What to do with a Smart Dog?

 

How do dogs get so smart? It has been said that the Border Collie is the world's smartest breed of dog. I read  that this assumption was based on the opinion of over 200 obedience judges.

Stanley Cohen, author of The Intelligence of Dogs had those judges fill out a survey from which he derived his "smart" list. Obviously, obedience is a biased dog sport not necessarily based on the dog's natural abilities. It is far better to evaluate a breed of dog according to the purpose for which they were bred than a series of controlled exercises. 

I've seen many breeds perform just as well or even better in some instances doing agility than Border Collies. I was at an agility trial a few years ago where a Manchester Terrier took top honors, NOT a Border Collie. How could that happen you ask? 

Well, Border Collies for all of their intellectual prowess sometimes tend to do their own thing in the ring plus they also jump flat, consequently knocking bars down.  Both of those breed tendencies can cause lost points in the ring. The little Manchester was quite willing to stay with his owner and negotiated each jump with ease. So, even though Border Collie are said to be the most intelligent breed of dog let's not discount his other four paws friends for their own accomplishments.

Now if you do happen to have an budding genius on your hands how do you entertain him? Here is a list taken from the book Caninestein to help you curb his desire to take you house apart piece by piece. 

1. Getting and keeping a smart dog's attention is probably the biggest hurdle the owner faces. To this end, make yourself the most interesting thing in his environment. Praise in an excited, happy voice. Happy dogs indicate their pleasure by wiggling. You should do the same. Move about when you're happy with their performance. Act excited when giving commands. Vary rewards from petting and praise to food. Vary the types of treats you use. Make sure that nothing else around can compete with how interesting and fun you are. 
2. Because things usually come come so easily to the brainiacs of the dog world, they can get frustrated when something isn't working out for them. If the dog is stumped on an exercise, he'll go into a canine hissy and be unable to concentrate. Stop and try again another time. 
3. Have several exercises and their sequence in mind before beginning their training session. Once the bright dog understands the first command, he'll want to move right to the next challenge. Challenges are fun. Keep 'em coming. If you don't have something new to offer him quickly, he'll lost interest. 
4. Since this dog learns new commands almost immediately, it's best to stop teaching an exercise once he's performing it perfectly. If you ask him to repeat a behavior he already has down cold, his Royal Boredness will elaborate on the exercise. "How about if I add a pirouette to that jump?" the dog thinks, tired of the same old dull routine. His creativity will end up confusing both of you. 
5. Training sessions themselves can be short: ten to twenty minutes, three or four times a week would be sufficient. 
6. With a Caninestein, it is easy to try to progress too far, too fast. The fact that he has accomplished a command a few times does not signify that he really has it down in long term memory. Teach one increment at a time. Practice them for a week at a time and then proceed to the next step. If you have jumped too far and he becomes confused, simply go back one or two steps and repeat them. Copyright (c) 1997 Fischer & Delzio.