The smartest dog breeds in the world in 2025 are extremely intelligent breeds that can learn new commands quickly and can retain them after training. These breeds need a few repetitions before they master a new word.
Some dogs mentioned on this list are 5 times faster to learn than other average intelligent dogs. A dog's intelligence is also measured by its adaptive and instinctive intelligence.
These dogs have the potential to solve problems and are highly trainable. If you are considering getting a smart dog or just want to learn about the smartest dogs, this article gets you covered.
These are the top 15 world's smartest dog breeds 2025 (most intelligent), you can jump to anyone you like and they are,
- Border Collie
- Poodle
- German Shepard
- Golden Retriever
- Doberman Pinscher
- Shetland Sheepdog
- Labrador Retriever
- Papillon
- Rottweiler
- Australian Cattle Dog
- Pembroke Welsh Corgi
- Bloodhound
- Miniature Schnauzer
- Belgian Tervuren
- English Springer Spaniel
They are intelligent dogs you need to know. Check out what they do that makes them clever and lots more.
Keep reading!
1. Border Collie-The Smartest Dog In The World
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| Image credit: 825545 / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 56 to 69 cm (22 to 27 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 46 to 56 cm (18 to 22 inches)
Avg. Body length: 71 to 86 cm (28 to 34 inches)
Avg. Weight: 12 to 20 kg (27 to 45 Ibs)
Lifespan: 10 to 17 years
They are also known as Scotch Sheepdog, Working Collie, English Collie, and Old Fashioned Collie. They are extremely smart dogs, it is the number one smartest dog breed in 2025. They have high IQs and good memory.
They are bred to be smart, and for this they are intelligent. Many people own these dogs because of their intelligence and not their look. Dog experts describe this breed as an intelligent workaholic.
This is because you will see this dog always happy while working. They can learn outstanding numbers of commands and words. For example, Chaser, a Border Collie knows at least 1000 words.
They are highly trainable and they understand commands easily. They incredibly get to retain a command after just 5 repetitions, and for the basic trick, they learn it in a few minutes. Check this video, where one of this dog is trying to say hello.
When given a task, with their adaptive and instinctive intelligence, they will finish the task given. They are energetic and fun dogs. They are herding dogs and of course very skillful at doing this compares to other breeds.
For example, this breed always engaged in stalking motion while herding, that is, it will crouch low to the ground in mimicking a predator's movements. Together with their eyes movement, they do this.
This will get the attention of the sheep and with this, sheep will run away from the dog, which protects them. It is the only breed that does this among shepherd dog breeds. Interestingly, this breed can only be traced to one dog called "Old Hemp", born in 1893.
2. Poodle
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| Image credit: Alison Pang / Unsplash |
Avg. Overall height: 62 to 82 cm (24 to 32.5 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 46 to 61 cm (18 to 24 inches)
Avg. Length: 62 to 81 cm (24.5 to 32 inches)
Avg. Weight: 20 to 32 kg (45 to 70 Ibs)
Lifespan: 10 to 18 years
They are a beautiful curly-coated intelligent breed. They are smart because of their working intelligence and obedience. Poodles are instinctively intelligent, they are actually bred for their intrinsic or innate ability skill.
There are three varieties of this breed according to their sizes, the Standard Poodle, Miniature Poodle, and Toy Poodle. The dimensions mentioned above is for the Standard poodle while the lifespan is for the three varieties.
Irrespective of their size, they are highly energetic dogs and smart. It is undeniable that Poodles are highly intelligent, they are the second among the top smartest dog breeds in the world in 2025.
They have an excellent memory and they are fast learners. They are capable of remembering 300 words or more. In less than 5 repetitions, this breed is capable of learning the new basic commands.
They are capable of understanding people's body language, gestures, and verbal tones. They make great service dogs because of their eagerness to please and their intelligence.
