If you look at the
intelligence classification of dogs according to Stanley Coren, the Border Collie (which is the closest approximation to a Kelpie that I can find in his list), is listed as #1 out of a list of 79.
Coren assessed intelligence based on:
- Instinctive intelligence: abilities that the dog possesses instinctively, such as sheepherding, guarding or company, among others.
- Adaptive intelligence: skills that dogs have to solve problems.
- Work intelligence and obedience: the ability to learn from a human being.
I have to laugh when I see that poor Esme, is descended from a line of dogs far lower down the list of intelligence in the Coren list.
The Maltese Terrier is 59th most intelligent or 31st most dumb, depending on how you look at it. The Shih Tzu is the 70th most intelligent or the 10th most dumb depending on how you look at it.
Nonetheless, the Maltese and the Shih Tzu have the Kelpie beat hands down in terms of sheer history.
The Kelpie is a relatively new/young breed of not quite 150 years of history. The first dog known as a Kelpie was a black and tan female pup bought by Jack Gleeson in around 1872 from a litter born on Warrock Station near Casterton.
Kelpies are descended from the border collie which is turn descended from landrace collies from the British Isles. Given that the word 'collie' didn't really start showing up around until the end of the 19th century, border collies and collies generally aren't that old a breed either. There's a common theory around that Kelpies descended from dingoes. Although many now dispute that statement, if it were true, based on fossils found in Western Australia, dingos have been around for at least around 3,500 years. Still, current thinking says there's no dingo blood in Kelpies so Kelpies are still relatively new, history-wise - just a couple of centuries old.
In contrast, the Maltese Terrier, has been around for centuries, known as the "Maltese Terrier", the "ancient dog of Malta," the "Roman Ladies' Dog," the "Maltese Sleeve Dog," and "Melita" (the former name of Malta). The earliest record of a Maltese was found on a Greek amphora found in the Etruscan town of Vulci, in which a Maltese-like dog is portrayed along with the word Μελιταιε (Melitaie). This record was dated to have been made around 500 BC. The Maltese Terrier was also mentioned by Aristotle in around 370 BC.
Imbued with even more history is the Shih Tzu (西施犬 Xī Shī quǎn), which literally means "lion dog". It is said that the breed originated on the Tibetan Plateau and was developed in China. The Shih Tzu is one of the oldest dog breeds in the world. Fossils from more than 10,000 years ago show that the dogs of that day were closely related to the Shih Tzu of today.
Looking at this fluffy little blob, it's a bit weird to think that she has the blood of thousands of years of breeding flowing through her veins compared to our other three, whose ancestry would only go back a couple of hundred years.
On that note, here's Esme's training table.
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