Skip to content
even.best
🐕 Dog breeds

The smartest dog breeds

The top 3 according to 5 votes from people: Golden Retriever · Doberman Pinscher · Shetland Sheepdog. (Updated Oct 28, 2019.)

Psychologist Stanley Coren's ranking in The Intelligence of Dogs (1994), based on surveys of obedience judges: the top breeds learn a new command in fewer than 5 repetitions and obey the first command 95% of the time.

Émilie Lévesque · · 25 items · 5 votes · 1 comment

Automatically translated (original in Français). See the original

Top 20

  1. 1

    Golden Retriever

    Number 4 in Coren's ranking. Widely used as a guide and assistance dog.

    ▲ 1 ▼ 0

    1
  2. 2

    Doberman Pinscher

    Number 5 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 1 ▼ 0

    1
  3. 3

    Shetland Sheepdog

    Number 6 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 1 ▼ 0

    1
  4. 4

    Australian Cattle Dog

    Number 10 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 1 ▼ 0

    1
  5. 5

    Border Collie

    Number 1 in Coren's ranking. British sheepdog, the undisputed number one.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  6. 6

    Poodle

    Number 2 in Coren's ranking. Originally a water retriever.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  7. 7

    German Shepherd

    Number 3 in Coren's ranking. Police and military dog worldwide.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  8. 8

    Labrador Retriever

    Number 7 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  9. 9

    Papillon

    Number 8 in Coren's ranking. The only small dog in the top 10.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  10. 10

    Rottweiler

    Number 9 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  11. 11

    Pembroke Welsh Corgi

    Number 11 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  12. 12

    Miniature Schnauzer

    Number 12 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  13. 13

    English Springer Spaniel

    Number 13 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  14. 14

    Belgian Tervuren

    Number 14 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  15. 15

    Schipperke

    Number 15 in Coren's ranking. Tied with the Belgian Sheepdog (Groenendael).

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  16. 16

    Belgian Sheepdog (Groenendael)

    Number 15 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  17. 17

    Keeshond

    Number 16 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  18. 18

    German Shorthaired Pointer

    Number 17 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  19. 19

    Flat-Coated Retriever

    Number 18 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  20. 20

    English Cocker Spaniel

    Number 18 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0

Candidates

They don't make it into the top 20… yet. Vote for them to move them up.

  1. 21

    Standard Schnauzer

    Number 18 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  2. 22

    Brittany

    Number 19 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  3. 23

    Cocker Spaniel

    Number 20 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  4. 24

    Weimaraner

    Number 21 in Coren's ranking.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 0

    0
  5. 25

    Collie

    Number 16 in Coren's ranking. Lassie's breed.

    ▲ 0 ▼ 1

    -1

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.

Is something missing?

Log in to add an item

Comments (1)

Log in to comment

Pauline Garcia · Français

Mon border collie ouvre les portes tout seul, je confirme le numéro 1 😂

More rankings like this