They are obedient dogs, in fact, they are about or more than 70 percent obedient. For this, they are used as therapy dogs and as guard dogs as they are used in assisting people with physical disabilities.
Their keen nose as been useful in making them truffle hunters. This account for the reasons they are part of the most popular breeds in America. In addition, they are part of the best water retrievers.
3. German Shepard
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| Image credit: AnjaGh / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 67 to 79 cm (26.5 to 31 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 56 to 66 cm (22 to 26 inches)
Avg. Body length: 91 to 108 cm (36 to 42.5 inches)
Avg. Weight: 23 to 41 kg (50 to 90 Ibs)
Lifespan: 7 to 13 years
GSD is powerful, athletic, courageous, and loyal. Everyone believes that this breed is smart, this many ask this question, why are GSDs so smart? There are many reasons for this.
First, they are a herding breed of dog, so they have this guarding instinct. They are great guard dogs; they are used as search and rescue dogs, guide dogs for the blind, military dogs, and police dogs.
They could be able to do this because they are smart, they have this working intelligence. With a few repetitions, GSDs are able to learn new behavior.
They have the eagerness to please their owners. They always desire to work and cooperate with their owners. They have the ability to learn adaptively. This makes GSD the third among the smartest dog breeds in the world in 2025.
In his research on dogs' intelligence, Stanley Coren, a retired professor at Columbia University, states that GSDs have this natural instinctive intelligence, for this, they have the natural abilities to guard, tend, herd, react and analyze.
4. Golden Retriever
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| Image credit: Engeline80 / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 72 to 80 cm (28.5 to 31.5 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 55 to 61 cm (21.5 to 24 inches)
Avg. Body length: 94 to 107 cm (37 to 42 inches)
Avg. Weight: 25 to 34 kg (55 to 75 Ibs)
Lifespan: 10 to 12 years
Golden retrievers are on the list of the top 5 smartest dog breeds in the world in 2025 because they have the ability to read human emotions and they have incredible skills in communicating with their owners.
They are obedient dogs, eager to please, friendly, affectionate, and playful dogs. No wonder it is the among the top most popular dogs. Within less than 10 minutes, this dog is capable of learning a new command.
They are beloved by many of its owner for being obedient, they are 95 percent to obey a known command on the first try. This breed requires a few minutes to learn a new command.
They are bred as working dogs even though today, they are primarily used as companion dogs. Just as this breed name implies, retrievers, are retrieving and sporting dogs. That is, they are good at retrieving objects in the water.
Retrieving is part of the reasons these dogs are smart because it requires a higher intelligence. They are great with children and other pets because they have the ability to understand a situation.
5. Doberman Pinscher
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| Image credit: Patstatic / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 76 to 90 cm (30 to 35.5 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 66 to 71 cm (26 to 28 inches)
Avg. Body length: 102 to 117 cm (40 to 46 inches)
Avg. Weight: 34 to 45.4 kg (75 to 100 Ibs)
Lifespan: 10 to 12 years
Also known as Doberman is a breed that hails from Germany. The breed was named after Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann, who played a major role in bringing out the breed in the 1800s. It is a breed that has a high training ability.
They are bred for military, police work and to protect. At the same time, they are companions to people at home. People get to love this dog because of its intelligence, loyalty, and courage. They are a versatile breed.
They are intelligent companions with excellent perception and are recognized for their abilities to guard. They are so clever that they can sense threats, they can differentiate who is a friend and an enemy accurately.
Nonetheless, they can also be playful dogs with big hearts with the right training and socialization. They have a wonderful sense of humor, and a strong desire to stay close to their owners.
They are also used as therapy dogs, search and rescue dogs, and other services. If you will like to own this breed, it is good to know that they fear cold and they do not like to get wet.
