Canine intelligence has been underrated.
Researchers have learned more about how dogs think and reason in the last ten years than in the past century.
Dr. Brian Hare, Director of Duke Canine Cognition Center (DCCC), presents The Genius of Dogs – New Discoveries About the Intelligence of Man’s Best Friend, in an Association of Professional Dog Trainers free webinar.
Hare discusses how canine intelligence has evolved through thousands of years of interaction with humans - how they have developed unique capabilities and strategies that in many cases exceed those of dolphins and chimpanzees, which traditionally have been seen as among the smartest animals.
The presentation introduces you to DCCC, their research and cognitive, rather than traditional, approach to canine intelligence.
The DCCC is a division of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and the only research institution in the US exclusively focused on how dogs think and reason.
Hare is also a co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Dognition.com, a service that aims to help dog owners develop a deeper understanding of and enrich their relationship with their dogs, which he introduces in the webinar.
By playing eye-opening, science-based games and completing an individualized personality questionnaire, you gain access to your dog’s Dognition Profile – a personalized assessment of what makes your dog unique, based on research in the field of canine cognition.
At the individual level, Dognition hopes to give owners a window into their dogs’ minds, creating greater understanding and deeper, more rewarding connections.
On a larger scale, Dognition aims to contribute to the greater good of all canines.
Individual assessment results are collected anonymously, allowing the company and researchers to make further explorations. For example: whether correlations exist between certain breeds and their ability to reason, or whether certain breeds have better memory retention than others.
Hare and Dognition believe dogs are unique in the animal kingdom because of their ability to read human social cues - that no other species can read communicative gestures as well as dogs can.
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