Are Miniature Schnauzers smart
Yes, the Miniature Schnauzer is a really smart dog. It ranks 12th on psychologist Stanley Coren’s well-known list of dog breed intelligence. Most of the breeds that do rank higher are working dogs. The Miniature Schnauzer is also ranked ahead of both the Standard Schnauzer and the Giant Schnauzer.
They are easy to train and learn new commands quickly. The Miniature Schnauzer often excels in obedience competitions. Coren places them in his “excellent working dogs” tier, which he describes as dogs that typically learn a new command in 5 to 15 repetitions.
Even though they are smart and can learn quickly they can have an independent streak, so training works best when you make it worth their while.
Check out this video of one very smart Miniature Schnauzer called Whiskey.
How is Miniature Schnauzer intelligence measured
The list of dog breed intelligence was created by Stanley Coren who is a dog psychologist. Coren worked with 199 North American obedience trial judges to help with his study. Only breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club and Canadian Kennel Club were included. This meant that mixed breed dogs and breeds not recognized by the kennel clubs were not ranked.
Rather than testing dogs directly, Coren asked the judges to rank breeds on how quickly they learn new commands and how reliably they obey. He then grouped the breeds into tiers and described each tier in general terms.
How did the Miniature Schnauzer score? It is placed in Coren’s “excellent working dogs” tier. Coren describes dogs in this tier as typically learning a new command in 5 to 15 repetitions and obeying the first command around 85% of the time or better. Those figures describe the tier as a whole rather than measurements taken on Miniature Schnauzers, but they put the breed among the quicker learners and more obedient dogs relative to many other breeds.
The three types of dog intelligence
There is a lot more to dog intelligence than learning new commands and being obedient. Obedience intelligence is just one of the three types of dog intelligence. The three types of dog intelligence are;
Obedience/Working intelligence
Obedience intelligence is what we have discussed above. Miniature Schnauzers rank very high in this form of canine intelligence. But how do they rate in the other types?
Obedience is the most objective of the three types of canine intelligence making it easy to test and quantify. Adaptive and instinctive intelligence can be more subjective.
Instinctive intelligence
Instinctive intelligence relates to the skill and purpose the dog was bred for. It is an innate ability that doesn’t need to be taught. For example, a herding breed instinctively knows how to herd usually with little or no training required.
The miniature Schnauzer was originally bred down from the Standard Schnauzer to hunt and exterminate rats and vermin. This was usually the domain of the terriers but the Miniature Schnauzer has the innate ability and lively personality to excel at this. The American Kennel Club places them in the Terrier Group, although the breed was developed in Germany rather than from the British terriers. To learn more about whether the Miniature Schnauzer is a terrier see here.
Adaptive intelligence
Adaptive intelligence refers to a dog’s ability to solve problems and to learn and figure out things for themselves. This can be hard to measure but there are some tests you can do with your Miniature Schnauzer to see how good they actually are at adaptive intelligence.
Puzzle toys are one good way to do this. Most puzzle toys involve your dog working out how to get a treat. The exception is the iFetch Frenzy. When selecting puzzle toys for your Miniature Schnauzer try to choose toys that are a little more difficult or have different levels of difficulty.
This video below shows a couple of other tests you can do to see just how well your Miniature Schnauzer works things out.
Other signs of intelligence in dogs
Apart from the three types of canine intelligence discussed there are other things that dogs do that are quite smart. Firstly is empathy. This is a kind of emotional intelligence of how well your dog is able to read you and your emotions. Miniature Schnauzers are very people orientated and love your company. They are very empathetic.
Another intelligent, if a little sneaky, behavior is strategic manipulation. This is when a dog will deceive us in order to get something they want. Researcher Marianne Heberlein did a study into this when she realized her dogs were doing it to her.
Marianne had a routine of taking her dogs out to the toilet each night before bed and gave them a treat when they came inside. One day she realized that one of her dogs would pretend to go toilet just to get the treat. This prompted her to investigate more.
With a research team at the University of Zurich, 27 dogs were tested. They paired each dog with two human partners. A co-operative one who allowed the dogs to eat treats, and a competitive one who withheld the treats.
The handler led each dog to one of three boxes. One had a tasty sausage, another had a less appetizing dog treat and the last one was empty.
The dogs quickly learned if the handler was co-operative or competitive and led the co-operative partners to the sausage box more often than the competitive partner.
By leading the competitive partner to the incorrect box the dog had a chance to keep the delicious sausage for itself later on when the experiment was repeated with a co-operative partner.
Let us know in the comments of examples of strategic manipulation your Miniature Schnauzer has used on you.
How to improve your Mini Schnauzer’s intelligence
Your Miniature Schnauzer is already pretty intelligent. However, there are ways to improve your dog’s intelligence. These can include;
- Socialization – provide plenty of opportunities to your Miniature Schnauzer to socialize with other dogs, animals, and people.
- Teach tricks and commands – learning is a great way to provide mental stimulation and enrichment and increase brain power.
- Food Enrichment – instead of feeding your dog just from a bowl use puzzle toys and feeders to make them work for their food.
- Keep them active – Miniature Schnauzers are high energy and need plenty of exercise. A healthy dog is less stressed and bored and smarter.
- Quality diet – diet is crucial to keeping a dog healthy and functioning at their best.
- Reward intelligence – give your dog praise and rewards for showing signs of intelligence.
- Puzzle toys – Provide your Miniature Schnauzer with toys that test and improve their problem-solving skills.
- Environmental enrichment – make their living environment more interesting and engaging.
Miniature Schnauzer related posts you may like:
Dealing with Miniature Schnauzer behavior problems
How big does a Miniature Schnauzer get
Looking for more? Our complete Miniature Schnauzer guide brings together everything we have written about Miniature Schnauzers, from temperament and training to grooming and health.