Stock image courtesy Wikimedia Commons (Shopmimigreen)
The Dognition site uses questionnaires and games to help owners determine how empathetic and clever their pet is, the Mail Online reports.
First, pet owners fill out a questionnaire about their beloved pooch. Is Spot well-behaved? Does Fido respond to commands? Based on the results, owners are given a series of science-based games. These tests are designed to test a dog’s level of empathy, communication, cunning, memory, and reasoning abilities.
These include the eye contact, where you time how long your dog can keep eye contact to test empathy, and the foot pointing game to test communication skills.
The owner feeds the results into the database and a profile report is created, categorising your dog into one of nine personality types, including Einstein, Expert, Socialite, Stargazer, Charmer, Renaissance, Protodog, Maverick and Ace.
For example, the Renaissance Dog is a pet which is ‘good at a little bit of everything’ and Socialites are outgoing pets that are easily excitable.
Knowing your dog’s particular cognitive style, namely how he sees the world, should theoretically give owners a glimpse into how their dog thinks and be able to train them easier.
The report also compares the results to other dogs of the same breed, age and sizes, as well as dogs from other breeds, to see whether the trait is specific to the breed or the individual.
‘These are science-based games that should be very fun to play with your dog, for both human and dog alike. And while you’re doing it, you can know that you are participating in actual science that can be used to help dogs,’ Dognition founder Dr Brian Hare from Duke University told Mail Online.
All the results are anonymously stored so scientists can research dog behaviour and cognition. Dr. Hare and his team want to gather the data to analyse why some dogs or breeds communicate more effectively with humans, while others are more sociable.
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
