# What does "My dog is dumb" really mean? Are people just kidding or is their dog actually stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764 "2012-02-13T23:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/1 "2012-02-13T23:39:20Z")
[In this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=641876)there was some 'My dog is dumb! - No my dog is dumber!" - one upsmanship going on and I was wondering what really defines a dumb dog? Are they untrainable or what? What makes a dog “dumb”? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/2 "2012-02-13T23:57:41Z")
Inbreeding and over breeding dogs has resulted in behavior problems and sadly in some cases mental deficiency. Cocker Spaniels are a good example. They were extremely popular thirty years ago and over breed. Resulting in very nervous, agitated dogs that were known to bite. Lots of shaking is a good indicator that something isn’t quite right. Some breeds have developed health problems that get passed from generation to generation. Smart dogs learn quickly. They anticipate their owners needs. I’ve seen a few dumb ones too. Walking into furniture, barking at nothing, chasing their own shadow. Google dog over breeding effects - for several articles ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/3 "2012-02-14T00:00:30Z")
Here’s a [tract](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html) that explains how you can test for and live with a simple dog. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/4 "2012-02-14T00:01:42Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [In this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=641876)there was some 'My dog is dumb! - No my dog is dumber!" - one upsmanship going on and I was wondering what really defines a dumb dog? > > Are they untrainable or what? What makes a dog “dumb”? Well, I think it’s pretty clear that [this is a dumb dug](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/5 "2012-02-14T00:08:51Z")
I had a pretty stupid dog once. She couldn’t learn anything. She was found in the woods, and socially backward for a dog. She wasn’t destructive though, and she didn’t bark, and we didn’t need a barking dog at that time. But if ever there was a waste of carbon compounds, this dog was it. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/6 "2012-02-14T00:12:27Z")
I think anyone that has been around lots of dogs finds that, yes, there are some that are incredibly smart and others that are on the other end of the bell-curve just like people. Dumb dogs are hard to train or can’t be at all, make the same motor mistakes over and over like bumping into things, or do bizarre things like react to people they know as strangers if they are dressed in different clothes and freak right out. I have never met a smart dog that chased its own tail or had chronic perceptual problems with mirrors but some dogs never figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/7 "2012-02-14T00:18:47Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I have never met a smart dog that chased its own tail or had chronic perceptual problems with mirrors but some dogs never figure it out. I had a border collie/lab mix who was smart as a whip. I mean really smart. Learned all sorts of commands, walked to heel on and off leash. But man that dog loved to chase his tail. I mean, he loved it. Of course, he probably realized it was his tail and was just doing it to entertain us. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/8 "2012-02-14T00:19:15Z")
Sometimes I swear you can almost hear a dog thinking. Especially when they are exposed to something brand new like a mirror. They’ll have this puzzled looked and then it goes away after the wheels turn and they figure it out. I saw it once when my young Boston Terrier heard her first television. Freaked her out for a few seconds and then she realized no one was really there. She ignores it now. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/9 "2012-02-14T01:35:02Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Well, I think it’s pretty clear that [this is a dumb dug](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html). There’s also this [classic example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZsG28JcRg8) of canine idiocy. But yes, dumb dogs are difficult to train, and just generally communicate with. Once you’ve had a dog for a while, usually they kind of work with you without being formally trained with commands. For instance; when I want to take my pack of hounds somewhere in the car, I say “lets go” or whatever, and they all run outside with me, and get in the car when I ask them to. I never trained them to get in the car, or many of the other things I ask them to do, but we never have problems. Maybe not the best example, but you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/10 "2012-02-14T01:48:15Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I had a border collie/lab mix who was smart as a whip. I mean really smart. Learned all sorts of commands, walked to heel on and off leash. But man that dog loved to chase his tail. I mean, he loved it. Of course, he probably realized it was his tail and was just doing it to entertain us. Or something. Well on the opposite side of the coin I have the smartest canine best friend ever right now. Blackjack is a border collie/sheperd mix, and he is amazingly smart, and he was already 9 when he came to live at my house. He can pick up vocabulary readily, and learns rules and patterns effortlessly. He’s unbelievably intelligent for a dog. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/11 "2012-02-14T03:30:38Z")
I think a lot of it is owners too clueless to train train the dog. They have a dog smart enough to know exactly what the owner wants and how to get what they want without doing it. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/12 "2012-02-14T03:40:50Z")
I have a dog that sometimes misses the door, even when she just HAS to go out. But that may not count, as she’s beyond dumb, and clearly into 'tard territory. ---
