Which Doodles are Smartest?
Doodles are increasingly popular for a number of reasons. They’re usually the product of two very desirable breeds. Often chosen because of coat qualities (being more hypoallergenic or possibly less shedding,) they’re also almost always very sweet, very loyal pets. But there is another question I hear often. Which doodles are smartest?
This is a difficult question to answer. There are very different kinds of intelligence, and what matters to one dog owner may not matter to the next. And unfortunately, sometimes pet owners don’t recognize or value their dog’s intelligence because the animal is never put in the right environment.
A standard for judging canine intelligence was developed by canine psychologist Stanley Coren in the 1990s. He created testing methods that evaluated a number of different things in order to determine well-rounded “dog-smarts”. Coren defined three aspects of a dog’s intelligence: instinctive intelligence, adaptive intelligence, and working and obedience intelligence. He applied these different types of learning abilities and then ranked dog breeds according to their overall score. His top 5 were as follows:
- Border Collie
- Poodle
- German Shephard
- Golden Retriever
- Labrador Retriever
So what about Doodles? How do they rank?
While no testing has been performed (to my knowledge) to determine the intelligence of doodles, it stands to reason that a healthy combination of these highly intelligent purebred dogs will produce potentially equally smart offspring.
A combination of a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle, for example, should have exceptionally intelligent puppies. (Labs ranked number 7 on Coren’s list and Poodles are number 2.) Pairing the Poodle with a Golden Retriever, which comes in at #4 on the list, might even produce greater intelligence! But the doodle that has the potential to be the smartest dog, based on Dr. Stanley Coren’s studies is the Bordoodle!
Border Collies are working dogs that rank highest on the intelligence scale, based on instinctive, adaptive, working and obedience intelligence. They’re off the chart smart and quite often win agility competitions that require athleticism as well as intelligence. When it comes to obedience intelligence, the three breeds mentioned above (Border Collies, Golden Retrievers and Labradors) finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the 2019 Westminster Masters Obedience Championship.
Conclusion…
There are other studies taking place that might give us even more clues in the future. But for now, one might safely assume that Doodles, typically being the product of very intelligent breeds, will also be very intelligent. Further, based on Coren’s work, we might safely assume that the Bordoodle is potentially the brightest of them all!
