what breed is well known for obedience/trainability?

The breeds that are almost always in the first four places in the obedience, rally, and agility rings are the Golden Retrievers, Shelties, Border Collies and Labradors, and Australian Shepherds.

Of the four (trained them all except the Aussies) the Golden Retrievers excell in Obedience, and the Shelties and Border Collies and Aussies are the winners in Agility.

Border Collies are the smartest of all breeds on every dog list I've ever seen, but they are also a dog that needs a job and is not happy sitting around the house watching life go by nor are the Aussies

A Sheltie and a Lab are pretty much happy whatever you decide to do with them, however the labs take much longer to mature mentally.

Don't ever try to teach a Sheltie anything with ear pinches or prong collars. The dog will just shut down.

Humans don't generally consider intelligence alone when thinking about "intelligent" breeds, but tend to consider trainability and willingness to comply at the same time. The Border Collie is considered the most intelligent breed by that criteria.

When looking for an intelligent (that is, smart, easily trained, compliant, and willing) dog, consider what the breed was originally bred for. Terriers, for instance, may be extremely smart, but since they were bred to hunt and kill vermin and not prized for their ability to work with humans, they tend to lack compliance and willingness. Toy dogs were bred as lap dogs, so may be very compliant but not necessarily very smart. The breeds that were bred specifically to work with humans are generally in the Working and Herding Groups (with some exceptions - livestock guardian breeds and northern breeds are not known to be easily trained).

Of course, with positive training methods, any breed can be trained, and within any breed there is a variation of intelligence. The bottom line is that how we'll trained a dog is depends almost entirely on how good a trainer the owner is and how much effort he's put into the training.

Statistically the breeds that consistently win high titles in AKC obedience include:

Border collies

Golden retrievers

Shetland Sheepdogs

Labrador retrievers

Poodles

Papillions

Again these breeds can be very difficult to live with. There is a reason why these dogs excel in obedience. They need a job. If they don't have a job, they will find one much to the determent of your house hold. Some can be difficult to train because often they are more intelligent then their owners. They take an intelligent consistent trainer to be good. These are not "push button" dogs.

I would recommend that you get the dog you want and train it to be the dog you want to be. Most dogs can be trained to be good pets. There are books, videos, and classes available to help you with your goals.

Like you said any dog can be a great show dog with practice. I have a corgi and she almost always get 1st in dog shows. I would have suggested a poodle because they are extremely smart but you don't like them! Here are some dogs I think are personally smart: german shepherds, poodles, border collies, corgis, australian shepherds..etc. Like I said almost any dog can be a top show dog with a little practice but its a lot better to start at a young age. I started showing my corgi when she was about 5 months old. Now she is 2 and like I said wins first at almost all dog shows, very obedient, listens when she is called etc! So its whatever breed you want to get. Its pretty much up to you!

Border collies are very smart and very obedient.

The dog that you won't want is a siberian husky. They are very smart but are known to NOT listen to you. Ask any husky owner and they will tell you to never take them off of leash because they are very independent and can run away.

Poodles are also very smart, they are easy to train but hard to keep. Their coat (hair) is a lot of money to take care of.

Actually you can train about any dog to be obedient but some indeed learn very quick.

Other dogs that are known to be easy to train are

German shepherds

Belgian Malinois (the best out there)

Golden retriever

Labrador retriever

American staffordshire terrier

Staffordshire bull terrier

American pit bull terrier

Rottweilers (they are very smart but somewhat slow in response. It's not the same speed as when you ask a malinois to sit down.)

Australian shepherd

Doberman pincher

Shetland sheepdog

Papillons are small but easy to train

I almost forgot the welsh corgis!

TIP: dogs are individuals. I have seen very dumb german shepherds before. Dogs that no matter what method you use, they are too slow to learn the trick or some are just too lazy.

Listen to Lacey.

There are always dogs around in rescue that "need a job" - so if you are looking for a good obedience prospect, I would suggest you ask there. Rather than starting with a puppy, you will find there are dogs pre-sorted that will be especially suited to working with you.

A good Australian Shepherd will follow you everywhere and ask "what's next" at every turn - and many of them simply are not doing obedience work in a structured setting, so they aren't showing up in Lacey's statistics. The dog in my avatar has never set foot in a competition ring, but has worked at my side every day for more than ten years.

If you have the life for one, that is what I would first recommend - they are intuitive and were originally bred to be a cheap substitute for a hired hand.

Here's where to look -

http://www.aussierescue.org/AdoptFromARPH/Availabl...

Border Collie

Australian Shepherd

German Shepherd

Maybe Dalmation

Poodles are the smartest and quickest. I would have said German Shepherds but I got one two years ago and it's been hell. I got a Saint Bernard last year and they are awesome. Calm, love to listen, will do anything for a treat and they learn really quick. lots of hair though.