Questions

We can learn about dog cognition through cognitive games in the lab, but the small sample size limits our ability to find associations between performance on different cognitive tasks, or with other variables such as their personality. However, citizen science allows us to expand our sample size and answer questions like this. How well does citizen science data on dog cognition match what we see in the laboratory? Do dogs' performance on cognitive tasks match up with the owner's assessment of the dog's abilities? What do these data reveal about the patterns of age-related cognitive decline in dogs?

Methods

In 2013, Dognition was launched by Dr. Brian Hare and collaborators. Dog owners sign up to complete a series of cognitive games with their own dog and learn about their dog's cognitive profiles. The data is added to a large database of over 10,000 dogs. I have previously helped collect data on dogs' performance on these tasks in the laboratory, which I am in the process of comparing to home-collected data. For my dissertation, I compared owners' assessments of their dogs to dogs' performance on cognitive tasks.

Get involved

If you are a dog owner who wants to join participate, please visit the official Dognition site.

Upcoming Publications

Dog cognition tasks validated by owner surveys in citizen science dataset. Dissertation chapter being prepared to be submitted for publication.

Collaborators

Brian Hare

Margaret Gruen

Kerri Rodriguez

Ben Allen