How do you know if your dog is dumb?

Answer 1

Almost all dogs are of average intelligence. It is very unusally to find what you are referring to as a dumb dog. Unless, you are asking, is this dog a mute. Then you can test, or your vet can test for mutness, in your dog. But if this is regarding a dog's intelligence, it has been my experience that a dumb dog simply is very uncommon The chances for very slim that your dog is dumb, in fact a professional trainer, or your vet. could tell you for sure. You may want to have him checked, probably a simple set of attention, and memory tests could be done. They might discover that there is another issue going on, that could be causing some problems with memory.

Addendum:Humans place a lot of value on relative intelligence. We're very focused on how we speak, how many words we recall, if we can build a meal or a car or a house from scratch, by memory and innovation. That's because humans really don't have a lot going for them in the wild except intelligence. We can't run fast, don't have camouflage, we lack armor -- in fact all we have is intelligence. So we take it very seriously.

Humans are in partnership with dogs -- a symbiosis, where two separate species help each other. Our side of that partnership invovles our intelligence. In the dog-human symbiosis, humans make the long range choices, build the shelters, make the plans. Dogs, on the other hand, act as alarm systems so we aren't attacked by surprise, they hunt down game for us in ways we can't, sometimes they carry our loads, or help us herd our other animals. But dogs aren't required to bring a lot of intelligence to the party -- that's not their job.

No-one says, "What a dork Fred is -- he has NO sense of smell at all!". Sense of smell in humans isn't very important and, more to the point, that's part of what a dog brings to the table -- that job's already done for us. We humans don't really think a sense of smell says a lot about a person. The same applies to dogs. They aren't required to be intelligent on your level. They also think differently than you do -- their brains are very different than yours. So, certainly, some dogs are more intelligent than others, just as some humans catch frisbee's better than others, but it's not all that important.

All healthy dogs come with the requisite intelligence to do their job. So it's pretty hard for a dog to be "dumb" in the sense we use that word with humans. And really -- isn't it your job to do the thinking for the two of you? :}

Answer 2

Read up on the breed that you are dealing with and figure out how to motivate/stimulate the dog(currency = food, toys or tug for a mini game) . Dogs aren't typically dumb...people tend to be boring and inconsistent so dogs have no reason to pay attention or respond to command.

Answer 3

There is no such thing as a dumb dog, anywhere. I mean after all, while we are out at work and school all day there at home sleeping!