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People have long been intrigued by the idea that dogs understand human language and experience human emotion. There’s a good reason why Homeward Bound has remained a favorite childhood classic, and why Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing of the Rain is a New York Times best-seller. While the possibility that they’ll start talking back to us is remote, the likelihood that dogs understand a large amount of what we say isn’t so far fetched.

Stanley Coren, a psychologist who has researched the intelligence of dogs, suggests that the average trained dog knows about 160 words. It has been said that when dogs do that utterly adorable head-tilting thing, they are in fact trying their very best to understand what we’re saying to them. Did you know dogs hear much better than people do? They have 15 muscles that move their ears to detect sounds coming from all directions!

If you’re looking for the dog to offer canine compassion and understanding when you speak to him/her, here’s a list of the top 7 smartest dogs:

1. Border Collie
2. Poodle
3. German Shepard
4. Golden Retriever
5. Doberman Pinscher
6. Shetland Sheepdog
7. Labrador Retriever

If you’re not ready to bring home one of these super intelligent dogs (or if you already have one that is in the closet chewing on your favorite pair of shoes as you read this), you might just want to admire the head-tilted adorableness from a safe distance with our incredibly cute dog calendar, Talk to Me: Dogs by Emily Rieman. Chock-full of some of the sweetest pups you’ve ever laid your eyes on, these dogs look like they’re listening, but you don’t have to clean up after them.

Let’s take a moment a relive the heart-warming goodness of Homeward Bound. Those were three smart dogs!

We’re curious: How smart is your dog?

Photos courtesy of Emily Rieman.