Why is this so important?  Having an intelligent dog will make training and daily life much more enjoyable. Being ranked in the top ten means that our Doodles should understand a new command with fewer than 5 repetitions.  It also means that once they learn a new command, they'll generally obey your command the first time you say it, 95% of the time.  This means if you say, "sit" they'll sit, no need to repeat. 

How does this compare to other dogs - they're all pretty smart, right?  Not exactly.  A large number of dog breeds have a lot of trouble learning and following new commands.  For example, a Chihuahua, Bulldog or Pug can take 40-80 repetitions to learn a new command.  Wow, 40-80 compared to 5?  That's a huge difference! But once they know it, they'll do it, right?  Wrong again.  These dogs tend to only obey a command 30% of the time.  Having an intelligent dog can make all the difference.  Of course, intelligence is just the base ingredient, a well-behaved dog will result from good solid training and positive reinforcement techniques.  An intelligent dog such as a Doodle will make this much easier.