Dognition: What did we learn?

A few of weeks ago, I shared my impression of Dognition, a science-based "personality test" for your dog, and said I would follow up with Bella's results. Sorry for the delay - Bella happens.

Moving on....

In reading through the report prepared for us by the Dognition team about Bella's results, there seemed to be a common thread running throughout and that is how many times the words (or sentiment) "This talent would come in handy in the wild" came up.

These are Bella's results for the initial Dognition games:


And below are just some of the insights provided in Bella's profile:

The overview:

"Bella is a specialist in independent problem solving, which requires a keen understanding of the physical world, a good memory and the ability to solve problems she has never seen before. Because she is so good at solving problems on her own, Bella does not need to rely on humans as much. While scores in the games testing social skills are solid, Bella's preferred strategy is definitely to work out problems without anyone's help."

(Jan would just like to say "Bella sounds a lot like her 'mom'".)

And the specifics:

EMPATHY

"Being individualistic is something to be proud of. Perhaps you've noticed that Bella is excellent at self-entertaining, or is better at solving problems on her own."

COMMUNICATION

"Of all the species that have been studied, dogs are the champions at using our communicative gestures. Even chimpanzees, who are one of our closest living relatives, do not rely on human gestures as much as dogs do. Instead, chimpanzees try to figure out these types of problems on their own.

Compared to other dogs, on this scale Bella was more like a chimpanzee. Although chimpanzees are extremely intelligent in other areas, when they play a similar game they do not use a human point to find the food. Instead, they tend to use more self-reliant strategies."

CUNNING

"Bella is the perfect example of a dog using cognitive strategies effectively. She knew she should wait when you were watching, and that it was safe to swoop in and take the treat when you had your back turned or your eyes covered.

The fact that Bella didn't wait as long to take the treat when your eyes were covered is impressive, since you looked almost exactly the same as when you were watching Bella... Bella's performance shows a sophisticated mind at work."

MEMORY

"Bella has an amazing working memory, which is a type of memory that allows your dog to keep information in mind for a few minutes and mentally manipulate it. This may sound simple, but working memory is crucial for any kind of problem-solving... This skill comes in handy in the wild. Feral dogs tend to be endurance hunters, slowly wearing down their prey."

REASONING

"You can be very proud. Bella just aced the most difficult games in the Toolkit. Reasoning is the ability to solve a problem when you can't see the answer and have to imagine the solution. Unlike learning through trial and error, which doesn't necessarily require much understanding, reasoning requires that you truly understand the problem and the phenomena behind the problem.

This talent would come in handy in the wild, since animals often have to keep track of objects that become hidden.

Bella was able to solve the mystery by imagining different solutions and choosing the one that made the most sense. This leads to a lot of flexibility. She can solve a new version of a problem she has seen before, and spontaneously solve new problems she has never seen before. This is a sign of true genius.

Congratulations - when playing the most difficult game in the most difficult dimension, Bella's performance was masterful."

The theme continues in her performance in the monthly games (similar to the initial games but with instant results).

There was

• The Numerosity game: "In the wild, there are many advantages to being as numerically savvy as Bella."
• The Impossible Task game: "Not looking back to ask you for help is rather wolfish behavior... Persistence in situations like these is a valuable quality, and reflects your dog’s curiosity and determination."
• And the Spatial Navigation game: "Bella would make a great explorer.... no matter which way she was oriented she would most likely go back to the bowl she had learned had food in the beginning. This strategy is particularly effective in large and unfamiliar environments."

Bella was bred to survive.

I guess what we've most discovered about Bella through these tests is that she was probably a bit more feral when she came to live with us than we realized. I wish we had known how feral at the time - we certainly could have made things easier for her.

Dr. Dodman has told us more than once, "She's smart. She's got it all figured out. She's just got it figured out all wrong."

Bella's life in an American home may be filled with stress and monsters but the way she thinks, the way she learns, would have served her well in the environment to which she was born.

I signed up for Dognition because I wanted to understand Bella better, hopefully learn a little bit about how she thinks so I could figure out how to help her cope with this life she's been dropped into.

One would like to believe that the life she's living now is far superior to any she had a chance of living on the island but she doesn't know what lay in store for her there. Maybe she could have survived a few years because of her cunning and her smarts. But one mistake could have meant a painful demise.

She doesn't know that though. And so she lives here with us worried about garbage cans, flies and the chirps of dying batteries.

But every day we continue to learn and teach and try. And she's such a willing partner in all of this.

My little hero...

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If you have also gone through the games and gotten your dog's Dognition profile, I would love to read them. Please share in the comments or direct us to your own reviews!

Bella Does Dognition

Bella is a bright little bird.

We have always known that.

We have also always known that she is a champion at coercing people into giving her what she wants. This is probably a trait she used to her advantage on the streets of Puerto Rico where tourists and truckers alike will toss bits of scraps to scavenging pups.

I don't know exactly how to qualify or quantify charm but whatever it is, Bella has it in abundance. No one can touch her and yet everyone falls in love with her. But the truth is, if Bella can't charm you into giving her what she wants, she'll figure out a way to get it herself.

It is this combination of intelligence, personality and fear that has made our life with her a challenge and her psychology an adventure waiting to be discovered. Dr. Dodman explained to us when we first met with him that Bella is exactly the kind of dog that is most likely to have issues with aggression.

