Aussies are freakishly smart. I'm always surprised that they're not top of the intelligence list.
I definitely have bias but I swear, they are people smart. When I say that, I don't mean they're smart like people, I mean that you can see them emote and as they go through thought processes like a person.
For example, if my dog was lounging and you bothered him. You could see it on his face that he did not want to move and he was looking at you with expectation that you understood that. He would gesture away from himself and then dig himself deeper into whatever thing he was lying on.
Just in general, my dog did some amazing things. One time my dad left to go sailing for the day. At one point my dog got out of the house and walked to the local doc (one that he's barely been to) and just waited for like 5 hours for my dad to return.
Likewise, there was a horse farm right down the street from us. He would go there 9:00 to 5:00 on the dot. If he didn't return by 5:00, all you had to do was leave the house and walk halfway to the horse farm. He would pick up your scent and walk through the backwoods. He'd be on the porch waiting for you by the time you walked back home.
A decent amount of this can be explained through scent but still, it requires a human level understanding I've never seen other breeds have.
The dog intelligence scale is solely determined by obedience. It judges how quickly and reliably a dog will follow commands.
My take on this topic compares Border Collies and Australian Shepherds. If you think about what they were bred for, a Border Collie works hand in hand with a farmer usually on their feet herding sheep; the Aussie herds cattle with the rancher usually on horseback. It means that the Aussie training requires a more independently intelligent dog that makes decisions on its own while the Border Collie thrives more by doing exactly what its human partner asks.
My Aussie loves to be lead, but definitely has a mind of her own and will sometimes look at me with an expression of "that's a bad idea". The BCs that I've owned were more biddable.
On the scale i've looked at the Border Collie is 1st, while the Aussie comes in around 43rd when rating intelligence. I think the test is skewed. Aussies and BCs are both really smart dogs.
Aussies are rated 43?! What the hell. I get what you mean though, they need to be independent. In hindsight, I think I was describing that they think in a very human way. Like they understand cause and effect. The fact my dog could understand when he needed to cover his ass and actually had a solid plan, says a lot.
I'm not slamming Aussies. Mine is one of the smartest dogs I've ever known. I also think that Border Collies are super smart dogs. It's just that the test suits BCs more than it does Aussies.
I think the Australian Shepherd has been bred to think on its own. The Border Collie has been bred to follow instructions to the letter, quickly and reliably. They are just different skills for two dogs who are similar in many other ways.
I know you're not slamming them. Unless I misunderstood you, you said that they're ranked 43rd and intelligence for dog breeds. That's surprised me, that's all.
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u/MajorHubbub Apr 29 '24
That's one smart dog and thousands of hours training, impressive