The Intelligence of the Maltese

Last Updated: Apr 14, 2022

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Maltese Intelligence

How Smart is the Maltese?

The Maltese is a dog breed that is known to be:

  • Active
  • Docile
  • Easygoing
  • Gentle
  • Intelligent
  • Playful
  • Responsive
  • Sweet-tempered

But, how smart is the Maltese really?

The Maltese is the 59th smartest dog when it comes to obedience and working intelligence.

Accordingly, compared to other dogs, the Maltese belongs to the `Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

Malteses tend to learn new commands after 40 to 80 repetitions!.

These facts on Maltese intelligence are from the published work on dog intelligence and behavior by the renowned Prof. Stanley Coren. Coren is a Canadian Psychology Professor and Dog Researcher.

In the 1990s, Prof. Coren did extensive scientific research where he `measured` what is called the Working or Obedience Intelligence of more than 130 different dog breeds.

Note that the working/obedience intelligence of a dog is one of the three intelligence components that constitute a dog`s total intelligence

. But it is the only intelligence component that can be measured and compared among dog breeds.

Later on, we will further explain what the working/obedience intelligence means, and what the other two parts of a dog`s intelligence are.

For his research on measuring and ranking the intelligence of dog breeds, Prof. Coren consulted with:

  • Over two hundred dog obedience judges
  • Over sixty veterinarians, and
  • Fourteen guard dog experts

From his research data, Prof. Coren ranked dog breeds according to their obedience intelligence from the smartest to the least smart.

According to the study, the smartest dog breed is the Border Collie. Border Collies are so smart that they can understand any new command that you are trying to teach them after repeating the command to them five times or fewer.

The least smart dog breed is the Afghan Hound. The Afghan Hound is one of the dog breeds with the lowest degree of Working/Obedience intelligence. It will take 80 to 100 repetitions or more for an Afghan Hound to learn a new command.

As mentioned earlier, the Maltese is the 59th smartest dog breed.

Furthermore, Coren placed dog breeds into one of six intelligence categories:

  1. Brightest Dogs: Tend To Learn New Commands After Fewer Than 5 Repetitions
  2. Excellent Working Dogs: Tend To Learn New Commands After 5 To 15 Repetitions
  3. Above Average Working Dogs: Tend To Learn New Commands After 15 To 25 Repetitions
  4. Average Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs: Tend To Learn New Commands After 25 To 40 Repetitions
  5. Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs: Tend To Learn New Commands After 40 To 80 Repetitions!
  6. Lowest Degree of Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs: Tend To Learn New Commands After 80 To 100 Repetitions Or More!

The Maltese belongs to the `Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

However, note that obedience intelligence is one of the many things that make a good dog. The fact that a dog breed has a low obedience intelligence DOES NOT MEAN the dog breed with not excel at other things.

Intelligence is just one of the many things that make dogs the excellent human companions that they are.

See the intelligence ranking of a few selected dog breeds in the table below: (note, although 133 dog breeds were studied, there are 79 positions because some breeds tied for the same position)

Click here to see the intelligence rank of all 133 dog breeds.

Breed Intelligence Rank
How Smart is the Standard Poodle? Ranked 2nd out of 79
How Smart is the Australian Cattle Dog? Ranked 10th out of 79
How Smart is the Belgian Tervuren? Ranked 14th out of 79
How Smart is the Pharaoh Hound? Ranked 37th out of 79
How Smart is the English Setter? Ranked 37th out of 79
How Smart is the Bedlington Terrier? Ranked 40th out of 79
How Smart is the Irish Wolfhound? Ranked 41st out of 79
How Smart is the Finnish Spitz? Ranked 43rd out of 79
How Smart is the Jack Russell Terrier? Ranked 46th out of 79
How Smart is the English Foxhound? Ranked 46th out of 79
How Smart is the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon? Ranked 46th out of 79
How Smart is the Whippet? Ranked 51st out of 79
How Smart is the Maltese? Ranked 59th out of 79
How Smart is the Saint Bernard? Ranked 65th out of 79
How Smart is the Bullmastiff? Ranked 69th out of 79
Maltese Smartness

Maltese Intelligence. A Second Opinion

We reviewed another research study to find out more about the intelligence of the Maltese. This other study is The Canine Behavioral Assessment & Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) study.

