Dog cognition

Dog choosing

Part of the Canine Cognition and Human Interaction Lab focuses on dog cognition. This means that we are interested in how dogs 'think'. We study their patience (how long they can wait), risk attitudes (how they deal with certainty vs. uncertainty), and prosociality (how nice they are to others).

We study these questions by having dogs play games for treats. Many of these games involve choices between different options. Sometimes, they involve interacting with other dogs. To do this work, we have dog owners in the community bring their dogs to the lab for testing. If you are interested in having your dog participate, please enroll.

Dog with treat balancing on nose