with ten different tasks, three behavioral and seven cognitive. The Belgian Malinois Sheepdog earned a score of 35 out of 39, easily beating the Border Collie, who placed second with 26 points. In third place, with 25 points, ended uphovawarta German dog breed, went straight off the podium with 24 points Spanish water dog (Spanish Water Dog).
The Belgian Shepherd Dog Malinois. Photo credit: pixabay
As the study authors specify, the “extraordinary genetic and behavioral diversity of dog breeds provides a unique opportunity to study the heritability of cognitive traits,” including solve problemsthe mnemonic skillsthe inhibitory control and the social perception. Since previous studies had uncovered inconsistencies and contradictions, the scientists wanted to work out the differences more clearly cognitive properties some dog breeds (including the “mixed“). The investigation was led by a Finnish research team led by scientists from the Department of Livestock Medicine at the University of Helsinki, who worked closely with colleagues from the Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine and the Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric Languages from from the University of Turku and the Helsinki International Partnership for Dogs The researchers, coordinated by Professor Sara Junttila, a professor at the University of Finland, conducted tests on the thousand dogs between March 2016 and February 2022. To assess their intelligence, they subjected them to various tests problem solving tasks. interpretation of human gestures and independence (the spirit of canine initiative in practice).
Malinois. Photo credit: pixabay
One of the most significant exercises was overcoming a large transparent V-shaped fence, behind which food was placed in plain sight; assessment of inhibition control in a cylinder test; the quickness with which they realized they couldn’t solve a problem (sealed canned meat) and therefore turned to the human companion for help; there behavioral response to various methods of pointing by a man (with one foot, with one hand, but looking away); and inferring the presence of food in a covered bowl next to an empty one. Each operation was assigned a score, which was used to rank the smartest dogs.
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hovawart. Photo credit: pixabay
As stated, the Belgian Shepherd Dog Malinois took first place with 35 out of 39 points; this breed, often used as police dog and on guard, He excelled both in the exercise of overcoming the V-shaped fence and in that of understanding people’s gestures, while he placed fifth in the independence tests (a request for help with an unsolvable problem). “Most breeds had their own strengths and weaknesses,” Professor Junttila, who specializes in canine cognition, told the Telegraph. “The Labrador Retriever, for example, was very good at reading human gestures but not so good at solving spatial problems,” while “some breeds, like the Shetland Sheepdog, scored fairly evenly on almost all tests, meaning they scored neither very high nor very low on any test.” “The Belgian Shepherd Dog Malinois excelled on many of the cognitive tasks and did very well on most tests,” repeated Dr. Katriina Tiira, CEO of smartDOG.
Spanish water dog. Source: Wikipedia
In general, the researchers found no significant differences in the tasks measured memory or the logical thinking of dogs, but they have evolved in problem solving, inhibitory control, and social cognition. According to scholars, they are probably properties that are influenced by artificial selection, which increased the qualities of the Belgian Shepherd Dog of the Malinois variety. The details of the research paper “Breed differences in social cognition, inhibitory control, and spatial problem-solving ability in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris)” were published in the journal Scientific Reports of the Nature Circuit.