Labrador Retrievers and German Shepherds are two of the most intelligent, loveable, high-energy dog breeds. Both are popular pets among Americans, each with unique personalities and traits such as easy trainability and obedience. But which of these dog breeds is smarter than the other?
German Shepherds are smarter than Labs when it comes to learning quickly. However, Labs have a friendlier disposition, making them easier to socialize. German Shepherds are better at scent-related tasks, while Labs have better swimming and sight skills. Both are highly obedient and eager to please.
In this article, I’ll dive into the intelligence levels of the Labrador Retriever and German Shepherd. I’ll also explain how these dogs are used as working breeds based on their skills and genetic predispositions and compare the two breeds to determine which is smarter. Read on to learn more.
Labrador Retriever Intelligence
Labrador Retrievers have long been the reigning champions when it comes to America’s most-loved dog breed.
The nation’s most popular canine companion has an intrinsic desire to make their people happy, which is perhaps one of the reasons why they’ve been consistently ranked the number one dog for decades. They’re also quick to learn and, as long as you’re consistent, easy to train. Their friendly disposition is the icing on the cake.
These intelligent canines can learn new skills with as little as five (or fewer) repetitions over four or five training sessions.
Retrieving and Labrador Intelligence
Although these cuddly canines make incredible family companions, they were initially bred for locating and retrieving ducks, geese, and other waterfowl. Hunters would take down birds with their rifles, and their dogs would retrieve the carcass from the cold waters. Considering their job, Labrador Retrievers are excellent swimmers with high stamina and a strong desire to please.
Dr. Erin Hecht, head of The Canine Brains Project at Harvard University, published a paper concerning the intelligence of dogs. In it, Hecht explains that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows different neuroanatomical traits in canine brains depending on the breed. She found that retrieving breeds, including the Labrador Retriever, have enhanced brain areas concerning spatial area, navigation, sight, and eye coordination.
These genetic neurological characteristics make Labrador Retrievers excellent for retrieving waterfowl and bringing them back to their owners. When not used in hunting as retrieving dogs, Labrador Retrievers may also randomly bring objects to their people. As such, it’s pretty easy to teach these canines how to fetch or even bring you your slippers after a long day of work.
Labrador Retrievers as Service or Working Dogs
Because Labrador Retrievers are navigationally inclined with excellent sight, they make ideal service animals, particularly as seeing eye dogs. They also do well on search and rescue missions, especially those involving water. These canines are regularly trained in working dog programs for these jobs.
Training Challenges for Labrador Retriever Owners
As mentioned, Labrador Retrievers enjoy retrieving items, as it’s in their nature. Owners may find their dogs getting a hold of items they shouldn’t have. They may chew these objects during the teething stage (between four and six months old). Therefore, destructive behaviors are a common challenge faced by Labrador Retriever owners.
This unwanted behavior is usually due to boredom. Labrador Retrievers are high-energy dogs, so they need plenty of exercise and mental stimulation. Even if you give your Labrador plenty of physical activity to tire the body, they’ll still need training, mental puzzles, and other activities to stimulate the mind, as they’re highly intelligent creatures.
Fortunately, Labrador Retrievers are highly motivated by food, which, combined with their eagerness to please, leads to a dog that’s easy to train.
Interestingly, there’s actually a genetic reason why the breed may be more inclined to do tricks for treats than other dogs. The breed is missing a gene associated with hunger. The POMC gene lets dogs know when they’re full, but a small piece of the DNA is missing in Labrador Retrievers, so they may not feel full even when they actually are. While this is great for food motivation in training, it can also lead to obesity, another challenge Labrador owners may face.
German Shepherd Intelligence
German Shepherds are also a popular breed among American households. However, they’re more well-known for their jobs as law enforcement canines.
This herding breed is regularly listed on charts ranking dog intelligence. They regularly fall around number three, typically following Border Collies and Poodles. When well-trained and socialized, they can be friendly and even-tempered but may come off as aloof around strangers.
Like the Labrador Retriever, German Shepherds are eager to please their owners. They can learn new tricks in as little as three or four (or fewer) repetitions over two to four training sessions. German Shepherds are one of the top-rated breeds in obedience competitions.
Herding and German Shepherd Intelligence
A relatively new breed, German Shepherds are herders, bred to act as a “living fence.” They keep livestock in line and away from danger. Unlike Border Collies, a header breed (that stands in front of the flock to get them to change direction), German Shepherds trek alongside the flock, guiding them away from roads, valuable crops, and potential danger.
Herding breeds require a high degree of intelligence and obedience. They must take commands from their handler and keep their predatory nature in check. These dogs are bred to begin training with sheep as early as puppyhood and regularly show masterful skill and control over the flock very early on.
When not used as herding dogs, German Shepherds are incredibly devoted to their families. They’re easy to train as long as their handler maintains consistency and provides rewards through positive reinforcement. They can learn impressive tricks, such as picking up objects by name, which is likely a result of having to learn a number of herding commands when controlling a flock.
They’re excellent at taking in a situation, evaluating it, and making split-second decisions based on what’s happening around them, which makes them ideal for work as law enforcement or military canines.
