The intelligence of dogs There are three types of dog intelligence: instinctive intelligence, adaptive intelligence, and working and obedience intelligence. The first is a dog's ability to perform the tasks people (1) had bred / were breeding it to do. For example, in Britain, people (2) used to / would enjoy a sport called 'bull baiting' in which dogs (3) attacked / were attacking an angry bull. Bulldogs were bred to have strong jaws so that they would be good at this cruel sport. Thankfully, the government (4) banned / had banned the sport in 1835. Adaptive intelligence refers to a dog's problem-solving abilities such as how to reach something it wants. Working and obedience intelligence refers to a dog's ability to learn from humans. Psychology professor and dog lover Stanley Coren (5) had been wondering / was wondering for some time how to calculate this. While he (6) researched / was researching dog behaviour, he realised he could measure how long it took different breeds to learn and obey a command. In 1994, he (7) had published / published his findings in a book, The Intelligence of Dogs. According to Coren and the obedience trainers he (8) had consulted / was consulting, of the 110 breeds tested the 'smartest' dog was the Border Collie, and one of the 'dumbest' was the (now) loveable Bulldog!
