For his book, The Intelligence of Dogs, psychologist Stanley Coren examined 141 breeds and discussed their performance traits with U.S. and Canadian dog obedience judges. He used “understanding of new commands” and “obey first command” as criteria in judging the responsiveness of dogs to commands.
When given a command five or fewer times, the following breeds performed the requested behavior 95% of the time or better: 
- Border Collie
- Poodle
- German Shepherd
- Golden Retriever
- Doberman Pinscher
Although the breeds below have many fine qualities to recommend them, trainability and a desire to please is low on the list. These dogs may take 80 to 100 trials to learn a new command and then obey the command 25% of the time or less:
- Borzoi
- Chow Chow
- Bulldog
- Basenji
- Afghan Hound
Source: USA Weekend
