| Tempus |
04-29-2008 03:36 PM |
Petsmeds info says:
"In 1994, nearly 200 judges from the Canadian and U.S. Kennel Clubs were asked to complete a questionaire about the characteristics of various dog breeds, most notably the intelligence level of these breeds. The intelligence ratings were based on how many repetitions it took for a certain breed to master a new command. The breeds on our list took at least 80 repetitions (or more) to learn a new command, and tended to obey first commands less than 25 per cent of the time. "
But that doesn't address things like purposeful breeding etc. mainly the Basenji, Bulldog, Beagle and Bloodhound. The Bloodhound in particular not only has a spectacular sense of smell but are easily trained to use it properly, the same goes (to a lesser scale) for the Beagle and Basenji. The Bulldog can be taught to do anything that will get it food within the bounds of its physical ability. How many videos are there of them climbing ladders or riding skateboards?
Anyway, I don't think that rating any breed on its "untrainability" is a reasonable endeavor due to the variety of things that dogs have been specially bred for. Let's see a Miniature poodle heard sheep or hunt badgers or fox. Rating for general trainability is great and all but rating a breed as "dumb" or untrainable just seems arrogant and a bit ignorant if you ask me... which no one did.
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