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Are Boxer Dogs Smart?
Are Boxer Dogs Smart? Published IQ Rankings list Boxers 90th in intelligence among dog breeds which rates them as having average intelligence.
But does this ranking tell the whole story in terms of a Boxer dog’s intelligence?
This ranking was based on one component of canine intelligence; obedience & working intelligence. To measure a Boxer’s dog’s accurate intelligence (“smarts”) 3 criteria of canine intelligence should be evaluated.
3 Ways To Measure A Boxer Dog’s True Intelligence
Are Boxer dogs smart, 3 measures of canine intelligence, which have been identified in the literature should be evaluated. These measures are
- Obedience & Working Intelligence
- Instinctive Intelligence
- Adaptive Intelligence – Read our first-hand experience further down in the post.
Are Boxer Dog’s Smart – Obedience & Working Intelligence
Obedience and working Intelligence is an intelligence measure developed by Dr. Stanley Coren, a Canine Psychologist and Professor at the University of British Columbia.
In his 1994 book, Intelligence of Dogs, he ranked dogs in intelligence based on obedience & working intelligence which measures how fast dogs learn commands. The book was re-released in 2006 and includes these three areas of canine intelligence.
In his book, Dr. Coren also notes that
- 51% of a dog’s intelligence stems from its genes
- 49% of a dog’s intelligence is based on environmental circumstances
This intelligence criterion was selected and evaluated because it can be measured objectively by testing each breed against a specific set of commands.
Boxers ranked 90th out of 100 dog breeds evaluated which rates them as average intelligence for dog breeds.
According to smartcanine.com,
“There may be a correlation between breeds that learn quickly and intelligence. However, this is not a true measurement of a dog’s intelligence (though a good starting point).”
They go on to note that the other areas of canine intelligence need to be evaluated.
Are Boxers Smart Dogs? Boxer Dogs Stubborn Nature
One of the reasons Boxers may have scored lower than other breeds in intelligence may relate to their stubborn nature.
Boxers are well-known for being stubborn dogs.
Any Boxer owner will surely be able to confirm the Boxer’s stubborn nature. Just taking a boxer for a walk can feel like you’re walking a mule instead of a Boxer when they don’t want to go a certain direction.
Typically, a stubborn dog is less likely to be obedient during obedience training which results in a lower learning score.
Are Boxer Dogs Smart? Instinctive Intelligence
Instinctive intelligence is a measure of the dog breed instincts or internal behaviors which is the natural desire to act in a certain way that is not learned behavior.
Most dog breeds were bred to perform specific functions or jobs within society. To that end, they have developed instincts that are still seen in today’s house pets.
Boxers were bred to serve many different roles throughout the course of their breeding history.
These include
- Large game hunting Dogs
- Fighting Dogs
- Bull Baiting Dogs
- Guard Dogs
- Watch Dogs
- Police Dogs
Boxers earned the moniker of the “ultimate working dog” because of the various roles they have played.
One of the reasons instinctive intelligence is not often included in intelligence ranking is it is difficult to measure.
Based on Boxer’s breeding history some of their instinctual behaviors include
- Chasing prey
- Smelling/sniffing
- Jumping
- Pulling & Tugging
These instinctive behaviors can be incorporated into mental training for your Boxer.
For additional information on a Boxer’s instincts, read our post on 9 Ways To Mentally Stimulate Your Boxer Dog For A Happy Obedient Companion.
Are Boxer Dogs Smart? Adaptive Intelligence
Just as it sounds, Adaptive Intelligence involves the Boxer’s ability to be able to adapt to a situation and learn and figure out a problem on their own.
Adaptive intelligence evaluates a dog’s ability to solve problems remember past lessons and experiences and make changes to complete tasks.
As with humans, Intelligence often varies between individual dogs within the same breed. Just as all human males and females do not have the same intelligence level, the same can be said with dogs.
Most dogs are driven by motivators, such as treats, toys, or positive feedback that can help them learn new skills quickly.
Are Boxer Dogs Smart – Our First-Hand Experience with Adaptive Learning
Background
We have been adopting Boxers through Adopt A Boxer Rescue for 17+ years because we believe in their mission to help Boxers find good homes to lead happy, healthy lives.
We have adopted several Puppy Mill moms (Cookie and Hazel) who were going to be euthanized because they could no longer have litters of puppies. They were wonderful additions to our family.
In the past, we adopted after the Puppy Mill moms spent several weeks or more in a foster home setting, often spending time with other Boxers. Therefore, they easily learned to fit in.
Our last puppy Mill’s mom, Hazel passed away from Cancer at the end of May 2022. We were debating on how long to wait to get our male Boxer Duke another partner.
Adopt A Boxer was in dire need of both Foster families and adoptive families because of the sheer number of Boxers being turned in or abandoned.
So, at the end of August 2022, we adopted Katie a 7-year-old Amish Puppy Mill Survivor. Puppy mill dogs spend the majority of their lives in crates with little food and water, let alone affection.
Katie came to us and was a very scared and skittish Boxer. She was essentially afraid of everything, loud noises, sudden movements, and visitors. She even flinched and withdrew when trying to pet her.
Her safe place was her crate and it was difficult to approach her.
We had to train her in several areas to allow her to feel comfortable in the house with Duke and the family and ensure she could do the “basics”. These included
- Eating from a bowl without spilling the contents on the floor – puppy mill dogs will often spill their food to ensure there a no insects or rodents in their food since this is a problem at the mills.
