The Top Ten Working Dog Breeds

Six of the top 10 hardest-working dogs in the world come from the working dog class, according to Animal Planet. One of these also made the American Kennel Club's 10 most popular breed list in 2009 and 2010. One of the hardest-working dogs and another working class breed made the top 10 list of working and obedience intelligence list that was the product of a study published by Dr. Stanley Coren in his 1999 book, "The Intelligence of Dogs."

  1. Working Breed

    • The AKC and the Westminster Kennel Club both list 28 breeds belonging to the working class. These dogs originate from far flung areas of the world, such as the Akita from Japan, the Komondor from Hungary and the Malamute from Alaska. Some working dogs are kept as pets and others for work, such as guarding, pulling sleds or being guard dogs. While they share the instinctive intelligence to work, the breeds belonging to this class are quite diverse in the nature of their work.

    Top Breeds

    • Breeds of dog differ in factors such as popularity, work ethic, loyalty and intelligence. What makes a breed the best for one person won't be the same for another. Even within their disciplines, people don't agree on which breeds are best. For example, in dogsledding, some mushers believe the Siberian Husky is better than the Alaskan Malamute. The SIberian Husky is smaller and can pull faster, but the Alaskan Malamute can pull more, so it all depends on what you are comparing. Furthermore, many of the racing sled dogs today are Alaskan Huskies (a cross-breed), not Siberians Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes.

    Animal Planet

    • In their top 10 hardest working dog list, Discovery's Animal Planet chose six working class breeds: Boxer, Rottweiler, Doberman, Akita, Newfoundland and Alaskan Malamute. The other breeds were from the sporting (Labrador and Golden Retrievers), herding (German Shepherd) and hound (Bloodhound) categories.

    AKC Most Popular Dogs

    • For over 20 years, the AKC has maintained a register of the most popular dog breeds in America. For 2009 and 2010, the only breed from the working dog class in the top 10 was the Boxer, placing 7th in 2010 and 6th in 2009. Other breeds from the class made notable improvements in the AKC popularity contest: the Bernese Mountain Dog moved up 19 places from 58 to 39; the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog moved up 16 places from 101 to 88, the Great Dane moved up 11 places from 28 to 17, the Mastiff moved up 10 places from 39 to 28, the Newfoundland moved up 9 places from 53 to 44, and the Anatolian Shepherd Dog moved up 6 places from 115 to 109. Two of the working class breeds were added to the contest in 2010 and had admirable placements: the Leonberger at 33 and the Cane Corso at 51.

    Stanley Coren's Intelligence Test

    • For his 1999 book, "The Intelligence of Dogs" Stanley Coren conducted a study with dog obedience judges registered with the AKC and the Canadian Kennel Club. The judges were asked to fill out a questionnaire ranking the various breeds on working and obedience. The product of the study was a ranking of the most intelligent dog breeds. Of the working class breeds, only the Doberman Pinscher (5) and Rottweiler (9) made the top 10 list. The Bernese Mountain Dog (22), Giant Schnauzer (28), Samoyed (33), Newfoundland (34), Kuvasz (42), Siberian Husky (45), Boxer and Great Dane (48) and Alaskan Malamute (50) round out the top 10 working class breeds on Coren's intelligence list.