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Originally Posted by SirTeddykins  The term "stubborn" as it pertains to the learning ability or obedience of any dog correlates with their intellect. In other words, the more "stubborn" a dog is, the more intelligent it is thought to be. This is why treat motivation is not enough sometimes and it is also why Afghan hounds, for example, are known for their stubbornness. It is known that they are highly intelligent dogs but, obviously, not toy. Therefore, stubbornness in any dog breed is not due to lack of brain power, rather, it is the very opposite.
Brain size does not = intelligence. Otherwise, human intelligence would average in line with the mean size for our brains (around 4lbs). We know that intelligence varies but the size of human brains do not vary much.
As a neurology researcher, I just couldn't pass this comment up! It is interesting to see how some of our perceptions come about! |
Maybe I expressed myself badly or you are over-thinking this concept and you know, learning doesn't always equal intelligence. But have you ever noticed how quickly all big dogs learn a trick/command while toy dogs take far, far longer, in most cases? I can train a large dog in half the time it takes to train a toy dog. It's got to be the size of learning structure within in the brain - just not as many neurons, neurotransmitters and synapses, etc., dedicated to learning in the brain of the small dog as in larger dog because little dogs have less over all brain space to dedicate to learning, need more for basic survival, perhaps,
and never needed to work much as big dogs did over the centuries, so their little brains haven't selectively evolved in brain learning structure yet. Seems to me they are just limited by less learning ability of the brain over the big dog, not stubbornness.
I've never personally trained an Afghan hound so I cannot speak to that breed but perhaps, as they have relatively small heads to their overall body size, they have a similar deceased learning brain structure as little dogs do, just need more motivation/repetition to learn. That's just as possible as them being stubborn. What's in it for the dog to be stubborn and forego his treat and praise? They are all about instant gratification and fun when it's there to be had. Trouble is, so many trainers do it with little gusto or effort and as if the dog were in the military, grinding out commands.