See also:
6. Shetland Sheepdog
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| Image credit: JACLOU-DL / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 46 to 53 cm (18 to 21 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 33 to 41 cm (13 to 16 inches)
Avg. Body length: 51 to 61 cm (20 to 24 inches)
Avg. Weight: 5 to 12 kg (11 to 27 Ibs)
Lifespan: 12 to 15 years
These dogs are a clever breed as they are easy to train and responsive. They stay focused while receiving training and they are sensitive, as they pay rapt attention and responded well even to verbal cues.
Apart from that, they have the unique ability to herd without or with little training. This type of dog intelligence which is a natural skill is not found in all breeds and it is called instinctive intelligence.
Shelties are able to learn a new command in just a few minutes with repetitions that may be less than 5 times. As regards being an obedient dog, this breed performs great.
Even though sometimes it seems they are out of control, as they have that strong feeling of herding rabbits and squirrels. Sheltie's adaptive intelligence which is the ability of a dog to learn by itself varies greatly among this breed.
Although they have this instinctive herding ability, not all shelties are great learners or are good at solving problems outside of obedience. Yet, they can all know the name of each member at home within a short duration.
7. Labrador Retriever
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| Image credit: Daniel Joshua / Unsplash |
Avg. Overall height: 71 to 84 cm (28 to 33 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 55 to 62 cm (21.5 to 24.5 inches)
Avg. Body length: 91 to 107 cm (36 to 42 inches)
Avg. Weight: 25 to 36 kg (55 to 80 Ibs)
Lifespan: 10 to 14 years
Labs are super intelligent obedient canines, with this they are one of the top 10 smartest dog breeds in the world in 2023. Like Golden retrievers, they too have high retrieving instincts.
In any situation, circumstance and environment, they have the ability to adapt with ease. They are an energetic, social, and friendly breed of dogs, and they make a great family dog. For several decades to the present, they are the most popular dog in the USA.
They are very obedient that they will respond to a known command at the first attempt. Labs are bred for their instinctive ability to retrieve things in the water. They are absolutely water dogs and they have physical qualities that support that.
Such as webbed toes, which enable them to retrieve things in water by swimming quickly. Due to their agility, obedience, and skill with water, they are initially used by local fishermen for fishing.
They help fishermen in pulling nets to the boat and are able to capture and return escaped fish. And they have good adaptive intelligence. They are one of the Smartest calmest dog breeds as they age.
8. Papillon
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| Image credit: SergVG / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall standing height: 30 to 42 cm (12 to 16.5 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 20 to 28 cm (8 to 11 inches)
Avg. Body length: 30 to 43 cm (12 to 17 inches)
Avg. Weight: 2.3 to 4.5 kg (5 to 10 Ibs)
Lifespan: 14 to 16 years
Papillion is one of the small breeds on the list of the smartest dogs in the world. They are recognized for their intelligence, in fact, it is called the smartest toy dog breed. Even though miniature and toy poodle is smarter than papillon.
We can rightly say that this dog is a doer and not a cuddler. Although it is little in size, they are not lap dogs, they are highly active. They are always alert; being a great watchdog, this account for the reasons they bark so much. They are highly trainable.
They succeed in competitions that require obedience and agility. Their intelligence can be compared to a kid of 2 to 2.5 years. They can learn up to 165 words. They are so smart that they can deceive people and other pets intentionally, to their own advantage.
See also:
9. Rottweiler
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| Image credit: NioleNina / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 77 to 86 cm (30.5 to 34 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 60 to 66 cm (23.5 to 26 inches)
Avg. Body length: 98 to 107 cm (38.5 to 42 inches)
Avg. Weight: 42 to 55 kg (90 to 120 Ibs)
Lifespan: 8 to 10 years
They are strong dogs originally bred for herding cattles. No wonder they find a place in services such police dogs, and search and rescue dogs today. They have dense shining straight fur. They are loyal and confident dogs.
They are brilliant working dogs. They are easy to train, and they respond well to new command. This breed of dogs are great learners, they are alert and can identify threats easily. They are can be aggressive sometimes because they are trying to be protective.
