Quote:
Originally Posted by trevesty
The ones I interact with often are loving & playful & all that, but I wouldn't say anything even remotely close to "intelligent".
Your reaction was typical, though, of most amateur pit owners I've met. I have nothing against the breed at all - they're just dumb.
Temperament has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence, so I'm unsure why you brought that up at all.
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A dog from no matter which breed is only as smart as they are trained. That holds true for Border Collies and Golden Retrievers. Those two breeds rank at the top for dog intelligence, and Border Collies in particular are capable of learning around 350 cues as compared to most dog breeds which are capable of around 200. But if that dog is never taught anything, where is the intelligence? It is the same for any breed.
Never assume. I've never owned a Pit bull. I put myself out there and actually went to see first hand what these Pit bulls are really like. I volunteered my time at an animal shelter.
I never said that temperament and intelligence were the same thing. I do think that if they do well on a temperament test (if done by a competent tester) that they will do well with working with a trainer. I wasn't implying that their propensity to learn is some how as good as a Golden Retriever. Since Pits aren't an official breed, they haven't been measured for intelligence like Border Collies and Labradors have.
What is true is that Pit bulls do excel in sports such as canine obedience competitions and agility. And as you already know they work well with drug enforcement and search and rescue. It's not fair to base the intelligence on all Pits just based on the word or observation of one to three people. I look at the bigger picture and research the data coming from well educated canine professionals.