Too dumb to learn?

Anybody who teaches dog classes hears them. The excuses. People are so earnest when they tell us why they can't possibly take a class.

"My dog is dumb as a rock. He could never learn."

"She's so stubborn!" (also substitute obstinate, stupid, lazy, spiteful)

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

The people who tell us this are very well-meaning and sincere. They are usually quite intelligent themselves, but have failed to teach their dog to do (or not do) certain things. Ergo, the dog must be stupid.

But the thing is, dogs are not dumb. Dogs are one of the most amazingly intelligent creatures walking the earth today. I have a theory about dogs, firmly supported by the College Of No Data Or Research. My theory is that when dogs decided to partner their lives with ours, there were advantages to making themselves useful; doing jobs for us. And to be useful to the 2-footed critter with the most evolved and convoluted brain in the known Universe, they needed to evolve a tremendously powerful brain of their own. In many ways, dogs actually outmatch us. For instance, they are far better at reading humans and interpreting human-speak than we are at reading them. Scientists are just now finding that dogs outperform chimps in some tasks.

Obviously there are ranges of intelligence in dogs, just as there are in people. But what most people see as "stupid" is really biddability, or lack of it. Some dogs have been bred to work extensively directly with man. They have been bred to want to please us (biddability). They are generally seen as quite intelligent. Most of the sporting breeds, many of the herding breeds (especially Border Collies), and some of the working breeds like Dobermans and Rottweilers are good examples.

Other breeds are hardwired to be focused on something *other* than us. A Bassett hound's world is his nose. Terriers are bred to hunt vermin. Sled dogs are bred to pull. All of these breeds were deliberately selected to NOT depend so much on humans, but to use their instincts independently or within a pack of other dogs. They are often seen as "dumb." They aren't stupid at all. They just sometimes need different motivators to want to work with us.

Above all that, is training technique. The reason we instructors are here is not to train your dog for you, but to give you the tools to train your dog yourself. A lot of failures in training are simply because owners don't know the right technique or have the right motivational tool to vest their dogs in performing a specific behavior.

But trust me. Your dog is actually pretty amazing in the brains department. He can learn. And guess what. You can learn how to train him too. It's not as hard as you might think. Try it!

--Robin