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When it comes to the smartest breed of dog, the Border Collie is usually thought of as top dog, but it might have a contender.

Research has found the Belgian Malinois breed may be the most talented pooch around.

The Malinois is normally chosen to be a police, guard or sniffer dog, and the study found they are the perfect choice because of their independent nature and ability to problem solve.

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Scientists at the University of Helsinki in Finland, studied more than 1,000 dogs from 13 different breeds. The team wanted to create a database of what different behavioural and intellectual tasks each breed is good at.

The dogs faced 10 tasks, some of which tested their independence and how good they were at reading human gestures.

Ms Saara Junttila, author of the study said: "Most breeds had their own strengths and weaknesses."

However, the Belgian Malinois came out on top in the tests.

They performed particularly well in the V-detour tasks. This is where the dog has to find another path around a V-shaped fence to get food which it can see.

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Another task tested human understanding.

The dogs were rated by how they responded to five human gestures from pointing with the foot, continually pointing, brief pointing, pointing at something when facing the other day and following a human's gaze.

Ms Junttila said: "Understanding of human gestures is a measure of social cognition, so dogs which performed well in that task are good at reading and understanding humans."

The Belgian Malinois did well again in this tasks, as did the Golden Retriever and Labrador who are known for their emotional intelligence.