How Smart Are Airedale Terriers? Everything We Know About Their Intelligence

Airedales are generally considered to be pretty intelligent dogs. Their intelligence is often rated pretty high among dog breeds. However, rating a dog’s intelligence can be extremely challenging. Dogs can be intelligent in different ways, and not all of these ways directly translate to obedience or trainability. 

Therefore, understanding how intelligent a dog is can be challenging, to say the least! 

Let’s look at how the airedale terrier’s intelligence plays in different situations and how they compare to other dog breeds. 

Airedale Terrier’s Intelligence 

Airedale terriers can be considered smart in different ways. It depends on how you look at intelligence and try to test it. 

For one, airedales are known for their problem-solving abilities. In many cases, these dogs primarily show their intelligence through their ability to solve problems. 

These canines can also learn commands relatively quickly. They figure things out at a faster rate than most other breeds. However, they are terriers, which means that they are also incredibly stubborn. Therefore, they may learn commands pretty quickly, but that doesn’t mean they will actually listen to any of those commands, especially in real-world situations.

Many people mistakenly rate them at a lower intelligence for this reason. However, this is more of a personality thing than an intelligence thing. 

That said, their independence can actually be a sign of intelligence. Smarter airedale terriers may actually be more independent and less obedient. Independence shows that a dog is thinking for itself, which can be a sign that their brain is working a bit harder than others might. 

These dogs are relatively adaptable, which can also be a sign of intelligence. Intelligent dogs can apply what they’ve learned in other situations to new situations, making them adaptable. Airedale terriers absolutely fit into this category.

Airedale terriers can also be extremely alert and tend to pay attention to their surroundings. They may notice changes that their owners don’t even realize, which can make them great watchdogs. As you might imagine, this requires some level of intelligence, though it isn’t commonly considered when professionals attempt to rate a dog breed’s intelligence. 

Airedale terriers require a lot of mental stimulation due to their above-average intelligence. Anyone with an airedale terrier will tell you that they tend to master puzzle feeders and similar toys very quickly, indicating that they’re more intelligent than most dogs. 

Intelligence Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be

Many people assume they more intelligence is a good thing. However, this isn’t actually the case in most circumstances. Dogs with a higher intelligence may pick up on cues faster, but they’ll also be more of a handful. 

One of the biggest ways an airedale’s intelligence isn’t necessarily good is their need for mental stimulation. They need to be entertained to some extent and get bored easily. When bored, they tend to make their own fun, which can lean towards the destructive. 

Therefore, you’ll need to invest in quality puzzle toys to keep your dog entertained, and you’ll need to invest more time into training and playing games. Simply put, it’s more work!

Thanks to their intelligence and independence, these dogs tend to be very good at “playing the system,” too. Let’s give an example to show what we mean. 

Let’s pretend that you’re teaching your airedale the “quiet” command because they tend to be a bit loud. It won’t take long for your dog to figure out that when they bark and stop on your command, they get a treat. However, they’ll also learn that they need to start barking to initiate this process. Ultimately, this may make them bark more as they try to make you give them the “quiet” command. 

It isn’t odd to see an airedale do something naughty and then look at their owner expectantly, waiting on the command to stop so that they can have a treat. 

While these dogs pick up on commands easily, they also figure out how to use training systems to their advantage. Therefore, they’re easy to train on the surface, but it’s easy to get stuck in a revolving door of bad behavior as your dog attempts to elicit more treats. 

How Do Airedale Terriers Rank to Other Dogs?

Airedale terriers are typically above average when it comes to ranking their intelligence next to other dogs. According to Stanley Coren’s The Intelligence of Dogs, this breed ranks 37th in terms of “working intelligence.” Simply put, this is a dog’s ability to learn commands quickly and follow those commands correctly. 

As we’ve stated, airedales tend to be rather stubborn. Therefore, they don’t perform as well in training as they might otherwise. This ranking may be a bit inaccurate for this reason. It’s very possible they would have performed better if their leaning towards obedience was stronger. 

However, measuring a dog’s intelligence is incredibly challenging in any other way, and there haven’t been any large-scale studies done that take other measurements besides training into account. 

Therefore, airedale terriers are around 37th in terms of intelligence, but they could very easily be higher. 

Are Airedales Easy to Train?

While these dogs are intelligent, they aren’t necessarily the easiest to train due to their stubbornness. They will pick up on the commands relatively quickly, but you may have to spend time working through their stubbornness. They won’t always do what you ask them to do, which makes using their commands a bit more challenging. You’ll need to practice often and in lots of real-world situations. 

You also have to be careful about the training methods you utilize. These dogs tend to take advantage of the training system you use, so you may need to recalibrate your training properly. 

Train these dogs when they’re young, as they tend to get harder to train as they get older. It’s much harder to break bad habits than to teach good ones in the first place. 

Patience is key when training these dogs. Yes, they are quite intelligent. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they will train easily or quickly. You’ll need to be patient and help them develop obedience on top of teaching them the cues. 

You also need to accept that there is a limit to how well you can train them. These dogs will remain pretty stubborn and independent throughout their life. They will never respond to training the same way as a more obedient breed, and they will never listen to commands 100% of the time. It just isn’t in their nature. If you expect to turn your airedale into a completely obedient, docile dog, you will be disappointed. 

How to Make the Most of Your Airedale’s Intelligence

Making the most of your airedale’s intelligence is more about accepting their temperament than it is training them well. As we stated above, they aren’t the most obedient breed out there, so they will never be as obedient as other breeds. Therefore, your goal should not be to train them as well as a border collie or Labrador retriever may be trained. It just isn’t possible. 

That said, these dogs have great problem-solving abilities. Therefore, they’re very good at agility and similar canine sports. If you want to make the most out of their intelligence, you can consider getting them involved in these sports. 

Your airedale will likely succeed most in training when you start early and regularly train them, even into adulthood. These canines can easily get lazy without consistent training, even if you are reviewing the same thing repeatedly. Remember, your terrier will respond best to cues used in the real world when you practice in various settings, so even practicing very basic commands somewhere full of distractions can be helpful. 

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