Cricketpug and Greenleaf are right on, in my opinion. I don't know how many times I've had to explain to people that what some call intelligent behavior in a Border Collie would be down right moronic behavior in a Shiba - like Greyhounds, Shibas are *truly* independent workers. They hunt, fight, and bring down their prey with little to no guidance from the owner when it comes to wild boar (and other such dangerous game) - after all, what could he say that would be advantageous to listen to during a lightning quick fight to the death? The decisions a Shiba has to make must be made in a split second - and this means making decisions on one's own, without the guidance of an owner saying "swing" this way, or "come" that way. Waiting for such commands, turning back to see if he's on the right track - that dog just bought itself a one-way ticket to skewer-ville. (Of course, Shibas can also be trained to hunt non-threatening game, such as copper pheasant, with great success). The problem with this for most people is that they have learned to look at canine intelligence in a very limited way - a dog is "smart" if it learns behaviors and commands quickly, repeats them with low rates of failure, and is willing to please. This is because a great deal of the dog-owning population has a breed that fits these criteria, and because the population at large has been fed a media-diet that espouses this view. Thus it becomes very difficult for people to understand that there are different *kinds* of intelligence, and that what is smart for one breed, may not be intelligent for another. Shibas learn commands quickly, but they learn just as quickly how to manipulate an owner by choosing when to perform these behaviors, and when not to. They learn to ask "why?" when someone says sit, instead of saying "sure, why not? What else can I do?" I'd say that's one wicked brand of intelligence. Not many owners would be thrilled to have a Border Collie that acted like this, and I'd be pretty distressed to meet a Shiba that acted like a Border. The point is, I can see an intelligent Shiba's mind at work, and I can see an intelligent Border's mind work - but they work in exceptionally different ways, ways that would not lend themselves to comparison.
I think CricketPug brought up another very valid point in stating that
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Also, has it ever occured to you that perhaps the reason that you don't see very many showdogs in performace events is because their owners have a lack of time or interest in them? Or because the owner is not willing to take the risks involved during the show career of their dog? Many times owners are not interested in testing the instict/ability of their dog in their original purpose, and therefore it is not the dog that fails, but rather the dog is never given a chance to succeed.
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I know *dozens* of show people that made this exact decision - heck, you might as well call me one of them. I just don't have the money and wherewithal to send my dogs to Japan to participate in wild boar hunting tests, and even if I did, I wouldn't do it for several reasons - first, I'm not fond of killing *anything,* and second, I just wouldn't risk my dogs - hunting wild boar isn't exactly playing parchesi. I have several friends with sighthounds that made the conscious decision *not* to lure course, due to risk of injury. In *all* of these cases, none of the decisions were made due to lack of instinct, ability, or intelligence. You should see my b1tch when she sees pig - it would put the fear of Dog in you! You should see my dog prance proudly about the backyard, possum in his mouth. You should see both of them race and pounce through tall grasses, see them tracking, see them drop dead rats on the front porch. You should see my breeder's dogs catch birds midflight. You should see my friend's Afghan bring down wild rabbits in her back yard. They've all still got the instincts - for one reason or another, we just chose not to pursue the titles that *say* they do.
I'd also like to know what you think about dual-titled animals? What about dogs that show and have their lure coursing titles, their JHs, or herding titles?