Golden Retriever Dog Forums banner

How smart are YOUR Goldens?

2K views 24 replies 19 participants last post by  JayBen 
#1 ·
I mean the total package: trainability, understanding, etc. I hear that Goldens are considered the 4th smartest breed in the United States. The crazy thing, I've had owners tell me they are near human in intelligence, while another close friend swears personally that his pup has the IQ of a rock :D




Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App
 
#5 ·
LMAO!!! This made me burst out laughing making my husband think I'm nuts!

Brew for his age is incredibly smart! His desire to learn is just amazing. With training him I have to say I've done things quite a bit differently then a few of you, I'm not the type to use treats or food as a reward, I do sometimes, but for the most part I use praise and pats on the head to encourage the great behavior. I get the treats involved more for self rewarding him when we're working his nose, getting him to track the smells to a hidden location to find the treat. It's very fun, he seems to really enjoy it. I've had great success going this route with him.
 
#9 ·
Trainability to me is not the same as smart I would say my goldens are highly trainable I would not say they are particularly smart the wolfhound is way smarter but not nearly as trainable much more difficult to train and not nearly as interested in pleasing anyone but herself


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App
 
#10 ·
Smart is relative. Mine is super easy to train and he picks up on the slightest things. My favorite is that he has associated with getting fed with his food bowl (duh) and he will bring it to me in the kitchen from the hallway when I'm cooking dinner and he smells food. Tricky little thing. But yeah he is very easy to train and remembers commands very well. A lot of it is conditioning though. But of course I think he is the smartest dog in the world ;-)
 
#13 ·
Each one is so different..we had one golden we took to the playgrounds. She would climb the ladder on the slide the then go down. She could also open the doors and outside pressure gate that we woule actually have to put a lock through the fence.

However, we had another one the other hand who could not figure out how to play with her toys..after the other dogs showing her thousand times (many more things as well.)

However..the both had great personalities and their own special things about them. Love the Goldens!
 
#14 ·
I think the Stanley Coren measure of dog intelligence is based on how quickly the dog understands commands and how often they obey it, hence the high rating for Goldens, since I understand they are (in general) extremely easy to train:

The Intelligence of Dogs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Whether or not they're truly intelligent, one thing is for sure... they are definitely GOOFBALLS :D
 
#15 ·
Mercy is very smart! She outsmarts my husband and I alot. She runs off if we catch her with something in her mouth. It's hard not to chase her when we fear she might get sick off of whatever is in her mouth. We are trying to keep things out of her reach. She can stand up and surf shelves to find things and take them off. When Mercy is mouthing my feet, I run to her supply box and then she stops and comes over and sits because she knows that there are good stuff in there! I am taking Mercy to a Nosework class starting on Monday to redirect her her energies, so she can be happy and behave herself better as she builds a better relationship with me with her trust, respect of me and confidence level rising.
 
#16 ·
My Bella is very smart, but she's also very mischievous. Has selective hearing.
Case in point:
Bella kows all the basic training commands, come, sit, laydown, stay & even roll-over is in progress. Show her a biscuit she does these for rewards: no problem.
We have in the kitchen a clean dog towel that is hung on the back of a bar stool near the patio doors. We use it wipe Bella's feet when she returns from out side.
Bella ignores this towel all day long. BUT when we return from a walk or backyard play time she will grab to towel from the chair & take off with it. No commands work.
We have to corner her to get her to surrender the towel. Scolding, shouting No, Leave it, Drop it etc are all in-effective. She is in full play mode & won't repond to commands.
We refuse to offer treats to get the towel back, we did that with our last Husky & he became a regular towel/sock thief just to get the cookies. LOL

Mike D (Bella's dad)
 
#20 ·
Milla is still young, but is learning quickly on a lot of things. She got things like Sit, shake, lay down within a few minutes of training. I just wish she was a quicker learner when it came to things like potty training and biting. I guess those are normal issues for her age though. So far she is pretty easy to train. She's even picking up on things that we tell her once and dont actually train on. Like sitting and waiting to go to her food dish until told. I was amazed when she did it without me telling her.
 
#21 ·
My boy is /very/ goofy so it's hard to tell. He gets really excited whenever we try to do any training so teaching him something new takes awhile sometimes.. He'll just keep trying to high five me over and over again. Eventually it clicks after he's swatted me a bunch of times trying to get at my hand. :p: So I don't know what's going on there. But even if his intelligence is questionable at times, he is VERY obedient and listens very well.
 
#22 ·
Mine are both fosters for the local service organizations breeding program. The younger one, can fetch you a beer, flush the toilet, place laundry in front load washer and dryer and pull a chair over to the counter to snag the goodies I have placed on top of the fridge. The older one, I swear is autistic, she lives in her own little world. She totally ignores everything going on around her, and recently when they tried to breed her, she mounted the male:doh:
 
#23 ·
They are smart enough to train their people to provide them with all creatures' comforts; to know which pair of shoes means a walk and which one does not; to recognize key words in a whole spoken sentence (and to know when the sentence relates to something they might get or want to do); to interpret tone of voice and distinguish between a must do and a "oh well"; to use their sweet brown eyes and a cock of the head to get a not so well deserved ice cube out of the fridge.

If they were any smarter (and had opposable thumbs), they would rule the house. :yes: I am pretty sure my opposable thumbs are all that stands between peace an a take-over. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mandemetz
#25 ·
Lucy learned the basic commands at our level 1 obedience class so fast. It was amazing to see the difference in her from week 1 to week 8. She was always the example dog in class that the trainer would use. She also seems to know who wants to give her attention and who doesn't, how to play with puppies and how not to play so much with an older dog. I don't know how "smart" she really is but she IS a quirky golden and a joy to be around, and thats enough for me.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top