Among dogs, some breeds are considered "smarter" than others. However, when people talk about their dogs being smart, what they most often really mean is, "my dog is able to understand and follow my orders". While that is one way to measure intelligence, it is an extremely one-sided and perhaps somewhat dishonest approach (only those behavioral traits are called "intelligent" that are good for us, dog masters). Breeds of dogs that are genetically close to wolves, for example, are considered by some as less intelligent than other, more malleable breeds. However, as this experiment shows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls3ZmwtaosY&t=23m22s) (video in German), actual domesticated wolves are quicker at solving some types of problems on their own, while dogs will give up after a few poor tries and/or turn to humans for help.
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Among dogs, some breeds are considered "smarter" than others. However, when people talk about their dogs being smart, what they most often really mean is, "my dog is able to understand and follow my orders". While that is one way to measure intelligence, it is an extremely one-sided and perhaps somewhat dishonest approach (only those behavioral traits are called "intelligent" that are good for us, dog masters). Breeds of dogs that are genetically close to wolves, for example, are considered by some as less intelligent than other, more malleable breeds. However, as this experiment shows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls3ZmwtaosY&t=23m22s) (video in German), actual domesticated wolves are quicker at solving some types of problems on their own, while dogs will give up after a few poor tries and/or turn to humans for help.