This study was done by research veterinarians from the University of Pennsylvania.

In the study, the researchers asked owners of different dog breeds, including owners of the Maltese to describe how trainable their dogs are.

71 Maltese owners were asked to describe

how easy it was to train their Maltese in the CBARQ research survey.

We analyzed what these Maltese owners said about the trainability of their Malteses and compared that to what other owners said about other dog breeds (125 other breeds).

Dogs that are easy to train are always very eager to listen to their owner. These dogs are not stubborn. These dogs obey simple commands, and they learn very quickly.

Also, dogs that are easy to train tend to do well at fetching objects when asked to. Furthermore, this category of dogs also responds positively to correction and ignores distraction.

According to the results from the CBARQ research, Malteses are a little bit easy to train.

In fact, the Maltese ranks 90th out of 124 dog breeds for easiness to train.

Based on our further analysis of the CBARQ research data, we found that the Maltese has a trainability score of 55.6 %.

Other dog breeds that are a little bit easy to train just like the Maltese are listed in the table below:

Trainability Rank Breed Trainability Score
87 Scottish Terrier 56.8 %
88 Fox Terrier (Toy) 55.9 %
89 Alaskan Husky 55.8 %
90 Maltese 55.6 %
91 Irish Wolfhound 55.3 %
92 Tibetan Terrier 55.2 %
93 Shih Tzu 54.6 %

According to the CBARQ research data, the dog breeds that are most easy to train are the:

  1. Belgian Tervuren
  2. Belgian Malinois
  3. Border Collie
  4. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
  5. Irish Water Spaniel

According to the CBARQ research data, the dog breeds that are most difficult to train are the:

  1. Dingo
  2. Treeing Walker Coonhound
  3. Basenji
  4. Afghan Hound
  5. Pekingese

See our complete ranking of dog breeds from the ones that are easiest to train to the ones that are most difficult to train.

However, it is important to note that trainability does not always equal intelligence.

This is because a dog can be smart and stubborn at the same time. A smart but stubborn dog will be hard to train.

Visit this page to see the complete temperament profile (trainability, aggression, shyness, prey drive, etc) of the Maltese according to the result of the CBARQ research study.

The Three Parts of the Intelligence of the Maltese

As mentioned earlier, Prof. Coren ranked dogs based on what is called the `Working/Obedience` Intelligence.

The `Working/Obedience` Intelligence is one of the three parts of a dog`s overall intelligence.

All the three parts that make up a dog`s overall intelligence are:

  1. Instinctive Intelligence: This is the natural intelligence that comes from instinct. For example, dog breeds that have been historically bred to be guard or hunt dogs will have a high `guarding` or `hunting` intelligence compared to dogs that were not bred for guarding or hunting.

  2. You can tell what type of instinctive intelligence a dog breed will have based on the dog group the dog belongs.

    The Maltese belongs to the Companion Dogs group.

    Dogs in the Companion Dogs group, like the Maltese, were bred to be companions to humans. Their main goal in life is to be with people, and they will be very sad if left to themselves for long hours day after day.

  3. Adaptive Intelligence: This indicates what a dog can learn to do for himself or herself. Adaptive intelligence is specific to each dog, and not specific to a dog breed. You can improve your dog`s adaptive intelligence (and therefore its overall intelligence) by investing time to train your dog.

  4. Working/Obedience Intelligence: This intelligence type is the subject of this article. This type of intelligence is breed-specific. Certain dog breeds tend to have higher working/obedience intelligence than other breeds. This intelligence is the closest to what we might call school-learning ability and it is based upon what the dog can learn to do when instructed by humans. This type of intelligence can be measured for each dog breed. Furthermore, the working/obedience intelligence of one dog breed can be compared to that of another dog breed to see which dog is smarter

The natural breed-specific working/obedience intelligence is a heavy chunk of a dog`s overall intelligence.

According to Prof. Coren, 51 percent of a dog`s intelligence comes from its genes while 49 percent of a dog`s intelligence comes from the dog`s environmental circumstances. Environmental circumstances include how much training you give to a dog.

In short, it will be much easier to train a naturally smart dog.

However, we should mention that a dog breed should not be judged based on its intelligence alone.

There are other important factors you need to consider when deciding on which dog breed to get.

The most important factor to consider is how compatible a dog breed`s overall temperament is with your lifestyle.

