Smartest Dog?

I didn't own Marley when he was three months old...hardly fair. It took him a week to get it down...after the nail incident!!! I don't have an ego...I just think more than one dog can learn to ring a bell to go outside!

My husband is a quadrapalegic...so Marley had to do a lot of training to be able to walk with him (he has to heel and allow the chair to go first in tight spaces) and pick up items for him...he a has learned much more than any service dog has at his age!!!

How many dinners has Kobe down stayed through in a restaurant??? Not on the patio...INSIDE the restaurant? Marley goes with us everywhere...even when we go on vacation!

Now that I think about it...Marley down stays through baseball games (where there are fireworks when they hit a homerun) and hockey games too (which are pretty loud)!!!

You know what though...you're right...Kobe is probably MUCH smarter than Marley!

Marley still has A LOT of training to go through considering he's only 1...

even things in different languages

 
My dog understands the difference between English, Spanish, and German.
 

Anyone see the Golden Retrievers trained to "read" from cue cards?

ORIGINAL: jetty

WELL!! Why hasn't anyone mentioned Foxhounds since they are clearly the out and out WINNERS!! []
 
To be honest, I think that more depends on the owner than the dog's breed.  At least in my experience so far! 
If people have a breed that is known for being stubborn, they are less likely to attempt to train them...  If you have the same expectations of any dog regardless of breed, I believe they can rise above and beyond!!!

 
Thanks for bringing hounds into the mix.  Any dog that has problem solving skills like a hound should be considered intelligent.  Hounds are stubborn but that doesn't mean dumb.  I trained my guy to heel and finish in about 3 weeks...2-4 minutes a day 3 days a week...total time about 35 minutes.  He learned sit, down, shake, spin, high five,  up, off, leave it, bow and a host of other behaviors by name by the time he was 4months.  He's a good match for me because I'm not a patient teacher.  So I'm a firm believer that Pharaoh Hounds are the smartest dogs in term of raw intelligence, but in terms of trainability there are tons of dogs out there that will learn commands and follow those commands with utter disregard for danger.  I've had akitas and shepherds that I know were obedient and very smart, but they weren't smart in the same way.
 
I don't condone the behavior I'm going to share but here's what my Xerxes did a few weeks ago at the park, keep in mind that he's only 13 months.  He was the victim twice previously, of attacks by a dog named "Lucky"(husky/shepherd mix.)  When Lucky came into the park I put my guy on lead after I saw him eyeing this dog.  After 20 minutes Xerxes is wrestling, Lucky has walked by several times and Xerx pays no attention to him.  I take him off the lead.  (He fooled me into thinking that there's no problem.)  He positions his wrestling buddy between me and himself.  Then he waits about 5 minutes until Lucky is in the middle of the park (and I'm distracted taking a call on my phone) and launches a coordinated attack with his friend, a pitbull mix,  from across the other side of the park. (I guess he used the pharaoh hound jedi mind trick on him.)  I had known it was coming and was already on the way to scene of the "smackdown" so the whole incident was just a few seconds.  Afterwards, before I could catch my little instigator, he was strutting around as if to say "That's right, I did this."  He spent the next 15 minutes on his back with all the dogs coming up to smell his business.  And the next 20 on lead, then we left. 
 
So because he has the ability to devise a plan, coordinate it, communicate and lead it, and be patient and utilize timing amongst other things I'd say he's up there in intelligence.  And it's scary... 

"Walk like an egyptian ..."

i didnt know people would be this opionated on this topic haha

I think my Shih Tzu Gingerbread is pretty smart, not a genius, but I'd say above average intelligence. He's especially quick to learn when he gets cookies. At one point when I was housebreaking him I started giving him a cookie when he "did his duty". It only happened once or twice before he sat there looking at me with an expression that said- "I believe I'm owed a Cookie". Too cute.
 
I used to have a Shar Pei that was dumb as a brick though! Our apartment had an enclosed patio; well my Shar Pei would stick his head through the bars, and then yelp as he squeezed his head back through...... then he'd do it again..... and again. It was like watching Homer Simpson! Doh!

I think a dog's intelligence is separate from the breed.  I had a Rottie that everyone thought was a dummy until they saw him out watching my kids play and herding them away from the driveway and other areas he knew they weren't supposed to be.  He could also find anyone of the kids if they were hiding outside.  He just like to play the role of big dummy but when he was out with his kids he knew he had to protect and watch them.
I think my Shih Tzu is smart in different ways then my Rott.  Each dog has their own special intelligence and us being owners can be the lucky one's to discover this.[]