Mental stimulation

Why it is not the same as a long walk

Some dogs unravel when their body is tired and their day had no problem to solve. Others are content with a sniff walk and a chew. The questionnaire asks how many minutes of training or food puzzles you will keep doing, because “we will tire them out” is not a plan for thinking work.

A very high mental load in this catalog is reserved for registry text that treats a job as part of care. The Border Collie care section says a dog who does not work still needs vigorous daily exercise, and the breed description treats herding, obedience, or agility as part of the dog's happiness. That is scored as very high, with the Morrill caveat beside it: border collie ancestry had a small genetic association with biddability in that study, and individual dogs still varied widely.

Published sources only

“Smart,” “sassy,” and “huge personality” are not turned into a mental-load number. We only match on traits with a published source. A mixed-breed dog is judged by the dog in front of you.