The vast majority of us consider dogs to be smart animals. After all, a dog is a man's old and trusted friend, and this is an indisputable truth. Over the period of our close communication, hundreds of dog breeds have been bred. And which breed turned out to be the smartest? British scientists recently answered this question.
During the research of the intellectual abilities of our four-legged friends, they established the following. An ordinary dog, in terms of its development, thinks like a two-year-old child and understands the meaning (or rather, grasps the meaning) of 160 human words. There are more erudite dogs that are able to understand up to 250 words. In arithmetic, they are not inferior to three-year-olds and even four-year-olds. In social development, dogs are even more developed and reach the level of a teenager. Researchers have divided dog breeds into the smartest and “not so smart”.
So, what is the smartest dog breed in the world? Three breeds made it into the top three. Let's start from the end.
Third place went to the German Shepherd , which we hope needs no introduction. In second place, don't be surprised, is the Poodle . Yes, that curly favorite of ours. And the leader among intelligent dogs is the Border Collie .
Following the top three are Dobermans, Golden Retrievers, Labradors and Shelties. Hunting breeds, oddly enough, do not shine with special intelligence.
As a result of the tests, a 6-year-old female border collie named Chaser was recognized as the smartest dog in the world. In three years of daily training, she learned to recognize more than a thousand different objects by their names. For example, Chaser can find the one her owner asks her to bring in a pile of soft toys. Moreover, this smartest dog in the world even recognizes objects by color and shape, which children are taught to do before the age of 3. The experiments showed that Chaser remembered the names of more than a thousand different toys. She was also taught various manipulations with them: on command, she pushes them with her nose, moves her paw, etc.
The Border Collie is a typical shepherd dog breed. It has a plain appearance and can sometimes be confused with an ordinary black and white mongrel. However, this dog is extremely active and tireless in work or play. Another thing that distinguishes it from other dog breeds is its piercing gaze. Shepherds claim that a sheep caught in the “sights” of a Border Collie falls into prostration, and a rabbit can even die right there from a heart attack.
Border Collies, with their honest and open character, feel devotion and love for their owner. They are always family pets. However, this dog is not for everyone. It needs to be walked daily and for a long time and loaded with work, so that it does not get bored from idleness, lying by the sofa.
If you were asked which dog you think is the smartest, you would probably point to your pet. He can do tricks, too, can't he?
It is also worth noting here that cats are as smart and intelligent as dogs. However, it is impossible to provide specific results on their abilities. These whiskered-striped-tailed creatures are too freedom-loving and therefore practically cannot be trained or tested.
