An impatient border collie has been caught on camera taking a little initiative to try and get back into the house.
In a video supplied to Newsweek by Ring, the super-smart dog can be seen climbing up on its hind legs to press on the video doorbell.
The canine can be seen waiting patiently for several seconds before their owner opens the front door, greeting their canine companion with an excited shout of "Buddy!"
The footage was captured on a Ring doorbell camera outside a home in Minneapolis. It's a reminder of just how smart our canine companions can be.
Although, given the breed of the dog in the clip, that's not necessarily a surprise.
Last year, researchers from the University of Helsinki in Finland conducted the largest ever laboratory study of canine intelligence. Over 1,000 dogs from 13 established breeds were put through a series of cognitive tests with the results published in the journal Scientific Reports.
These tests were designed to measure traits such as problem-solving ability, short-term memory, logical reasoning, activity level, inhibitory control and exploratory behavior.
The experiment focused on breeds medium-to-large in size and included the border collie, Belgian Malinois, English Cocker Spaniel, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, and a broader category of "mixed breed."
While the tests did not identify any significant differences among the breeds in areas like logical reasoning and short-term memory, there were notable contrasts among breeds in other areas.
In the tests focused on inhibitory control, problem solving and social cognition, one breed performed better than any other in each: border collies.
The position of border collies as the world's smartest dog breed is further reinforced by psychologist and leading canine researcher Dr. Stanley Coren.
Dr. Coren considers the breed the world's most intelligent, pointing to their impressive ability to learn and understand a wide range of words.
Speaking to the American Psychological Association (APA), Dr. Coren noted that while the average dog is capable of learning up to 165 words, some "super" breeds are capable of learning a considerable amount more.
"The upper limit of dogs' ability to learn language is partly based on a study of a border collie named Rico who showed knowledge of 200 spoken words and demonstrated 'fast-track learning,' which scientists believed to be found only in humans and language learning apes," he said.
The border collie in this particular clip didn't need words to get its point across.
It's likely that their owner trained them to press the doorbell to be let back in. Then again, there's a chance the dog may have worked it out for themselves.
Whatever the case, in this instance, actions spoke louder than words.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Beresford is a Newsweek Senior Internet Culture & Trends Reporter, based in London, UK. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
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