How Smart is the Maltese?

The Intelligence of Maltese Compared to Other Dog Breeds

See how smart the Maltese is compared to some other dog breeds.

To see how smart the Maltese is compared to all other dog breeds, see this ranking of dog breeds based on intelligence.

Is the Maltese Smarter Than the Schipperke?

The Intelligence of Maltese versus the Intelligence of Schipperke

The Schipperke is smarter than the Maltese.

This is because the Schipperke ranks 15th out of 79 in the intelligence ranking of 133 dog breeds, while the intelligence rank of the Maltese is 59th out of 79 in the ranking of the intelligence of 133 dog breeds (133 and not 79 because some breeds tied for intelligence in the same spot).

Because of its intelligence rank of 59th, the Maltese belongs to the `Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

This means that Malteses tend to learn new commands after 40 to 80 repetitions!.

On the other hand, because of its intelligence rank of 15th, the Schipperke belongs to the `Excellent Working Dogs` category.

This means that Schipperkes tend to learn new commands after 5 to 15 repetitions.

Maltese Schipperke
Intelligence Rank 59th out of 133 dog breeds 15th out of 133 dog breeds
Learning Ability Tend To Learn New Commands After 40 To 80 Repetitions! Tend To Learn New Commands After 5 To 15 Repetitions

Learn more about how smart Schipperkes are here.

Is the Maltese Smarter Than the Borzoi?

The Intelligence of Maltese versus the Intelligence of Borzoi

The Maltese is smarter than the Borzoi.

This is because the Maltese ranks 59th out of 79 in the intelligence ranking of 133 dog breeds, while the intelligence rank of the Borzoi is 75th out of 79 in the ranking of the intelligence of 133 dog breeds (133 and not 79 because some breeds tied for intelligence in the same spot).

Because of its intelligence rank of 59th, the Maltese belongs to the `Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

This means that Malteses tend to learn new commands after 40 to 80 repetitions!.

On the other hand, because of its intelligence rank of 75th, the Borzoi belongs to the `Lowest Degree of Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

This means that Borzois tend to learn new commands after 80 to 100 repetitions or more!.

Maltese Borzoi
Intelligence Rank 59th out of 133 dog breeds 75th out of 133 dog breeds
Learning Ability Tend To Learn New Commands After 40 To 80 Repetitions! Tend To Learn New Commands After 80 To 100 Repetitions Or More!

Learn more about how smart Borzois are here.

Is the Maltese Smarter Than the Irish Setter?

The Intelligence of Maltese versus the Intelligence of Irish Setter

The Irish Setter is smarter than the Maltese.

This is because the Irish Setter ranks 35th out of 79 in the intelligence ranking of 133 dog breeds, while the intelligence rank of the Maltese is 59th out of 79 in the ranking of the intelligence of 133 dog breeds (133 and not 79 because some breeds tied for intelligence in the same spot).

Because of its intelligence rank of 59th, the Maltese belongs to the `Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

This means that Malteses tend to learn new commands after 40 to 80 repetitions!.

On the other hand, because of its intelligence rank of 35th, the Irish Setter belongs to the `Above Average Working Dogs` category.

This means that Irish Setters tend to learn new commands after 15 to 25 repetitions.

Maltese Irish Setter
Intelligence Rank 59th out of 133 dog breeds 35th out of 133 dog breeds
Learning Ability Tend To Learn New Commands After 40 To 80 Repetitions! Tend To Learn New Commands After 15 To 25 Repetitions

Learn more about how smart Irish Setters are here.

Is the Maltese Smarter Than the Sealyham Terrier?

The Sealyham Terrier is smarter than the Maltese.

This is because the Sealyham Terrier ranks 56th out of 79 in the intelligence ranking of 133 dog breeds, while the intelligence rank of the Maltese is 59th out of 79 in the ranking of the intelligence of 133 dog breeds (133 and not 79 because some breeds tied for intelligence in the same spot).

Because of its intelligence rank of 59th, the Maltese belongs to the `Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

This means that Malteses tend to learn new commands after 40 to 80 repetitions!.

On the other hand, because of its intelligence rank of 56th, the Sealyham Terrier belongs to the `Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

This means that Sealyham Terriers tend to learn new commands after 40 to 80 repetitions!.

