When it comes to Goldendoodles, they tend to be an incredibly beloved breed of dog. Goldendoodles are a mixture between Golden Retrievers and Standard Poodles. Their owners always absolutely adore them. Strangers always want to pet them. Overall, Goldendoodles tend to create immense amounts of happiness for all that they come in to contact with. You might find yourself wondering, however, just how smart Goldendoodles actually are. This article will list out exactly what to expect when it comes to the intelligence of the average Goldendoodle. You might just be surprised by the findings. Stay tuned to determine just how smart Goldendoodles tend to be as well as many ways to increase the overall knowledge and intelligence of Goldendoodles.
History of Breed
Believe it or not, Goldendoodles are actually a fairly new breed of dog, historically speaking. They started to become increasingly popular in the United States in the 1990s and have only increased in popularity for dog owners in the last thirty years. Due to various factors in genetics, they can have either wavy, curly, or straight coats. Some of them are even hypoallergenic, but keep in mind that not all Goldendoodles are considered hypoallergenic dogs. They are affectionate to their owners, usually love water, make excellent service dogs or emotional support dogs, and are usually very friendly towards everyone that they meet. They also tend to have great health overall if safe breeding practices were used. The most common health issues that could possibly be found with Goldendoodles are Hip Dysplasia, ear infections, and some eye disorders. Some may also suffer from food allergies. Their life expectancy is usually between ten to fifteen years and their size can range anywhere from around forty-five to one hundred pounds.
Parent Breeds
Goldendoodles are a mixture between Golden Retrievers and Standard Poodles. Based on several tests and trials, these two breeds of dogs are among the most intelligent breeds of dogs. Therefore, it is fairly accurate to say that Goldendoodles are typically born to be incredibly intelligent dogs. Occasionally, Golden Retrievers can also be bred with a Miniature Poodle, which leads to the breeding of miniature Goldendoodles.
Individualism
Goldendoodles tend to have very unique and individualistic personalities. They each possess their own, unique personality traits, skill sets, and talents. Goldendoodles shine best when their personalities are allowed to truly flourish around the humans and other animals that they love. Be sure to allow yourself and your dog time to discover the various little quirks that make your dog who they are as an individual. This is much like discovering the individual personalities of humans.
Instinctive Intelligence
A dog’s instinctive intelligence refers to each dog’s individual ability to execute the task(s) that they were born or bred for. An example of this comes from the Standard Poodle side of Goldendoodles. Standard Poodles’ original breeding purpose was for them to be water retrievers. This is specifically in regards to hunting, especially with retrieving waterfowl. While most Goldendoodles may not be used for hunting, this instinct is probably still within most of them. An example of this task for a Goldendoodle would be their instinctual ability to retrieve a ball that has been thrown into a body of water such as a lake, pool, or the ocean.
Adaptive Intelligence
A dog’s adaptive intelligence refers to a dog’s ability to solve an issue or problem on its own, completely without the assistance of a human or another dog. An out-of-the-box type of example for this would be if a Goldendoodle learned how to nudge open a door with their nose. This would demonstrate their ability to solve a problem of some sort on their own.
Working Intelligence
Working Intelligence essentially refers to a dog’s ability to be trained. Most people associate this with a dog’s ability to learn a command of some sort. The shorter the amount of time, or the lower the number of repetitions that it takes for them to learn the command, are typically leading indicators of a dog’s working intelligence. An example of this is a dog scratching at the door or walking to the door when they need to be let out or taken for a walk. This is their learned ability of what they should do in this type of situation.
Mixed Breed Status
Due to the fact that Goldendoodles are considered a mixed breed of dog between Standard Poodle and Golden Retriever, they were not tested in the actual trials that were conducted to determine the intelligence of various dog breeds. Their parent breeds, however, were both tested and, as mentioned earlier in this article, both tested very highly on intelligence level for their respective breed. Because of this, they are also not listed on the overall list of most intelligent dog breeds. However, both Golden Retrievers and Standard Poodles are listed on the overall list of the top ten most intelligent breeds of dogs. Fear not though, there is a ton of information out there to help us determine the intelligence level of these beloved pooches, whether it be official or not.
Training
There has, however, been a study conducted on the training of Goldendoodles and how they rank in terms of intelligence. Overall, it was determined that Goldendoodles rank pretty closely with their parent breeds, Golden Retrievers and Standard Poodles, on their ability to be trained. This is a fairly high ranking and therefore, can lead to the determination that Goldendoodles are just as intelligent as their parent breeds when ranked against their trainability level.
Owner Impression
When owners of Goldendoodles are asked about their thoughts on the intelligence level of their precious dogs, almost all of them have ranked their dog’s intelligence level very high. As mentioned earlier, Goldendoodle owners absolutely love and adore their dogs. There are Facebook groups and pages dedicated entirely to sharing little snippets about the owners’ daily lives, interactions, and overall lives with Goldendoodles as part of their families. They tend to describe their dogs as very loving, incredibly smart, and very unique in terms of their personalities.
Leading indicators of Goldendoodle Intelligence
Of course, there is not a single, set level of intelligence level for every single Goldendoodle. As with people, each dog with has their own, personal intelligence level. If you are wondering how your dog’s intelligence level ranks, there are a few leading indicators that you have a pretty intelligent dog. Some of the signs that your dog is intelligent include remembering training or commands that you have taught them, they show you love and affection when you are sad or down, they remember their own techniques such as how to open doors or tell their humans they need to go out, and more. An indicator that your dog is intelligent that most owners do not exactly love, is that they know how to escape from certain areas in the house or yard that they are not necessarily supposed to leave. These are all indications that your dog is probably very intelligent.
Comparison to Human Intelligence
You might be wondering how the intelligence level of Goldendoodles compares to the intelligence level of the average person. There have actually been studies conducted that have determined that Goldendoodles have the average intelligence level of around a two-year-old human child. This essentially means that an adult Goldendoodle has around the same intelligence level as a toddler.
Ways to Increase a Goldendoodle’s Intelligence
Believe it or not, there are actually ways for you to increase the intelligence of your Goldendoodle. First off, it is extremely important to show praise or give rewards to your dog when they show indications or signs of intelligent behavior. This will encourage them to continue with this type of behavior. The second thing that you can do to help increase your dog’s intelligence level is to socialize your dog. This includes socializing them with both other dogs and animals as well as with humans. This helps to introduce them to new situations and allows them opportunities to develop mindsets and actions of how to interact in these various situations. Lastly, teaching your dog new tricks or commands can also help with increasing their intelligence level. This will increase their overall knowledge base to draw from and allows them to continuously grow and better themselves from a mental standpoint. Overall, there are several different ways that you can help your dog to increase their knowledge and intelligence level, even if just by a small amount.
Conclusion
Overall, it is very easy to say that you can consider Goldendoodles an intelligent dog breed. They are easily trained, able to discern the emotions of their owners, are able to solve problems on their own, and so much more. There are also actions and techniques that can be implemented to help to increase the intelligence of Goldendoodles. In addition to these incredible traits, Goldendoodles tend to be very loving and their owners tend to absolutely adore them. They are essentially furry, lovable, toddlers. Overall, you can not really go wrong with an intelligent dog like a Goldendoodle as a pet.
