Considering some of the humans who have held the office, this shouldn't be considered such a bad deal:
RABBIT HASH, KY (AP) - Following the death of its mayor, the small northern Kentucky town of Rabbit Hash is preparing to elect a new leader.
The only candidate so far is a border collie named Lucy Lou.
The situation isn't unusual for the Boone County town. The former mayor was a black labrador retriever named Junior Cochran, who died May 17 after serving since 2004.
[. . .]
According to the Web site www.rabbithash.com, candidates for the office may be humans or animals but not ducks or geese.
Not sure about the ducks and geese prohibition, unless it's a fear about illegal aliens from Canada sneaking into office. But let's give the place some credit for electing the best dog. A few years ago, I did a lot of research on the most popular 100 dog breeds for an online book that sold about 10 copies. Based on that, I concluded that the poodle was the smartest dog. But the border collie was in my top five, and I wouldn't argue with it being the smartest.
Comments
I almost choked when I saw papillon on that list; small dogs tend to have small brains, which makes them very dangerous animals. But I've never lived with or around a papillon, so maybe they belong on the list.
Dobermans are, as that page indicates, an extremely loyal, assertive, and fearless breed. On the other hand, my niece had a pair of them, and they were dumb as rocks. She's had other dogs, who were always well behaved, well-mannered, and so I don't think the problem was with her. To show me how dumb they are, she would put down two dog dishes, one a little closer than the other to the dogs, and while they were watching, she opened a can of dog food and put it in the dish *farther* from the dogs. She cover each one with a disposable aluminum pie pan, then went over and loosed the dogs. They would go to the nearer dog dish, the one that was empty, knock the pie pan off, see it was empty, then go back to her and complain that they were hungry. They had watched her put the food in the other dog dish, they should have been able to smell the food, and they couldn't figure out where it was.
She never could house-train them, either.
My cousin had a standard poodle, and I didn't know it was a poodle for a long time, because they didn't give it one of those poofy haircuts. He was really charming and very laid-back. I lived with a Shetland sheepdog for a couple of years, and she was a very affectionate, very charming dog. She might belong on the top-ten list for intelligent breeds.
I won't argue with border collies being the smartest. My parents had one that watched them in the garden, and taught herself to pick tomatoes. She'd only pick maters when they were dead ripe, and she would carry them to the back steps, without leaving even a dent in the skin from her teeth.
I am currently owned by a German Shepherd. Wonderful dog, but if German Shepherds belong on the top ten list, I think it'd be closer to #10 than #3. She's incredibly loyal and incredibly affectionate, though.
Best dog I ever had was a mixed-breed. Mutts don't get the respect they deserve.