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I don't want to use the word "smart," because people might associate it with doing stupid dog tricks, etc.
I am talking about being "human" like. I am talking about the German Sheppard who track down its dead owner's grave miles away and stay there for months and possibly years.
I am talking about an Akita who goes to the train station every day at the sametime to wait for his owner to come home, who has passed away.
I am talking about an large/mid size dog in Japan who keep barking at rescuue workers and bring them to its owner who's trapped in rubbles from earthquake.
You never hear small dogs doing anything close to that. These are not actions that require large dog's stength. It's just the human/intelligence aspect of it.
Sorry but small dogs have been known to do the same thing...Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for supposedly spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died himself on 14 January 1872.
Many of the so called smartest dogs are small; Papillons and Minature and Toy Poodles are known for their smarts.
In Europe they routinely use smaller dogs for their Search and Rescue programs and here in the US they are now looking at smaller breeds. Beagles are already being used in airports. One of the pluses about using a smaller dog is they have a longer active life span and after trainning bigger dogs to work they often have to be retired at an earlier age where a small dog tends to have a longer active life span.
I have a friend who breeds and competes her long haired standard dachshunds in tracking (among other things) and she's been approached about the feasability of utlizing them for SAR work. Her doxies remain active and healthy into their teens.
I don't want to use the word "smart," because people might associate it with doing stupid dog tricks, etc.
I am talking about being "human" like. I am talking about the German Sheppard who track down its dead owner's grave miles away and stay there for months and possibly years.
I am talking about an Akita who goes to the train station every day at the sametime to wait for his owner to come home, who has passed away.
I am talking about an large/mid size dog in Japan who keep barking at rescuue workers and bring them to its owner who's trapped in rubbles from earthquake.
You never hear small dogs doing anything close to that. These are not actions that require large dog's stength. It's just the human/intelligence aspect of it.
You obviously are unaware of the true story of Greyfriar's Bobby.
Sorry but small dogs have been known to do the same thing...Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for supposedly spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died himself on 14 January 1872.
I don't want to use the word "smart," because people might associate it with doing stupid dog tricks, etc.
I am talking about being "human" like. I am talking about the German Sheppard who track down its dead owner's grave miles away and stay there for months and possibly years.
I am talking about an Akita who goes to the train station every day at the sametime to wait for his owner to come home, who has passed away.
I am talking about an large/mid size dog in Japan who keep barking at rescuue workers and bring them to its owner who's trapped in rubbles from earthquake.
You never hear small dogs doing anything close to that. These are not actions that require large dog's stength. It's just the human/intelligence aspect of it.
If a small dog did those things in bold, someone would just stop and pick them up and take them home.
I've owned extremely large dogs and some extra tiny dogs, and size has no bearing at all on intelligence.
I'm going to disagree that sitting on a master's grave has anything to do with brain power at all. It's loyalty, not smarts. A dog with the IQ of a cabbage is just as capable of sitting on a grave as a highly intelligent dog.
I've owned extremely large dogs and some extra tiny dogs, and size has no bearing at all on intelligence.
I'm going to disagree that sitting on a master's grave has anything to do with brain power at all. It's loyalty, not smarts. A dog with the IQ of a cabbage is just as capable of sitting on a grave as a highly intelligent dog.
That's why I SPECIFICALLY didn't use the word "smart."
Both my big dog and little dog 'act' like humans. Just last night I went to get into bed and my little dog was under the covers with her head on my pillow. Before my big dog got to old to get up on the bed, I'd come home to find my pillow with an indent and wet spot from drool.
Both dogs are intelligent, the little dog just expresses it more. Big dog is a working breed so he only concerns himself with 'work'. Little dog is more social so when the keys come out, she runs for the door. This is not a 'trained habit', she's not been raised to go with us every time we leave. So while associating keys with a car ride is intelligence, the aknowledgment of someone leaving and her running for the door is akin to a human seeing an event that they want to be a part of.
It is human for an inmate to clank his cup on his cell bars because be wants a drink, then it must be human like for my dog to clank her food bowl with her feet to tell us its empty.
Big dog just comes and stares. He uses body language to communicate. My daughter fell asleep with her dinner plate. Big dog came to us and stared and when we asked 'what?' He pointed to her ...with his nose, only because he does not have fingers.
Like children, both dogs give thrmselves away when they have done something they know they should not have. And both big and small dog sigh when they don't get their way.
So any dog, regardless of size is or can be quite human like. How much like a human or what they do that is human like is dependent on the individual dog.
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