They are territorial, but when trained properly, they do make a good family pet. Sometimes, Rotties act in a goofy way, they do that to please their owners. They are a breed that is extremely proud, and they are happy when they finish a task given.
Just as other herding dogs, Rotties are one out of the smartest dog breeds as they are instinctively wise. Their adaptive intelligence is higher compared to some other breeds. In other words, they are obediently and instinctively intelligent.
10. Australian Cattle Dog
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| Image credit: Zingpix |
Avg. Overall height: 53 to 64 cm (21 to 25 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 43 to 51 cm (17 to 20 inches)
Avg. Body length: 71 to 84 cm (28 to 33 inches)
Avg. Weight: 14 to 16 kg (31 to 35 Ibs)
Lifespan: 13 to 15 years
They are also called Blue Healers. They are dogs that are compart and muscular. They have great memory. They are energetic, extremely alert, loyal, and always worried about strangers.
They are intelligent hard working dogs. As the name implies, they are the best dog for herding cattle. They easily learn new commands and they are obedient as well.
For many years, they are ranked as one of the top 10 smartest dogs in the world, and they are of course still listed in the year 2025. At Coren's test, a Ph.D. and canine psychologist mentioned earlier, this breed performed exceptionally well as regard being smart.
On the first try, this dog will obey a known command. One thing that contributed to being smart is their herding instinct intelligence as you can see in the video.
For instance, while herding cattle, they will nip or pinch cattle heels which is a method of herding and protecting them by making them move forward. That's being instinctively wise, they do that without human training. They also have the capability of solving problems and learning from mistakes.
11. Pembroke Welsh Corgi
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| Image credit: MolnarSzabolcsErdely / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 36 to 43 cm (14 to 17 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 25 to 30 cm (10 to 12 inches)
Avg. Body length: 56 to 66 cm (22 to 26 inches)
Avg. Weight: 10 to 14 kg (22 to 31 Ibs)
Lifespan: 12 to 15 years
At seeing this dog, you may remember the late Queen Elizabeth II. They are dog-beloved by the Queen and many owners for being affectionate. Besides their small size and short leg, they are originally bred to herd horses, sheep, and cattle.
They are good guardians on farms and also as family companions. Like other herding dogs, it has herding instinctive intelligence. They are easy to train active dogs. This Corgi is always eager to learn.
They are happy dogs and are great as family pets. While some dog expert says they are not good for children under 8 years. This breed looks very similar to the Cardigan Welsh Corgi but they are different.
The Pembroke's tail is trimmed near to the body, whereas the Cardigan's is lengthier. The Pembroke has a smaller body and pointed ears, but the Cardigan's ears are more curved at the edge points. Both breeds are corgi, which means dwarf.
12. Bloodhound
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| Image credit: Pypaertv |
Avg. Overall height: 74 to 89 cm (29 to 35 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 58 to 69 cm (23 to 27 inches)
Avg. Body length: 81 to 94 cm (32 to 37 inches)
Avg. Weight: 36 to 59 kg (30 to 130 Ibs)
Lifespan: 7 to 12 years
They are brilliant and active dogs. In which they have keen sense of smell. Many people like this breed for its special appearance and sweet nature. They are loving and affectionate, even though sometimes they drool.
Some people doubt if they are actually smart as they need firm and consistent training because they are known to be stubborn. This does not necessarily mean they are dumb, not intelligent.
They are one of the smartest dog breeds in the world because of their instinctive high IQ. They have the capability to efficiently track odors and process scents with their incredible nose.
They are the dogs with the best noses; it is the breed with the highest sense of smell. They have about 230 million scent receptors as research shows. That is 40 times more sensitive to the human nose.
Imagine you have this kind of high sense smell, won't you be distracted most times? This may account for Bloodhound performing low as regards obedience. Although they might be disobedient, that does not mean they do not understand their owners.