Beyond cognitive abilities, German Shepherds (along with other herding breeds) have an impeccable sense of smell. With hundreds of millions of olfactory receptors, these dogs can smell the faintest scents up to a mile away!
According to a study published on the U.S. National Library of Medicine website, German Shepherd’s olfactory capacity outperformed Labrador Retrievers. Other studies have even found that German Shepherds have better scent-detecting abilities than other breeds, even if they have the same training, suggesting a genetic aspect at play.
What does this have to do with intelligence, you might wonder?
Well, for starters, German Shepherds can be trained to identify a smell and detect it in various situations, and they do it much better than other breeds. They’re one of the most popular canines for scent detection jobs, such as narcotics or bomb sniffing and finding missing people. Interestingly, German Shepherds have also been known to detect COVID-19 infections by scent after only four days of training. The breed has even been used to sniff out cancer.
German Shepherds as Service or Working Dogs
The modified predatory behavior is what makes herding dogs, including the German Shepherd, so incredible at what they do. This behavior is also what makes them excel at law enforcement and military training.
It’s easy to train a herding breed to chase down a suspect, protect a group, help a person, or locate danger. They’re commonly seen as parts of K9 Units, search and rescue teams, and various military operations.
During World War II, German Shepherds were used as scouts and messengers. Along with Doberman Pinschers, they were touted as the best performers for these jobs.
German Shepherds are also incredible companion animals and are used in civil and medical applications, including (but not limited to):
- Allergy detection
- Autism service
- Diabetic alert
- Seizure alert
- Emotional support
Training Challenges for German Shepherd Owners
A German Shepherd’s instinctive desire to protect makes them a great family watchdog or guardian, but their territorial nature can become a serious problem without proper socialization and training.
These dogs have a fearless self-confidence that can become destructive when not properly channeled. When unsocialized and improperly trained, they may feel threatened or uncomfortable around strangers, leading to aggressive behavior. This behavior can lead to dangerous situations, including biting.
To be clear, German Shepherds aren’t inherently vicious. They simply want to protect their pack, and it’s part of their intelligence level. They see their people as their pack and themselves as the protector. If they’re not trained to see others as safe, then all outsiders become potential threats.
As such, German Shepherd owners must ensure they have a confident, well-rounded pet by opting for early socialization and obedience training. Not only does this help protect others who may come into contact with the dog, but it also protects the dog from euthanasia, should they react aggressively around a stranger or animal.
In addition to territorial behavior, German Shepherds are also quite mouthy. Many German Shepherd owners refer to their puppies as “land sharks” due to their constant nipping and biting. The breed, especially as puppies, uses their mouths much like we use our hands. After all, they’re a herding breed, and this breed uses their mouth to help get livestock to go where they need them to go. It’s part of the intelligence of the breed.
German Shepherds may use their mouths to nip, nudge, bite, or chew, so it’s important to stop this behavior early on. It might be cute when they’re puppies, but these dogs grow to become powerful creatures very quickly.
Labrador Retrievers vs. German Shepherds: Which Are Smarter?
Herding breeds are notorious for their intelligence, with Border Collies consistently ranking number one on lists for the smartest dog breeds. German Shepherds rank as high as number three, with other herders dotted throughout the top ten.
However, Labrador Retrievers (and other Retriever breeds) also regularly make the list because both herding and retriever breeds have spent generations working alongside humans. Their level of trainability requires a certain degree of intelligence, especially for the jobs they were bred to do. Therefore, both Labrador Retrievers and German Shepherds are smart dogs. Knowing which is smarter depends on multiple factors.
German Shepherds are smarter in the sense that they take less time and fewer repetitions to learn new tricks and commands. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re more intelligent than Labrador Retrievers. One could argue that they only learn more quickly than their Retriever counterparts. Whether learning more quickly equates to higher intelligence is up for debate.
Additionally, you could argue that German Shepherds are smarter because they consistently rank higher on top ten lists. These lists are based on data compiled over years of research based on the different breeds. That said, German Shepherds are hugely popular dogs in military and law enforcement operations, so it’s possible that there is more data on them than on other breeds.
The task being performed matters as well. For example, when it comes to retrieving, Labrador Retrievers might be considered the more intelligent breed. But when it comes to sniffing down criminals, the German Shepherd reigns supreme.
So, what if you put an equally trained German Shepherd and Labrador Retriever next to each other and ask them to swim fifty meters to see which is fastest? Well, you could probably safely bet on the Labrador Retriever to swim faster. However, if you had them guide a flock of geese to a pond, you’d probably be better off betting on the German Shepherd to get the job done first.
Conclusion
You can’t judge a dog’s intelligence by their ability to climb a tree, as it’d lead you to say all dogs are dumb. When it comes to specific breeds, you have to consider the task at hand when judging intelligence.
For example, if you’re basing your results on which dog is fastest to locate a bird by sight alone, you could probably bet on a Labrador Retriever. If you’re going by which dog finds a hidden bone in less time, you’d be safe picking the German Shepherd.
