Dogs are as smart as 2 year-old kids

A recent study reveals that dogs are as smart as 2 year-old kids. The finding is based on a language development test, showing that the average dog can learn 165 words, including signals and gestures, which is about the same amount a 2 year-old toddler can learn. Dogs in the top 20% can learn 250 words.

The smartest dogs in terms of IQ are border collies, poodles, and German shepherds, in that order. These breeds have been created recently, evolutionarily speaking, and may be smarter because humans have trained them to be that way.

But dogs are as smart as 3 or 4 year-olds in math skills, and act more like human teenagers as far as social skills (who is the coolest dog, who sleeps with who...).

The least of the smartest in terms of IQ are many of the hounds, the bulldog, beagle, and basenji. Again, this is because they are much older breeds and they were trained to hunt. If they were tested on instincts they would probably do better than others.

Based on "school smarts," the top seven smartest dogs are:

1. border collies
2. poodles
3. german shepherds
4. golden retrievers
5. dobermans
6. shetland sheepdogs
7. labrador retrievers