**Author:** ![iftheresaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/13 "2012-02-14T05:16:18Z")
I often describe my dog as a mutt with the coloring of a rottweiler, the disposition of a golden retriever, and the mind of a brick. She’s good about some things - she knows where the boundaries of our unfenced yard are and has only chased and animal outside of them once in four years, and she’s great with other animals - but damn, is she dumb. She regular runs into walls, particularly when she’s walking through a doorway and turns her head too soon. She can’t play fetch - she’ll run past the stick, or lose sight of the ball, and even when she actually gets the item, she only brings it back perhaps one time in five. Even things that should be physical senses, like smell, she hasn’t got down. Drop a piece of ham on the floor a foot from her face, and she’ll spend five minutes trying to find it. For all that, she’s sweet and loyal as hell, and she obeys to the best of her capabilities, however slight they may be. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/14 "2012-02-14T07:04:00Z")
We’ve had enough dogs to see big differences in intelligence. Ki, our cocker spaniel/border collie mix was a genius. We had guide dogs puppies that were no smart. We got a yuppie puppie machine which dispensed treats when the dog hit a handle with his paw. Ki figured this out in under five seconds. The puppy never did, even though Ki tried to show him. ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/15 "2012-02-14T07:10:52Z")
My dog is a big old sack of stupid. Except when it comes to food. He can find food, seek out food, con you out of your dinner. Basically he’s good at being a dog. He sleeps, eats, barks at the mailman and being my friend. But for anything else he’s basically, “Dah-a-hee” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/16 "2012-02-14T07:42:15Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Cocker Spaniels are a good example. They were extremely popular thirty years ago and over breed. Resulting in very nervous, agitated dogs that were known to bite. Lots of shaking is a good indicator that something isn’t quite right. Some breeds have developed health problems that get passed from generation to generation. CS’s were like this in the 1970s. Also, they frequently urinated when agitated. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/17 "2012-02-14T13:59:04Z")
My younger dog may have had the potential, but it was lost when she had to spend the first four years of her life with no human contact or intellectual stimulation. She was a breeder bitch in a puppy mill and did nothing but make babies in a cage until she was taken by rescue. She is the sweetest-tempered, most affectionate dog I’ve ever known, and I think that also is part of her background as she craves human contact so much, but she doesn’t learn well. She doesn’t learn commands or use logic. Even after more than four years with us, she worries we’re going to hit her or kick her. My boy dog, OTOH, was a stray for quite a while, estimated at least a year and maybe several years by the animal behaviorist we took him to. He had to learn how to survive by his wits, and he’s very smart. We haven’t taught him a lot of tricks, but he can figure things out all by himself. There’s a lot to how much opportunity they have to develop their intellect. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/18 "2012-02-14T15:01:27Z")
> [@iftheresaway](#): > > I often describe my dog as a mutt with the coloring of a rottweiler, the disposition of a golden retriever, and the mind of a brick. She’s good about some things - she knows where the boundaries of our unfenced yard are and has only chased and animal outside of them once in four years, and she’s great with other animals - but damn, is she dumb. She regular runs into walls, particularly when she’s walking through a doorway and turns her head too soon. She can’t play fetch - she’ll run past the stick, or lose sight of the ball, and even when she actually gets the item, she only brings it back perhaps one time in five. Even things that should be physical senses, like smell, she hasn’t got down. Drop a piece of ham on the floor a foot from her face, and she’ll spend five minutes trying to find it. > > For all that, she’s sweet and loyal as hell, and she obeys to the best of her capabilities, however slight they may be. She could also just be kinda blind. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/19 "2012-02-14T15:08:22Z")
My dog is very trainable but definitely not smart. My old dog was a Westie and he was too damned smart for his own good - taught himself all sorts of things like opening doors, taking down baby gates, etc. Captain is afraid of rain and remarkably easy to fool, but he also is super-trainable and very eager to please. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764/20 "2012-02-14T15:29:14Z")
Over the years I’ve observed that what human beings call intelligence in dogs is some combo of high energy, focus, lack of fear, good early environment (dogs have a small window of opportunity during puppyhood for optimal exposures to various things, after which they’ll never be the dog they could have been), plus – maybe – actual intelligence (higher problem-solving/memory/reasoning abilities). Lots of dogs seem stupid when they are just poorly motivated by the possible reward, low-energy, fearful, or easily distracted, none of which is actual stupidity. And then there are the poorly-wired dogs who aren’t exactly stupid, just crazy. I’ve met a number of Border Collies who were bright all right, just nuts. Few jobs we want dogs to do require intelligence (herding livestock happens to be one of them, so that’s where Border Collies get it), so not a lot of selection for that trait. Most dogs pretty much are supposed to sleep all day and look happy to see you when you come home, and anything more ambition than that is a liability to them. May as well be cats. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-dog-is-dumb-really-mean-are-people-just-kidding-or-is-their-dog-actually-stupid/612764.md?page=2)