After 3 Irish Setters and 2 Standard Poodles, I am shocked, shocked that the Setter didn’t make the bottom 10 dumbest. Does anyone know where the Setter ranks?
BTW, the Poodles are really smart. The Border Collie is smarter but is really weird if you can’t run it a lot.
Dumber than a box of rocks, but they sure are perdy!
I have known an Irish Setter to chase the spot illuminated by a flashlight beam in a dark room. If you moved the light around, he would chase it.
Another Setter chewed up a boat model I made as a kid, using glue and flat toothpicks. I spent maybe twelve hours on that thing. It was nothing but white glue and toothpicks. He thought it was food.
As an intelligent dog, the Irish Setter is very pretty.
BTW, the Poodles are really smart.
Yes. Some of them seem too smart to be dogs.
Based on the ones we had when I was growing up, Irish Setters come in as the #1 Silliest dogs.
Its not so much the excercise, although they do need to be able to runn a lot, the most important thing with Borders is to engage thier mind. I mess with my Borders mind all the time. Problem is . . .he turns right around and messes with me back!
The Border Collie and the Standard Poodle are usually ranked one or two, sometimes switching places depending on who made the list.
The Border Collie gets high marks because of it’s tremendous skill as a herder, it’s said the Standard Poodle smarts are more applicable to it’s interactions with humans as it’s uses have always involved human interaction so unless you’re herding things you’re experience will be that the Poodle is smartest.
I’ve also read that all dogs are basically of the same intelligence it’s just that their intelligence as they interact and relate to HUMANS is different. The Afghans are high-strung and independent and don’t necessarily WANT to listen to humans, doesn’t make them idiots. The Poodle LIVES to please humans, hence their history as hunting dogs, circus dogs, etc. Their intelligence as they relate to us is a large step above any dog I’ve owned or known.
This was best put by my old girlfriend originally from Israel who has never quite mastered the nuances of the English language.
I would love to have an Afghan, they’re so beautiful, but did you ever try to talk to one? They’re so stupid! I told her yes, they’re horrible conversationalists.
You can talk to the Poodle, they pick up things very quickly, I taught my dog to sit and give me his paw in literally 5 minutes and never had to teach him again. They can have a huge library of words and phrases they understand, get specific toys, etc.
I’m not sure whether setters are dumb or just stubborn. We had one, once, that we took in from a relative that gave up. You couldn’t teach it anything, it drove us crazy. But, one time when we went for a Sunday visit to my in-laws, we were late getting home, it was about 10PM, and the dog hadn’t been fed. She was closed in a laundry room that was really just the end of a hallway with four doors and a closet. The dog had opened the sliding doors of the closet and lifted out a can of dog food from the case and bit around the top of the can until it got it open, and ate half the can of dog food.