- Potty Training – House-broken – Katie was not house-trained and often had numerous accidents when we first adopted her.
- Walking on a leash – Katie had no experience walking, especially on a leash.
- Climbing and Descending Stairs – Katie needed to learn to descend and ascend our deck stairs so she would play and “do her business” in the backyard.
These are 4 major areas that looked like they would require months of training in order to get Katie proficient in all of them.
Are Boxer Dogs Smart? – Results
- Eating from a bowl without spilling the contents – Katie mastered this skill quickly within 1 day. She learned that if she dumped her food on the floor, there would be less food to eat.
- She loves to eat, primarily because at the mills they were fed sporadically every few days. So she takes advantage of eating when food is available.
- House-Breaking or Potty Training – Katie mastered this skill in about 10 days. The use of treats as motivators to get her outside and then using positive feedback when she went to the bathroom outside.
- Occasionally we still have a few accidents, which are rare
- Walking on a leash – Katie took about 3 days to completely grasp the concept. She was able to model Duk’s behavior on the walks which helped her learn the concept quickly.
- Ascending and Descending stairs – This took Katie the longest to master and required several stages.
- Katie was able to learn to ascend and descend the deck stairs because she was rewarded with treats for going to the bathroom outside.
- She was still afraid of the basement stairs and the stairs to the second floor. After about 3 weeks she is finally able to ascend and descend all the staircases.
Are Boxer Dogs Smart? – Summary
- Katie went from being a scared, skittish Boxer and with appropriate training and positive reinforcement, she interacts with the family and loves to snuggle.
- Katie was able to use adaptive intelligence to take tasks she had never seen before and master them in a relatively short period of time.
For additional information on Boxer dog training – Review our Post – Are Boxers Easy To Train? We Tested Our Boxers’ Abilities to Uncover the Answer
Boxerdogs.com recommends these treats and training toys to reinforce good behavior with your Boxer.
- Chewy – Starmark Treat Dispensing Chew Ball Tough Dog Toy – We have been using this treat ball for mental stimulation activities and they have held up for over 2 years without damage.
- Joyride Harness for training and walking your Boxer
- Greenies Dental Treats from Cherrybrook
- Dog Walking and Dog Sitting, we have personally had a great experience with Rover.com
Are Boxer Dogs Smart? 4 Ways To Test Your Dog’s Intelligence
It is possible to evaluate your Boxer’s intelligence at home. Dr. Brian Hare at Duke University developed a program called Dognition, which is used to measure your dog’s intelligence in a home setting.
Dognition utilizes 20 different tests using common household items for evaluating your do’s intelligence.
Dr. Hare has written a book The Genius of Dogs and hosts a Podcast called Dogsmarts which supports the program.
Dr. Hare indicates that a dog’s intelligence encompasses 5 functional areas
- Empathy
- Communication
- Cunning
- Memory
- Reasoning
Dognition enables you to collect information on these 5 areas to help give you a better picture of how your dog sees and interacts with the world.
As part of the Dognition program, Dr. Hare along with a team of veterinarians, canine behavioral specialists, trainers, and scientists developed 9 different Intelligence profiles for dogs.
Table 1 below illustrates the intelligence profiles of dogs.
Profile | % of Dogs in this Category | Characteristics |
Ace | 10% | Excellent Problem-solvers Great communication Skills |
Charmers | 16% | Excellent Social Skills Great at reading body language |
Socialite | 22% | Excellent Communication Skills Great at getting what they want |
Expert | 7% | Superior memory and problem-solving skills |
Renaissance Dog | 12% | Very Attentive “Jack of All Trades” encompassing traits from all other profiles |
Protodog | 15% | Spontaneous Bond well with their human companions' Seek help from owners when needed |
Einstein | 3% | Excellent Comprehension of the physical world Ability to make inferences a quality of genius |
Maverick | 7% | Tackle and Solve problems independently. Unique to the dog world |
Stargazer | 8% | Independent |
Reference: Dognition.com/profiles
Are Boxer Dogs Smart? – Summary
Intelligence is a multifaceted measurement. There are many criteria that can be used to evaluate your Boxer’s intelligence and intelligence can vary from dog to dog within the same breed.
The 3 measures of canine intelligence that should be evaluated in total are
- Working-Obedience Intelligence
- Instinctive Intelligence
- Adaptive Intelligence
Veterinarians, Behavioral Scientists, and Trainers have helped improve how dog intelligence is measured by developing additional IQ assessment tools.
Dognition, a program for measuring your dog’s intelligence at home, also shows that part of a dog’s intelligence is how it interacts with the world.
In any case, the sheer enjoyment of your Boxer’s personality and how they interact with you and your family is what is most important. While your boxer may be stubborn, they are usually willing to please.
Spend time training your Boxer and you’ll be surprised at how smart they are.
Additional References:
Discoverboxerdogs.com are Mary and Chris Kustanbauter. We reside in Red Lion, PA with our two Boxers, Duke and Katie, who are both rescue dogs. We have been working with Adopt A Boxer Rescue for the past 17 years and have adopted 5 Boxers from this fine organization. To learn more visit our Home, Boxer Dog Family, and Blogs Pages Visit us on social media on Facebook – All About Boxers, Instagram, and Pinterest.
