unintelligent dogs

I think it is important to have respect and admiration for your dogs. They all have something to give and we all have much to learn from them.

TO ALL

Why did you get so angry with me? I only said about my opinion. I didn't mean to hurt anybody. I only wanted to tell about my dog's disadvantages. But in spite of that I LOVE Caesar and I won't ever make him bad and my attitude to him is very good. I have three dogs and love all of them very much.

CarmysMom, I showed my East European Shepherd dogs and didn't show Caesar not because I don't love him. The point is that I bench Dana and Elanta and don't bench Caesar, because he is too old for it and there is now any his photos in the Internet. I can't still show his photos, because I live in the dacha (cottage) now and have only mobile internet which doesn't allow communicate photos  As soon as I can I'll show you him.
 
Your conclusion about my bad attitude to Caesar isn't correct.

About intelligent dogs
 
I think that intelligent dog must be sociable, have contact with the owner. And in my opinion intelligent dog can't be overly stubborn, agressive. In one word: intelligent dog must have common sense.IMHO

Your conclusion about my bad attitude to Caesar isn't correct.

 
I think it must be a language thing and some of us overreacted to the word repugnant. To me the use of that word implys that you find Chows offensive, which would be pretty sad.
 
When I learn Russian as well as you know English, perhaps we can compare how certain words don't translate so well.

Stacita, I agree with you. I used not corectly word. I meant another thing.  I have still been learning English. Because of my little English somebody understood me wrong I'm so sorry. I'm not a hater of Chows. Maybe it's merely not MY breed.
 
Stacita, do you learn Russian?

Stacita, do you learn Russian?

 
No, it's far too complicated for me. Your English is really very good, just some words to get lost in translation.

Thank you
 
I hope I'll manage to enlarge my vocabulary in time...

ORIGINAL: glenmar

I don't think it's fair to generalize about an entire BREED.....perhaps her chow is stupid, or perhaps, as someone said, he doesn't give a rodents rear end about pleasing HER.

My shepherds are are very intelligent.  Does that mean pleasing me?  Not so much.

Of the shepherds however, only TYLER has learned how to untie the piece of rope that holds the gate shut on the front deck.  I really need to get my act together and build a gate for the deck that latches.  He and Sheba LOVE to play on the front deck....it's enormous, running the entire length of the house and wide enough that DS parks his truck under it on one end.

Recently Tyler and Sheba were on the deck and decided to go around back to visit the other boys....both came immediately when I called, but with the detour for road construction going down our road it scared the snot out of me that they were loose and unattended.  In watching later we discovered that Tyler is the culprit.  For now it's bungeed.

Smart dogs are not necessarily easy to live with, that's for darned sure!

This has more to do with breeding and training, but I met a German Shepard that may not have been dumb, but had some severe behavioral problems.  She would bark and smarl at shadows and try to jump out closed windows.  The owners ended up giving her to a German Shepard sanctuary.  The lady who owned her was a mushy wooshy foo fooey dumby though.  She didn't believe in "training" because it would "ruin" the dogs spirit.  She also would ask you all sorts of questions like you were some sort of expert, when I worked at a pet store.  And for the most part, I had alot of answers, but she was off in la -la land when I would answer them for her.  She's ask the question, but ignore my answer. 

Honestly, I don't believe that there's any such thing as a dog that's not smart. All things are smart in their own ways. They might not be the ways that we think they are smart, but they sure do and other animals might as well. []

ORIGINAL: espencer

Thats impossible, every dog's brain is the same size as any other dog, its like saying that small people have a smaller brain and are not smart or basketball players are Einsteins since they are bigger therefore their brains are too

 
??? - ever put a toy breed beside a mastiff (or similar) - their entire body could fit inside that dog's head and neck - no way a mastiff has that small a brain

ORIGINAL: jeano

Thats impossible, every dog's brain is the same size as any other dog, its like saying that small people have a smaller brain and are not smart or basketball players are Einsteins since they are bigger therefore their brains are too

Espencer.....a "teacup" Yorkie's brain would rattle around Sofia's head like a marble. They DO have different size heads and they do have different size brains.


thank you!

I think science debated the old "size of brain" argument long ago -- it's not the size of the brain it's how it is developed and used.
 
However -- altho I haven't actually taken part in this whole discussion it's caused me to do some thinking and I'm going thru some stuff with Kee Shu right now and I'm going to make reference here AND I'm going to start a new thread ... well, just cos it might help someone.
 
Kee is a peke of undetermined age.  Both my regular and holistic vets think maybe 10 - 12 years old, but I've been told by a former owner she could be 16 (she was tossed around a neighborhood for years after one of the neighbors got her out of a HORRID situation in Chicago where she and a sibling were literally tied outside in Chicago 24/7 YEAR ROUND!!  *sigh*  One of the neighbors 'bought' them on a garage sale for $20 and they were passed from neighbor to neighbor just because everyone felt sorry for her and Mishu. 
 
