Although the Border Collie has long been regarded as one of the smartest dogs for its herding skill, new research has credited another breed with that title: the Belgian Malinois. The study tested more than 1,000 dogs across 13 breeds to explore cognitive and behavioral abilities.
Malinois are celebrated for their keen sense of smell, guarding instincts, and work as police dogs. They are known for independent thinking, quick problem solving, and a strong ability to respond to human needs. They also show a notable talent for understanding people, making them standout performers in various roles.
Researchers from the University of Helsinki in Finland contributed the most comprehensive dataset to date on the cognitive traits of different dog breeds. In a large-scale evaluation, 1,000 dogs from 13 breeds were subjected to ten tasks that encompassed seven cognitive challenges and three behavioral assessments. The team behind the tests, smartDOG, then evaluated the results.
Dr Saara Junttila, a canine cognition researcher at the University of Helsinki, explained to The Telegraph that every breed displayed its own mix of strengths and weaknesses. The study aimed to map these differences rather than rank breeds by a single measure of intelligence.
For instance, the Labrador Retriever excels at reading human gestures but struggles more with spatial problems. Some breeds, like the Shetland Sheepdog, scored evenly across almost all tests, showing no clear dominance in any single area.
The Belgian Malinois performed well on most cognitive tasks and showed particularly strong results across several measures, according to Katriina Tiira, founder and CEO of smartDOG, who described the breed as highly capable in cognitive testing.
The Border Collie also performed well in the battery of tests, the researchers noted. In contrast, the Hovawart earned a bronze placement, slightly ahead of the Spanish Water Dog in the general intelligence scoring.
One test targeted problem solving using a V-shaped barrier. In this task, a dog had to navigate around a transparent obstacle to reach a visible food reward. This specific exercise helped gauge problem-solving skills across breeds.
The study also evaluated how dogs interpret human gestures by measuring responses to five cues: continuous pointing, brief pointing, leg or foot pointing, pointing while looking away, and following gaze.
Researchers also examined how independent a dog tends to be and how quickly it seeks human help when faced with a difficult task. An unsolvable challenge, such as an unopenable box, was used to measure this social aspect.
Understanding human gestures emerged as an indicator of social cognition. Dogs that performed well in this area are considered skilled at reading and understanding human actions, Junttila noted.
The researchers highlighted that the way a dog deals with problems and its tendency to ask for help versus solve matters alone can be useful in different real-world contexts.
malinois, champion
The data show the Belgian Malinois ranking first in both human gesture comprehension and the V-turn task, placing it among the most independent breeds overall.
In the general intelligence score, the Belgian Malinois achieved the top mark, reaching 35 out of 39 possible points.
Border collies earned a strong second place with 26 points, followed by the Hovawart in third at 25 points, just ahead of the Spanish Water Dog.
Keen emotional insight is a hallmark of breeds like the Golden Retriever and Labrador. They scored highly on the gesture tests but did not lead in the other two categories, ranking 13th and 9th respectively.
The research team cautions that pure rankings by general intelligence offer limited value. It is more informative to understand which breeds excel at specific traits and tasks.
Reference work: Nature article on canine cognition results, with full methodology and breed comparisons cited for context.
The study emphasizes that breed performance reflects particular cognitive abilities rather than a single, universal measure of intelligence.