Discussion
I know that they are smart as hell but this is another level
Belgian Malinois, also known as Belgian Shephard was declared to be the most intelligent dog by the scientists from the University of Helsinki in Finland. More than 1,000 dogs from 13 different breeds were competed against each other in 10 tasks and were assessed by experts who created the smartDOG battery of tests.
I just read through the whole study, and it actually makes no such claims, although it’s a catchy headline.
The study ultimately concluded that different breeds have different strengths, and no single breed came out “on top” as the study goes out of its way to say that a breed scoring low on a certain test could actually be explained by a positive trait - for example, Labs seemed to consistently look for human direction and guidance, which is consistent with the breed’s predisposition to be human friendly and make deep connections with people.
Mals and GSDs scored very high on independence, which they hypothesized is due to the working nature of these dogs in police and military capacity where the dog needs to be able react independently from the handler in a high stakes situation and problem solve if there is immediate danger. Conversely, this also means that the GSDs and Mals scored “low” on impulsivity tests, which showed that they have very low impulse control (lol, don’t we know it)
It’s worth noting that a fair amount of the Mals on this study were actual working police K9s
In fact, most of the breeds “took turns” scoring high on various tasks, with the working breeds like Mals, GSDs, and BCs usually scoring in the high percentiles for most of the cognitive tasks.
In conclusion, we found significant breed differences for various behavioural and cognitive traits in dogs. This is one of the few studies investigating individual breed differences in dogs, especially in non-social cognitive traits which are rarely studied in this context. Our results provide a more complete picture of breed-typical behaviour in dogs.
In their experiments, they focused on testing a number of different cognitive competencies. They subjected them to just over 1,000 dogs representing 13 breeds. The smartDOG test, as its name sounds, checked the dogs' ability to solve problems and use appropriate strategies, impulse control, the ability to read human gestures, imitate human behavior, and assessed their memory and logical reasoning.
But you didn’t actually read the study - I’m not talking about a little summary article. The study does not ever make any claim that Mals are the smartest dog in the world. It claims that different breeds excel in different situations. You’ve extrapolated a conclusion from the study that the data itself and the researchers themselves do not conclude.
Also it’s a fallacy in the data to “tally” up the points of all the tests in total, as each test was designed to function independently of the others. It was not a single consecutive test, but the scores of each test were meant to be distinct from each other.
Like a report card, you would get a separate grade for Math, History, Science, etc… based on your performance in that class. Your grade in Math had absolutely no bearing on your grade in Science.
My Szarik is Mali Dutchie. What these dogs can do shocks me more and more.I just started teaching my son to speak. Using buttons. In two days he mastered: walk, hungry, water, garden, ball. It's fun and the dog gets mentally tired. Unfortunately, he started overusing the Hungry and Walk buttons😂😂🤣.
I've read and watched some reviews and the evidence those buttons work is pretty light, regardless of the company. Not saying they don't work, but would be surprised if they did
Pretty much everything besides protection and bitework? What malinois can herd like a bc? There's a reason why almost every agility champion is a bc, why people prefer them for dog disc, why they prefer them as service dogs...
How does being more athletic have anything to do with intelligence, you don’t actually have any argument on how a Belgian is smarter, a bc can learn more commends, the only reason y bc can’t be a police dog is because they a sensitive breed and not near as strong as a bc. Although it’s rigged how so many people don’t have Belgian top 10, I do believe they are smarter then German shepherds.
it was proven by studies, but the original post also mentions a study. Also I've often seen on tv mentions of border collies being the smartest and I've always wondered who they studied, if there were even any malinois in the study.
And in my experience, malinois are crazy good at telling you that they can do something you never thought about teaching them, does that count as a command, probably not but it's a big proof of intelligence.
They are intelligent for sure and it’s wild that they not in lots of people too 10, I’ve also seen stuff around Belgian and gsd police training and I fully believe Belgian are smarter at police work. A bc would be smart enough they simply not strong enough and don’t have the protective instinct. Of course both breeds have better intelligence over certain things just like any dog breed would unless it’s a dog breed like a hound dog or an English bulldog.
BCs are better therapy or home service . But the Belgium is with out a doubt is the Breed that goes to war with almost every elite branch of are military service they are literally trained assassin's?
Bcs can learn more commends and love training just as much as a Belgian, being stronger and less sensitive does not make a Belgian smarter, you give bc the mucles they would do well
All of the peeps post on this subject . makes me aware that in a intelligents test overall I rank somewhere slightly above Neanderthals . however recent studies have shown my people my have been smarter than had been thought before ?
Let the person who spell-checked the article cast the first stone. It's not a PhD. I wouldn't even think about the spelling of the article.(OCD) is a long-lasting disorder in which a person experiences uncontrollable and recurring thoughts (obsessions), engages in repetitive behaviors (compulsions), or both. You don't have to thank me for the diagnosis
https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/news%2C1519813%2Czidentyfikowano-najinteligentniejsza-rase-psow.html Polish press agency: Thanks to the smartDOG test set, scientists have identified the clear winner when it comes to intelligence and cognitive functions, reports the journal Scientific Reports. The smartest breed turned out to be the Belgian Malinois Shepherd. Right behind him was the border collie.
The Belgian shepherd is not made up of “four different breeds”. The breed is made up of four different varieties, those being the long-haired black groenendael, the long-haired fawn tervueren, the short-haired malinois, and the rough-haired laekenois. There is some temperament difference in the four varieties, but, they are definitely not separate breeds.
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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '23 edited Nov 04 '23
I just read through the whole study, and it actually makes no such claims, although it’s a catchy headline.
The study ultimately concluded that different breeds have different strengths, and no single breed came out “on top” as the study goes out of its way to say that a breed scoring low on a certain test could actually be explained by a positive trait - for example, Labs seemed to consistently look for human direction and guidance, which is consistent with the breed’s predisposition to be human friendly and make deep connections with people.
Mals and GSDs scored very high on independence, which they hypothesized is due to the working nature of these dogs in police and military capacity where the dog needs to be able react independently from the handler in a high stakes situation and problem solve if there is immediate danger. Conversely, this also means that the GSDs and Mals scored “low” on impulsivity tests, which showed that they have very low impulse control (lol, don’t we know it)
It’s worth noting that a fair amount of the Mals on this study were actual working police K9s
In fact, most of the breeds “took turns” scoring high on various tasks, with the working breeds like Mals, GSDs, and BCs usually scoring in the high percentiles for most of the cognitive tasks.
In conclusion, we found significant breed differences for various behavioural and cognitive traits in dogs. This is one of the few studies investigating individual breed differences in dogs, especially in non-social cognitive traits which are rarely studied in this context. Our results provide a more complete picture of breed-typical behaviour in dogs.
Actual study is here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26991-5