When we first got her we affectionately referred to her as "not the brightest light in the box" -- and given her background ... well, a dog doesn't learn any more than it's taught, right??  But she is a SWEET little girl -- particularly for a peke, and she's got an incredibly docile, laid-back, very biddable personality.  She's GREAT at pet therapy.
 
But -- you'd think her brain was wrapped in cotton batting about 8" thick.  But the more we got to know her, the more we've realized it's more than just "not bright". 
 
Part of it is a defense mechanism -- if you don't act like you know much, no one expects much of you.  You can stay in the background, you can sink into the woodwork and no one hits you, hurts you or bothers you.  It insulates you.
 
But how much of this is practiced ... we weren't sure.  Altho she's not at all interested in being close to ANY human.  (I can hear her say it if she were human "Don't trust people -- they'll let you down eventually ... keep to yourself, and don't let them hurt you.  Don't love them and you won't get hurt.")
 
However I began to worry because she IS obsessive.  She has this complicated little air-licking thing she does -- not quite fly-catching but close.  Stress exacerbates it!!  **She'll crane her neck to the left, LOOK LOOK ... lick lick lick lick .... crane her head the other direction, look look ... lick lick lick lick ... ** -- repeat from ** for HOURS. 
 
My holistic vet kinda specializes in seizure dogs (acupuncture works REAL well on seizures) -- and Kee is what Dr. D has called "pre-seizure=y".  Like ... the slightest thing could put her over the edge.
 
Dr. D put her on one herbal (a Chinese herb) really soon after we got her and we saw it make a TREMENDOUS difference in the obsessive licking/head craning behavior AND I saw more clear thought from her -- far less of the "duh .... where AM I and what was I gonna do when I got here?".
 
Ok -- that's all I'm gonna say HERE about this. 
 
But I'm going to just put this out there for anyone who might care.
 
There are times when a dog's history may simply have caused the brain to not think clearly.  Not quite dementia ... but ... well, frankly, the Chinese word for it is "brain phlegm" -- brain fog is a pretty good word for it.  And it may simply be medical -- NOT intelligence.
 
I don't think Kee is the brightest light nor has she ever been.  But I don't think she's stupid.  I think she's made a LOT of life choices to avoid problems because she's been abused and neglected.  I think she's developed a life habit of not 'trusting' humans -- and she truly doesn't understand what it is to go to a human for 'comfort'.  But it LOOKS like she's numb and dumb. 
 
Lots of things can be done for that -- I can't undo Lord-knows how many years of neglect, nor can I force her to trust me.  But I can love her and I can help her.  And in turn she's awesome with the kids at Give Kids the World.  She's AWESOME with ... BABIES!!! Go figure!! 
 
Who on earth would ever think a peke would be ***AWESOME*** with babies??  patient.  and she completely enjoys being petted -- even if it's a bit heavy-handed-kid-wise.  They're MY size and that's "cool" she thinks!

aussiegirl

I've heard salukis being compared to cats all the time...so would that be the knowledge extent of the cat?

Maybe the Afghan appears so stupid on the charts because they have better things to do than learn stupid human commands...or eat, or get any human motivation whatsoever...they weren't bred to work alsongside people...more like ahead of them...

 

Having lived with Afghan Hounds for over 30 years, I can tell you that the difficulties folks have are due to the Hounds being smarter than the folks.  They were bred, thousands of years ago (see the canine genome work) to hunt independently AHEAD of mounted hunters.  The biddability (a word I love) level is lower than many breeds that were bred to work "with" humans, but the smarts are there.  That's why some owners get frustrated with the sight hounds in general.  Reliability is a separate issue from adaptive intelligence and should not be confused with it.  My wolf hybrid and 'ghans were/are very intelligent, but not into doing it FOR me.  The BC's, Cocker, GSD;s I've had were interested in what pleased me.  Coren, the guy who labeled 'ghans 'least intell" only looked at percentages of obedience titles as a ratio of dogs registered in any breed--a VERY poor choice to label "intelligent" wherefrom.  And when someone challenges Coren, he sends a form letter saying, in effect, well, maybe your (X) is an exception"  Jerk!!  Dumbest dog I ever had was a very sweet Collie/Huskie cross--I rescued her thinking she'd make a good obedience dog--HA!!  Her idea of a good time was going up and down the porch steps.  She was an easy dog to live with and lived a long time, but she was a dullard.

MJ for the Hounds of L'Rhel

Did anyone think to take the GSD to a vet?  Maybe she had a vision problem--always start with the potential of a physical reason for behavior problems/

MJ  dog trainer for 50 years

Well, if you would have asked this question a month ago, I would have told you my dog was unintelligent!  But she's just a puppy, so it's not that she's dumb, she's just goofy, no just kidding LOL  She is actually pretty darn smart, too smart sometimes.  I had heard years ago, when I was a kid that irish setters weren't too bright.  But I really don't know of an unintelligent breed, just unintelligent owners.  LOL