Can you believe Corgis are NOT on this list? How smart is your Corgi?

http://shine.yahoo.com/pets/5-most-intelligent-dog-breeds-144300530...

Corgis should definitely be in the top five.  My corgi outsmarts me all the time.  It's a constant race to figure out ways to foil his intelligent foraging.

The smartest thing Morty's done is to use objects as stepping stools to reach higher shelves.  He's used trash cans and the laundry basket (knocks over and jumps).  

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LOL. I love the part about trying to outsmart you when you ask them to do something ;->  So true... Or the other thing I get is the "mercenary" look... like what's in it for ME if I do this stupid trick for you? 

Corgis are always trying to out-smart you.  Max knows he is not suppose to come up the stairs except at bedtime...with his neck problem he is limited on stair climbing.  But he spotted our suitcases out so he knows we are leaving, the last several days he comes up the stairs as far as the landing whenever I am upstairs. 

See he knows if he comes all the way up I will yell at him but if he stays on the landing I will only say "Max" and shake my head.  You tell me he doesn't know the difference.  Katie, on the other hand, is blissfully ignorant what the suitcases mean. She has seen them many times, she just doesn't make any association with them.

I've never met a Golden Retriever that didn't have rocks rattling around in their big heads.  ... ... ... Jus' sayin'.  They can take direction, but they need to be very explicitly taught... Most of the time, "duh huh huh" is all I can see going on in there!  A lot of Corgis, on the other hand, seem to know exactly what you want and why you want it and when you decide to put a command to it pick it up very easily.  Whether they indulge you is another matter entirely.

Ha ha! That certainly fits my son's Golden. Gaze into his eyes and what you see are two adoring pools of bottomless vacancy.

Depends on how you define "smart." There are many different types of intelligences. Sure, I agree that Corgis are smart when it comes to learning commands - mine can learn a new command w/in minutes - but being "truly" smart is using that intelligence in good ways. When that intelligence is used to outsmart you, I call that being sly, stubborn, and mischievous. Take a very intelligent child, for example. He's brain-smart and has a high IQ, but doesn't put that to good use - for example, reads comic books in class instead of textbook, or grows up to be a rebellious teenager who hangs out with the wrong crowd. Is that really called being smart? In my book of manners...no. Dogs were breed to be "(wo)man's best friends", and they should like to please their owners. When Corgis do things to outsmart you, they're not trying to please you. I had a Maltese for nearly 16 years before we got our current Corgi, and my Maltese was one of the "smartest" dogs I knew. He was bilingual, understood 50+ words/phrases, but most of all, he was in tune to my emotions and could anticipate my upcoming moves. (For example, during my AM routine of getting ready for work, he would see that I was getting ready to go out, and he would walk over to a comfortable corner of the couch, curl up, and look at me as if saying, "Look at how good I am! I know you're going out and I'm staying home, so here I am!" And I would shower him with praise and affection, and he would love it. When I was sad, he was sad...when I was sick, he curled up in bed with me...when I'm happy, he's happy with me. According to Stanley Coren's "The Intelligence of Dogs", Pembroke Corgis are #11 on his intelligence list, and Malteses are #59. But if you read the fine print, his ranking system is based on how easy it is to "train" dogs to learn new commands, and based on the number of repetitions to understand new commands. In my mind, yes, Corgis are "smart" dogs that learn commands easily, but they need to put their smart minds in the right place. Malteses - at least the Maltese I had previously - was emotion-smart and in tune with their humans. My current 6 month old Maltese - he's not so bright when it comes to dropping his ice cubes into niches where he can't get to - but I'm still trying to determine what kind of smarts he has. =) Each dog and dog breed is smart in their own ways.

I wouldn't judge the entire breed by what's said here.

The Queen of the Universe does all those things you ascribe to the Maltese, and then some. And she is, unmistakably, a corgi.

LOL! Gotta say: all the hilarious descriptions of the antics these critters get up are making me kind of nervous about the arrival of the New Pup! Maybe Cassie is some sort of Wonder-Corgi? What if New Pup can levitate to the top of the kitchen counter, extracts chocolates by excavating the bottom of a computer case, excavates the desert landscaping, and heads for Yuma when called? Eeek!

Morty does make mischief but that is only 10% of the time.. 90% of the time he is obedient, sweet, and a cuddle buggy.  I like having an intelligent doggie.  I feel like I am challenged and he needs to be challenged.  I just imagine the moment I leave the house the mission impossible theme playing in his mind as he contemplates the next way to MacGuyver his was towards another forbidden meal.

That being said, I have stopped bringing poisonous-for-dogs foods into the house at all.  

LOL! That's true: We don't keep stuff like that at the Funny Farm. Besides, if it's bad for dogs there's some likelihood it's none too great for humans. ;-)

The reason I (naively???) crave a second corgi is because (except for some shrill barks) Cassie is SUCH a nice dog, so extraordinarily companionable and smart, that I imagine those are corgi traits. She's neck-and-neck with Greta, the Dog Who Saved My Son's Life, for the finest dog who's ever deigned to live with me.

But...she does not get into mischief. She seems to intuit what's needed to live quietly with great apes -- possibly she learned these things from her previous humans. Bossy, yes; trouble-making, no.

True.  My corgi was a stray on the city streets for weeks so he picked up a lot of scavenging habits (eating earthworms, digging through trash, and critical thinking ways to hit a high shelf).  When I rescued him, he was severely emaciated and had really bad mange on his bottom.  

He's fattened up on premium dog food (at perfect weight according to vet) and happy now, but still has a strong hunger urges.  His hair has even grown back in places the vet said would never come back!  I guess his naughty moments are also proof of his indomitable spirit and will to survive.

which is why i don't mind so much that he gets into trouble.  The corgi spirit is one hard thing to kill.  I'm more mad at myself for forgetting that trail mix has raisins or that avocado pits can be toxic.

Doglover..interesting the distinction you apparently are making with "smart" vs "intelligent".  According to your definition, probably Goldens would be the smartest dog.  I do think they are pretty smart, definitely very trainable....because they are so eager to please which some people love, others, not so much. I personally like the free thinking Corgi and don't think that trait makes them any less "smart".  Just my opinion.

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