13. Miniature Schnauzer
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| Image credit: Sebastian Coman Travel / Unsplash |
Avg. Overall height: 38 to 46 cm (15 to 18 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 30 to 36 cm (12 to 14 inches)
Avg. Body length: 46 to 53 cm (18 to 21 inches)
Avg. Weight: 5 to 9 kg (12 to 20 Ibs)
Lifespan: 12 to 15 years
‘Schnauzer’ means small beard when literarily translated. Funnily, its face looks like having a bushy beard, eyebrows and moustache. They are great family pet, they are loyal and loving as they crave for human attention.
They enjoy being part of the family. It is wise to associate them early with children. They have big personalities in small bodies. They are historically used to guard herds in families and small farms.
They were later used for hunting rodents due to its small size and speed. They are intelligent dogs, mischievous, lively, and incredibly alert. They are best for a wide range of people, for families with children, singles, and the elderlies.
They are smart dogs as they accept and learn new commands quickly. They are obedient dogs that among the dogs of this breed have received several KC Good Citizen awards.
See also:
14. Belgian Tervuren
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| Image credit: SnottyBoggins / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 71 to 84 cm (28 to 33 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 56 to 66 cm (22 to 26 inches)
Avg. Body length: 84 to 97 cm (33 to 38 inches)
Avg. Weight: 18 to 29 kg (40 to 65 Ibs)
Lifespan: 10 to 14 years
It is one of the Belgian herding dogs, which are, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, Belgian Laekenois, and Belgian Malinois. They are all confident herding elegant dogs.
Around their neck that is Belgian Tervuren dogs, they have dense longer fur like sporty collarette. They are referred to as Tervuren; Tervs indicate longhaired, blackened red, or fawn fur.
They are possessive and affectionate to their loved ones. They are hard-working dogs that like to outsmart their owners with a sense of humor. They are kind and can be shy.
Nonetheless, they are territorial and have a strong desire to protect. They may need experience owners, but when trained properly, they do well as they are obedient and eager to learn.
It is an exceptionally smart dog as they have strong herding instincts. They are intelligent and they perform well in activities such as agility and herding.
Both Belgian Tervuren and Belgian Malinois have the same intelligence. Only that Malinois is more popular than Tervuren as their are many videos about Malinois online, like this.
15. English Springer Spaniel
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| Image credit: TheOtherKev / Pixabay |
Avg. Overall height: 65 to 79 cm (25 to 31 inches)
Avg. Withers height: 46 to 56 cm (18 to 22 inches)
Avg. Body length: 69 to 84 cm (27 to 33 inches)
Avg. Weight: 18 to 25 kg (40 to 55 Ibs)
Lifespan: 12 to 14 years
They are highly trainable obedient dogs. It is the most popular among spaniel-type breeds of dogs because they are great at hunting, they have this acute eyesight and they think fast.
This boils down to the fact that they are highly intelligent being one of the smartest dog breeds. They learn new commands easily. They are capable of learning from their past mistakes and experiences.
Depending on how a new command is complex to, within 30 minutes to an hour, they can learn a new command. Also from 5 to 15 repetitions, this dog is capable of learning new words.
Their obedient success rate is 85 percent. Its hunting skills are a unique ability that indicates instinctive intelligence. This breed is among the best bird dogs, as they have extremely high instinctive intelligence.
For instance, they never leave birds within the hunter's shooting range. They know exactly how to guide birds, somewhat like a herding dog would.
It is your turn, what do you think about the smartest dog breeds in the world in 2025 on this list? Or if you will like to own one of these dogs, which one will it be? We will like to hear from you in the comments section below (Post a comment). Please help us to share this article and subscribe to our new updates (we don't spam). You can as well follow us at our social media handles. Thanks for reading!
Wow, I enjoy reading this list
ReplyDeleteThank you for always being around.
DeleteWawu! These are amazing creatures
ReplyDeleteThey really are, smart dogs.
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