Maltese Sealyham Terrier
Intelligence Rank 59th out of 133 dog breeds 56th out of 133 dog breeds
Learning Ability Tend To Learn New Commands After 40 To 80 Repetitions! Tend To Learn New Commands After 40 To 80 Repetitions!

Learn more about how smart Sealyham Terriers are here.

Is the Maltese Smarter Than the German Shorthaired Pointer?

The Intelligence of Maltese versus the Intelligence of German Shorthaired Pointer

The German Shorthaired Pointer is smarter than the Maltese.

This is because the German Shorthaired Pointer ranks 17th out of 79 in the intelligence ranking of 133 dog breeds, while the intelligence rank of the Maltese is 59th out of 79 in the ranking of the intelligence of 133 dog breeds (133 and not 79 because some breeds tied for intelligence in the same spot).

Because of its intelligence rank of 59th, the Maltese belongs to the `Fair Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

This means that Malteses tend to learn new commands after 40 to 80 repetitions!.

On the other hand, because of its intelligence rank of 17th, the German Shorthaired Pointer belongs to the `Excellent Working Dogs` category.

This means that German Shorthaired Pointers tend to learn new commands after 5 to 15 repetitions.

Maltese German Shorthaired Pointer
Intelligence Rank 59th out of 133 dog breeds 17th out of 133 dog breeds
Learning Ability Tend To Learn New Commands After 40 To 80 Repetitions! Tend To Learn New Commands After 5 To 15 Repetitions

Learn more about how smart German Shorthaired Pointers are here.

Is the Maltese Smarter than a Cat?

Intelligece of Maltese versus cat

Dogs have more neurons in their brains than cats. In fact, a dog has twice the number of brain neurons of a cat (500 million versus 250 million neurons).

This is according to a research study in which the scientist counted the number of brain neurons in dogs and in cats.

Brain neurons are used for processing information. Hence, it is likely that the Maltese will have a better information processing power than a cat

Thus, if we are to use the number of neurons in an animal`s brain as a measure of intelligence, then the Maltese is definitely way smarter than a cat because the Maltese has twice as many brain neurons as a cat.

However, intelligence is a very complex concept that may not be explained simply by how many neurons an animal`s brain has. Learn more here.

What is the IQ of the Maltese?

The IQ of the Maltese versus human

Before discussing the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of the Maltese, let us first define what Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is. IQ is simply a measure of how mentally advanced a person is relative to that person`s chronological age (the typical age that is calculated from birthday).

For example, a 2-year-old child with the mental capacity of a 4-year-old has an IQ of 200 (that is 4 divided by 2, multiplied by 100).

This is an old but simple definition of IQ.

According to Prof. Stanley Coren, a dog has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old human child.

Let us assume that Malteses become full-grown and reach mental maturity at the age of one year.

Also, let us make the bold assumption that, as Malteses get older, they do not get significantly smarter than a 2-year-old human child (You Can`t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks).

Thus, a one-year-old Maltese will have the mental capacity of a 2-year-old human child, and a 2-year-old Maltese will still have the mental capacity of a 2-year-old human child, and a 3-year-old Maltese will have the mental capacity of a 2-year-old human child, and so on.

Then, from the way IQ is defined, a one-year-old Maltese, which will have the mental capacity of a 2-year-old child, has an IQ of 200! This is not too surprising because Malteses mature and age faster than humans.

A one-year-old Maltese is twice as smart as a one-year-old human child.

Also, since a 2-year-old Maltese will have the intelligence of a two-year-old human, then the corresponding IQ of a 2-year-old Maltese is 100. Similarly, a three-year-old Maltese will still have the mental capacity of a two-year-old human, making its IQ 66, and so on.

These may sound odd. But this is because the concept of IQ was designed to test human intelligence and not Maltese intelligence. That is what you get when you use human intelligence as a reference to measure Maltese intelligence.

Conclusion

We hope this article has provided you with all the facts you need to know on Maltese intelligence.

To learn more about the Maltese, check out our article where we reviewed the Maltese breed.

Also, to learn more about the temperament and behavior of the Maltese, check out our article on the temperament profile of the Maltese. This will tell you what Malteses are really like.

If you do not own the Maltese yet, and you are planning to get one, check out our list of reputable Maltese breeders and article on Maltese price and buying advice.