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The honour of being the first “Almost Famous” pup to be launched here is Millie. She is my dog and most likely you will see her here again. She is a Labrador, she is 6 years old but she looks younger than her age.
Millie at the top of Tamarama beach - Sydney
According to the “Smartest dog breed rankings”, Labradors are ranked on the 7th position. If you are curios of knowing who stands at the bottom of the list, we have: 97 Chow Chow, 98 Bulldog, 99 Basenji, 100 Afghan Hound (dumbest). Owners of Afghan Hound, please get in touch. We would like to hear your opinion on that.
Shortly, dog intelligence is calculated on how quickly the dog understand a new command (the brightest in less than 5 repetition, the dumbest in 80 to 100 repetitions), as well as if they obey to the First Command (Brightest dogs 95% of the time or better, dumbest dogs 25% or worse). For more details or if you want to calculate your dog’s QI go here.
A 7th position would suggest some potential in developing peculiar and unique skills. I suspect, though, there might be variations across different individuals.
Millie has two other labrador friends, Jake and Jackson. They are both younger and, on my opinion, less smart than Millie. Most likely because they are younger. Time will tell..
Millie and Jake hanging out at ours
Millie has an enviable lifestyle which would probably make jealous a considerable portion of the canine population. She lives opposite the beach, I work from home quite a lot and she has a large circle of friends mostly living in the neighbourhood.
Millie at her favourite spot - MacKenzie Bay, Sydney
Millie has been going to the beach on a daily basis since she was a puppy. Therefore, her most outstanding skills can probably be observed in this environment. She is a fast, talented and courageous swimmer.
Millie getting ready to jump into the rough waters of MacKenzie Bay
Millie swimming the rough waters of MacKenzie Bay
Nothing amazing, as she can’t surf, go underwater for more than 5 seconds, or fish. However, she is exceptionally good at retrieving objects from the water - mostly algae - not being afraid of big waves or rough water conditions. She can also swim across the bay but only if I do it. So far, we have done it once only.
Millie retrieving an algae from underwater
On an intellectual level, she does know the names of few toys - maybe 5 - but she get them rights only a 40% of the time. Here you can see her unsuccessfully attempting to perform Besty’s tasks. Obviously, at a much smaller scale.
Millie trying to understand which toy is called “Kong”
Millie successfully picking “Kong”
In terms of practical skills, she doesn’t cross the road unless I tell her so and, most of the time, she wait for me outside shops if I tell her to wait. She might cry and complaint or go for a wonder around trying to find some rubbish to eat from time to time.
Millie diligently waiting for my command to cross the street
I can’t think of anything particularly remarkable she has done in her life but I will get back to that.
Millie chilling in the couch after a long fun day
Mille in her attempt to distract me for work and go for a play