Thousands of dogs have been studied over the years and researchers have found that when it comes to communication, dogs that are purebred tend to be better with communication and dogs that are mixed breeds are better with memory. In order to test this, researchers asked owners to point to food and then recorded if the dog followed the point. Though it might seem normal to dog owners, the fact that dogs can follow these points is truly extraordinary, as they are the only animal to do so. Even chimpanzees, which are closely related to humans, cannot outperform dogs, in this sense.

Memory was tested, by allowing the dogs to play a series of games, all of which measured the dog’s ability to remember information and then manipulate it. In one game, the dog watched its owner put food under a cup, but then point to another cup. The purebred dogs were more likely to choose the cup that the owner was pointing at, whereas the mixed breed dogs were more likely to go to the cup with the food. One explanation as to why this is the case refers back to history. Before the Victorians, remember, the emphasis for dogs was placed on the function, instead of the look. So, many dogs were bred to be working dogs, which relied on the act of reading gestures from humans.

For instance A Labrador Retriever was originally meant to hunt and German Shepherds, to herd. Both of these ‘jobs’ required gestures from humans, in order to complete the tasks successfully. This does not mean, of course, that mixed-breed dogs cannot read gestures from humans, but many of the purebred dogs simply have this skill ingrained in them, thanks to domestication and evolution. Mixed breeds have the edge, however, as they can rely on their memory and other traits.