why do people say german shepherds are more intelligent than labs?

today i got a trainer for my lab because he is going to get agility class lessons and i asked him if it was true that the german shepherds were more intelligent and he told me that dogs are like kids the most you teach them the most intelligence they will get and after that he told me that he likes better the labradors because they learn easier and are more docil

cuz they are

labs are very smart animals, and also my favorite of the breeds

........ and some people say Labs are the more intelligent; what of it? Personal bias runs rampant through the dog owning community and always will.

GSD are working dogs and they are near the top in being able to be trained. Labs are also very high in being able to learn, I would say labs excell in agility and a way faster than GSD so have fun doing agility with your lab.

BECAUSE GERMAN SHEPERDS ARE! THEY ARE THE 3RD SMARTEST DOG IN THE WORLD! LABS ARE 7TH! WICH IS ALSO GOOD BUT NOT BETTER THEN THE SHEPERD I OWN 3 GERMAN SHEPERDS AND THEY ARE ALL AROUND PERFECT DOG SMART, THE BEST WITH CHILDREN AND THE MAIN THING THATS IN THERE BLOOD IS PROTECT THE FAMILY AT ALL MEANS! I LOVE THEM!:)

Both are smart, and I love both of them. I think it is a matter of being trainable in what humans want, so it isn't that GSD are smarter. I think it's "specialist", vs. "generalist". In general intelligence, Labs and GSD are very smart. But, GSD specialize in some areas that are valuable to humans. In the wild, both these dogs would be equal in using their smarts to do what is important to them, survive and thrive (general intelligence). But in the human world, the GSD have an edge in doing what is important to humans (special intelligence).

***ADD: Kaper - my answer is just a broad perspective answer, I know there are plenty of exceptions. I'm just saying for the "overall" aspect of opinions on dogs' intelligence. And yes, IMO GSD's are overall the smarter of the 2. (again, with PLENTY of exceptions)anyone who owns a lab will insist that a lab is smarter than a GSD (German Shepherd)...and anyone who owns a GSD will insist that GSD's are smarter than labs. It's just people's opinions...the labs out there who are search and rescue dogs are smarter than your common household pet GSD (simply because its trained to do so, when the pet GSD is just a pet)...same goes for the police or military GSD...those dogs are trained and VERY intelligent. Training is the #1 factor in what makes a smart dog. Yes some dogs are smarter genetically than other breeds, but every dog has the potential to be "smart" with the right owner and trainer.We all see alot of "which dog breed is the best?" or "which dog is smarter?" questions on here...and everyone's answer is usually that of what THEIR dog is, like if one person owns a poodle - they will think poodles are the smartest, as opposed to the person who owns collies, who will insist collies are the smartest.This is the same idea as why do some people think cars are better than another car. Someone may love chevys but hate hondas, and others love hondas but hate chevys....Everyone has reasons, some are valid, some are BS. Just the way the world is.

because they are, you might say that there will be some dogs that are smarter or dumber then others, but basically German shepherds are faster learners then many different breeds.

@Hazel - what about someone who owns both a Lab and a German Shepherd?I can say hands down that my GSDs are smarter than my Lab. I love both breeds, but there is definitely a difference in the intelligence. Of course there is going to be smarter labs and GSDs that aren't so smart, but in general, GSDs are smarter.It is not simply about training. My GSDs are problem solvers as well. Both are escape artists. Both learn very quickly things they aren't even taught (like signals that we are about to do something). There are different ways to measure intelligence of a dog. Stanley Coren created a ranking that many people are familiar with. This list is based on Working/obedience Intelligence by measuring understanding of new command in less than 5 repetitions and obey first command 95% of the time or better. It can be found herehttp://petrix.com/dogint/intelligence.htmlIt puts Border Collies as number 1 followed by the Poodle and the GSD. Labs are ranked #7. He classifies intelligence as follows"Adaptive Intelligence (learning and problem-solving ability). This is specific to the individual animal and is measured by canine IQ tests. Instinctive Intelligence. This is specific to the individual animal and is measured by canine IQ tests. Working/Obedience Intelligence. This is breed dependent. "http://petrix.com/dogint/-------------It is not simply about training, that is only one aspect of it. Sometimes intelligence is reflected in what is NOT trained. There are dogs that can be brilliant without being trained that way. My household pet GSD is smarter than my Police K9 (I am not the handler). He has never been taught to open a latch, yet he figured it out.---------------LOL @ Rottified - a trainer once said to me that GSDs are constantly trying to think around the training.

They're both intelligent. What varies is trainability, Labradors are people pleasers, when it comes to training they are like "You want me to do what? Yes sir whats next?"While German Shepherds do like to please their not so "yes sir" as they are "Why should I?"Rottweilers are often said to be dumb but thats not true they are highly intelligent.

Guess it depends on which study you read, but if they don't list German Shepherd Dog as The Most Intelligent they don't know what they are doing.

As a German shepherd is a person and a lab is a place where experiments & tests are conducted, naturally the person is more intelligent than the place.But apart from that you didn't punctuate German Shepherd Dog and Labrador Retriever, the question is a nonsense.Before you can MEASURE "intelligence", you first have to DEFINE it.Psychologists have been attempting it for DECADES, and have not yet come up wth a "culture fair" test.Take 6 teenagers. Can YOU devise a test that can adequately measure the intelligence of a teen who knows all about livestock farming, a teen who reprogrammes computers, a blind teen who can measure distances by the way sound reflects off things, a teen who can strip down and reassemble a motor bike and have it running better afterwards than it did before, a teen who will become an internationally famous photographer, plus a teen who will become a famous composer?Too tough, because each of that 6 thinks in such a DIFFERENT way to the others, and has so many DIFFERENT experiences and knowledges, huh?Same with dogs - a test that suits a GSD (based on protecting crops from sheep, and protecting sheep & owner from predators) has to be different to a test that suits a Labrador (based on locating wounded birds and bringing them back alive).Ignorant people even believe that an Anatolian Shepherd Dog, a Border Collie, a German Shepherd, and a Maremma must all think the same, because they are all sheep dogs. But they have been selected to work in VERY different ways, and so their shapes, instincts & thinking are DIFFERENT.Even dogs of the same breed think differently! A GSD raised as a protection dog will think & act differently than one raised as an explosives detection dog, and one raised to patrol a grazing boundary will think very differently to the other two.So first define "intelligent".Then devise the test.Then run several GSDs and several LRs though the test.As for your trainer:It is well known that many trainers bore GSDs, but are very successful with Golden Retrievers. They have repetition as their only training "tool". GRs and, to some extent, Labs enjoy repetition, it being EASY for them to "earn" rewards by repeating & repeating what they've learned. But GSDs and BSDs were developed to have initiative (when boundary patrolling, they spend most of the 14+ hour day without a human to give orders - a friend's Nicky worked out how to stop a bulldozer whose driver was preparing to cross the day's boundary line; the driver had permission, but Nicky hadn't been told...), and so they think up ways to short-cut to what their human wants (obedience competitors hate it when their pooch "anticipates" a command and performs it before the judge gives permission to command that to happen!), they out-think slow-thinking humans.If you define "intelligence" as something like "the ability to on-the-spot work out what its handler wants it to do, even though it has never done that thing before",then the "SuperDog" contests seen on tv provide an excellent "intelligence test". And the winners of those contests are almost always GSDs - well, in my country they are.Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly"In GSDs" as of 1967