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People Are Sharing Stories About The Dumbest Dogs They’ve Ever Known In This Viral Thread (40 Pics)
We like to think that our dogs are the smartest, most adorable, friendliest creatures on Earth. But even the greatest doggo geniuses have dumb moments, and some canines seem like they’re born as giant floofy derps.
Twitter user Bum Chillups posted a story about the dumbest dog they ever owned and invited others to share their own tales. The thread got over 5.4k likes and was retweeted over 1.2k times. Which just goes to show that there are a lot of dumb (but loveable) dogs out there!
Scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview about canine intelligence with Clive Wynne, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University and author of Dog is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You.
Image credits: edsbs
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Professor Wynne believes that there is no such thing as “dumb” dogs, only dogs with varying abilities and dogs that are more adept in different fields. “In general dogs (like people!) vary in their abilities along many dimensions. It isn’t fair to reduce all that to a single dimension of ‘intelligence.’ Different dogs are better and worse at different things.”
Certain dog breeds generally seem smarter than others. Back in 1994, psychologist Stanley Coren ranked over 100 dog breeds based on 3 different types of intelligence: instinctive, adaptive, and working/obedience.
Instinctive intelligence is pretty much easy to understand. If a dog does the tasks it was bred to perform well (like hunting or herding animals), then it’s considered to have high instinctive intelligence.
Meanwhile, adaptive intelligence is a doggo’s ability to solve problems without help and to learn from its previous experiences. Finally, working (aka obedience) intelligence has everything to do with how quickly and easily a dog learns when its taught by us, humans.
However, Professor Wynne doesn’t agree with Coren’s insights and believes that dogs, just like people, are individuals with many different skills and aptitudes.
According to the professor, the differences between breeds are much less important than many people think. “Of course, there are certain behaviors that are quite characteristic of particular breeds—only heelers heel, only pointers point, only herders herd, and so on.”
Wynne continued: “But in the only two major studies looking at differences in behavior both between and within breeds it was found that the differences within breeds were at least as significant as those between breeds. That said, I have to acknowledge that all of the four or five dogs that have been found who understand more than a handful of human words have all been border collies!”
Meanwhile, Nicholas Dodman, former program director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, told Dogster that he had two dogs, one of which was hyperactive while the other was lazy, but this wasn’t indicative of their level of intelligence.
“You would say Jasper was not as smart as Rusty. But once you were out on a trail, Jasper lit up. He was doing the job that nature intended him to do because he was a coonhound, and he was using his super-intelligent nose. He was brilliant at his job, but not so good at some other things,” Dodman explained.
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Draco Malfoy 6 years ago
Hey, at least it wasn't raisin bran. (no offense to anyone who likes raisin bran)
So before deciding whether or not a dog is smart or dumb, it’s important to keep in mind what they were bred for and what their strengths as individuals are. In other words, you can’t judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Different dog breeds excel at different tasks. And the upside is, when a dog isn’t good at something, it leads to plenty of hilarious canine moments.
Do you have any dumb dog moments to share with us, dear Readers? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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Demi Zwaan 6 years ago
Never pull thread out their a*s! It can get entangled and rip their insides out! Go to a vet instead.
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I Just Changed My Name 6 years ago
Dogs stealing passies isn't all that unusual. Akin to other baby's stealing another's passie at daycare.
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Liam Walsh 6 years ago
Don't most dogs benefit from having some kind of an idea as to what you want from them?
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Draco Malfoy 6 years ago
It's her revenge for naming her Nike. I mean, you name a dog after a shoe brand, what other hobby should she have? Adorable dog btw.
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Up All Night 6 years ago
Never seen a dobermann with such wide-cut ears. Those eyes are indeed scary.
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Patti Vance 6 years ago
My last boxer loved to go on boat with me. Of course had a vest as boxers swim like a box of rocks. She saved my butt one time as it was a beautiful day but she refused to get on board. After 20 minutes one of the worst storms rolled over the lake. So bad had to stay in car until over add couldn't see the road to drive home. I surely round have floundered the boat but she knew.
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Liam Walsh 6 years ago
One of my dogs was always a very good boy while we trained the puppy - did everything we asked of her!
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Marleen De jong 6 years ago
Maybe she tried to open the bananas with the can opener? I hope you have installed camera's in your house.
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Demi Zwaan 6 years ago
That happens once. Then you make sure she can't reach socks when left alone. Right? RIGHT?! Can't believe people like this have pets and think it's funny that they can't take care of them.
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Carol Emory 6 years ago
Dogs are actually prone to sinus infections and headaches. It could also be a sign of allergies. Take little puppers to the vet.
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Flare 6 years ago (edited)
That's actually clever. I'm going to write this down for Professor Granger because this will be good evidence for her theory that dogs are as smart or even smarter than the average..... average.... carp (pardon my French), I don't know what I can say without offending anyone. Professor Granger, what's the most appropriate term for a human that does not use magic?
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Tara Stevens 6 years ago
I think some people are reading the angle the dog is sitting wrong...look closer...
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PotterHead 6 years ago
I have the same breed. Shes kinda an idiot too. She runs into kitchen counters, walls, eats rocks, and falls down stairs. She is also terrified of a certain tone of noise and will run around like crazy if she hears it. Shes as cute as hell tho.
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What do you think ?
Hans 6 years ago
I do no like the title. Few of the dogs here are "dumb". Typically, humans calling other being "dumb" are really dumb. Many of these dogs have personality, and are very loveable. A few obviously are not kept by people who understand wat animals needs, and a few might even be abused.
Lauren Caswell 6 years ago
This is why I don't have a dog. Not because I don't love them: they are sweet loving trusting darlings. But I'm not healthy enough to meet it's needs ie training walking etc. So I've found a happy medium with an aloof tabby, more self sufficient and maintainable. It would be unfair to have a dog even though I want one, if I can't give it a good life
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Demi Zwaan 6 years ago
Most of these are examples of very badly socialized and/or trained dogs. Not dumb, just no proper basic training of any kind. It's dumb nor normal for a dog to eat just about everything, or to be scared of everything, or to bite people, or anything like that. Accidents happen, but most of these describe 'normal', recurring behavior and that's not normal at all. I wish people had to take an exam before they could own a dog and be forced to do at least puppy (basic) training with any dog they get.
Hans 6 years ago
I do no like the title. Few of the dogs here are "dumb". Typically, humans calling other being "dumb" are really dumb. Many of these dogs have personality, and are very loveable. A few obviously are not kept by people who understand wat animals needs, and a few might even be abused.
Lauren Caswell 6 years ago
This is why I don't have a dog. Not because I don't love them: they are sweet loving trusting darlings. But I'm not healthy enough to meet it's needs ie training walking etc. So I've found a happy medium with an aloof tabby, more self sufficient and maintainable. It would be unfair to have a dog even though I want one, if I can't give it a good life
Load More Replies... Demi Zwaan 6 years ago
Most of these are examples of very badly socialized and/or trained dogs. Not dumb, just no proper basic training of any kind. It's dumb nor normal for a dog to eat just about everything, or to be scared of everything, or to bite people, or anything like that. Accidents happen, but most of these describe 'normal', recurring behavior and that's not normal at all. I wish people had to take an exam before they could own a dog and be forced to do at least puppy (basic) training with any dog they get.
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