Fearful, timid dogs shut down. Non-fearful, confident dogs don't react. Fearful dogs with big personalities and a bit of boldness tend to have the highest level of conflict going on inside of them which they don't know how to control or regulate.

Gaining this little bit of insight into Bella's personality from Dr. D gave us a whole new perspective on her behavior and I would happily spend every waking moment talking to anyone who could give additional information about what is going on in our crazy dog's head. But Dr. Dodman is a busy man and our fortunes don't run quite high enough to pay for his private, 24/7 tutelage.

So when I first heard about 'Dognition', a science-based "personality test" for your dog created by Duke University neuroscientist, Brian Hare, I jumped at the opportunity to sign up. Yes, there is a fee and I know some people balk at this. Since the fee for a year is substantially less than the fee for a single visit with a professional behaviorist, I didn't let that bit of information dissuade me. In for a penny, in for a pound as they say.

Dognition is ............

Dognition is not an IQ test for your dog as some people and the media want to claim it is. I'd liken it more to the Myers-Briggs type indicator test.

Dognition is a series of games or tests that you play with your dog and record the results.

When all the games are complete, the computers at Dognition, take in your information and process it through their algorithms. The profile compiled and sent to you at the end of the tests gives insight into what the results of the specific tests mean about how your dog processes information to make decisions.

Called "Cognitive Dimensions", the games test 5 different aspects of a dog's thinking:

• Empathy - individualistic vs. bonded,
• Communication - self-reliant vs. collaborative,
• Cunning - trustworthy vs. wily, 
• Memory - present-minded vs. retrospective, and
• Reasoning - impulsive vs. logical.

The results of each test place your dog's responses on a spectrum. The answers aren't true or false, there are gradations like on a scale from 1 - 10. Then, combining the results from all these areas, Dognition has created a series of 9 'types' ranging from Socialite ("Friend to all") to Star-gazer ("Free spirit") and Maverick ("Lone wolf") to Einstein ("The thinker").

 Bella was deemed an Expert ("Problem solver"). (I'll go into the specifics of her results in another post.)

How'd they do?

There were certainly aspects of the results that just confirmed what we already instinctively knew but I did learn some things about our little wonder dog that I didn't know before.

I read another review that suggested that the information gleaned from the games comes as little surprise. Of course, that review was written by Patricia McConnell, preeminent dog trainer and certified behaviorist so I'll suggest that most ordinary people playing the games won't know their dogs quite as well as she knows hers. Or dogs in general for that matter.

It took us quite some time to finish the tests - this is not something you can or should try to complete in a day. Just like training, I found Bella most enthusiastic about playing the games when we kept the sessions short. I wasn't always sure of the point when doing the games but once we got through and her profile was assessed, certain aspects of what was being tested were made more clear.

For instance, one of the games was about eye contact. You were to ask your dog to "Look" and time how long she would comply before looking away. We've worked with Bella on look extensively so I wasn't too surprised when she did this well and easily with me.

This test was correlated to the "bonded/individual" dimension and even though Bella held my gaze for the longest possible time allotted by the game, she came in on the "Individualistic" side of the coin based on her responses in the other games for the "Empathy" dimension.

Gee, who'da thunk? ;)


Nuture vs. Nature

Bella's responses and results, of course, left me wondering how much training impacts how well a dog complies.

There was one test that had you tell your dog to 'Leave' a treat. Well, Bella of course left it because we have worked long and hard on teaching her that behavior. My boy Beau was never taught such a behavior because we never really needed it. He pretty much stayed out of stuff but if a treat fell on the floor, he was our living, breathing vacuum cleaner.

I'm still not sure how the tests account for what is learned/trained behavior and what is indicative of how the dog thinks. As in the "Empathy" dimension, I suspect it is the results of the entire test that, taken together, create a picture of the thinking style of the individual dog.

Left with a few minor quibbles

There are a few things I didn't like about the process that I would love to see added or changed. For one, you can only test your dog on the games once. I would have been very interested to see if Bella tested differently with me than she did with Jan. Well, let's be serious, of course she would have tested differently. My curiosity lies in how and where she would have tested differently and what it would mean in light of our different relationships.

Another thing I would like to see done differently is the ability to change or at the very least, review the answers you give about your dog when setting up their initial profile. Some of the questions I remember being very black and white, not allowing for any nuance or shades between. For instance, one of the questions asks if your dog always or never gets along with other dogs. Does any dog ever get along with every dog all the time? I wasn't sure how to answer some of the questions in light of Bella's complexities.

And finally, I wish the study had chosen to capture information about whether the dogs taking the test were strays, puppy mill rescues or forever pets. The group, via the Dognition application is collecting a great deal of information that can be analyzed by various segments: large dogs vs. small dogs, herding breeds vs. the toy group, even one breed vs. another. But there is no data point that captures where/how you got your dog so there is no way to analyze strays vs. pets, purchased vs. rescued. I just think this would be an interesting aspect to pursue.

Conclusion?

We chose to sign up for a year which gives us access to additional tests and some of the data collected by this adventure in citizen science. It has been fun and gives us something to do together as a family that keeps Bella's interest especially on these long, dark winter nights when we're all stuck inside.

Disclosure: This is not a solicited review. We signed up and paid for Dognition. I am just sharing this information because I find it fascinating and hope some readers may be interested in hearing about our experience with it.