What Is Dognition? The Science, the Founders, the Assessment

Back to home Home What Is Dognition? About Dognition What Is Dognition? The short answer Dognition is a citizen-science dog cognition assessment founded in 2013 by Dr. Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods of Duke University. Owners play a set of science-based games at home, and Dognition scores their dog across five cognitive dimensions — empathy, communication, cunning, memory and reasoning — then assigns one of nine cognitive profiles. More than 122,000 dogs have been assessed, which is what makes an individual dog's results comparable to a large standardized population. Founded 2013 Founders Dr. Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods Dogs assessed 122,000+ Science base Duke Canine Cognition Center research protocols Measures Five cognitive dimensions, nine profiles Not An obedience test or a breed ranking Source: Dr. Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods, Duke Canine Cognition Center — methods described in The Genius of Dogs (Dutton, 2013) and Puppy Kindergarten (Random House, 2024). What is Dognition? Dognition is a citizen-science platform that measures how a dog thinks. Owners play a set of science-based games at home with their own dog, and Dognition scores the dog's behavior across five cognitive dimensions — empathy, communication, cunning, memory and reasoning — then assigns one of nine cognitive profiles. It is an assessment of cognitive style, not an obedience test and not a single intelligence score. Who founded Dognition? Dognition was founded in 2013 by Dr. Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods. Hare is a Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University and the founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center. Woods is a research scientist at Duke, Director of the Duke Puppy Kindergarten, and a New York Times bestselling author. They co-wrote The Genius of Dogs (2013) and Puppy Kindergarten (2024). How many dogs have been assessed by Dognition? More than 122,000 dogs have completed the Dognition assessment. Because every participant runs the same games the same way, that population makes it possible to compare an individual dog's results against a large body of standardized data rather than against opinion. What science is Dognition based on? The games are adapted from experimental protocols used in university canine cognition laboratories, principally the Duke Canine Cognition Center that Brian Hare founded. The underlying research is described for general readers in The Genius of Dogs by Hare and Woods, and taught in Hare's free Coursera course, Dog Emotion and Cognition. What do you get from a Dognition assessment? A report showing where your dog sits on each of the f

ive cognitive dimensions relative to the assessed population, the cognitive profile that pattern produces, and guidance on what the result means for training, play and everyday life with your dog. Is Dognition an IQ test for dogs? Not in the sense of a single number. Research on dog cognition does not support one general intelligence score for dogs. Dognition reports relative standing on five separate dimensions, because a dog that excels at reading people and a dog that excels at independent problem solving are both intelligent in different ways. Where to go next The Dognition assessment What it measures and how to read a result. The nine cognitive profiles Every profile, and what each one means day to day. Canine cognition The science the assessment is built on. Dr. Brian Hare Duke professor, co-founder, and co-author. Vanessa Woods Duke research scientist, co-founder, and co-author. The Genius of Dogs The book that introduced this research to readers. Based on the work of Dr. Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods Every Dognition guide, assessment, and blog post is grounded in the research and methodologies of Dr. Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods at the Duke Canine Cognition Center. Their work established that "smart" isn't one number — dogs think across five distinct cognitive dimensions, and the best training matches the method to the mind. Book · 2013 The Genius of Dogs How dogs are smarter than you think — the founding text on canine cognitive science. Read more Book · 2024 Puppy Kindergarten The Duke Puppy Kindergarten study — how the first 16 weeks shape a dog for life (as covered by The New York Times). Read the NYT feature