There's a program airing tonight, next Sunday and Monday on the NatGeo channel called Dog Genius. I don't know if the info is all that new, but it's still interesting.

I was a little puzzled by a segment about how dogs can learn using memory and a process of elimination, previously thought of as something only humans do. But their conclusions didn't seem all that surprising to me. Since I'm not an experienced trainer, maybe someone has seen this ability is some other form or some other training environments.

In the testing, a Border Collie is shown a series of images in pairs on a touch screen monitor and she has to touch the correct one with her nose (assigned a "positive" value) to get a treat. Choosing the negative value one turns the screen red, no treat.

First, she's shown a brown briefcase (+) and a green gift box (-) She learns to pick the briefcase to get the treat.

Next, a new positive object - blue bowl - is shown next to the green box. She has previously learned the box to be negative, so she chooses the blue bowl and gets the treat.

Next, a new negative object - red phone - is placed next to the briefcase. She has learned the briefcase is positive and chooses it for the treat.

Next (the biggie!), the red phone (-) is shown next to a new object, a coffee mug. Here she has to pick between 2 objects she's never picked before and, by the process of elimination (remembering the phone is negative), picks the coffee mug.

Some other segments go into how much dogs learn about us by observing our behavior, movements and facial expressions. And there's the thing about tail-wagging measurements.

Mike

Interesting! but not suprising at all.
IF Loki who is not all that intelligent (but I love him) can actively devise and put into action a sucessful plan of deception and theft. A dog should be able to know that a phone is a phone no matter if it is red or blue.

Isn't that how they learn on a pretty basic level anyway and the concept behind why ignoring bad behaviors often causes them to self extuinguish.

I would imagine that orange kitties and black kitties are both tasty in a dogs mind and that they know this without having to sample both or even see a black kitty before being able to make this assumption.


I think some if not most dogs are highly in tune with their people.
If I put Lipstick on Nico goes running to the door doing the plllluuueeeeesssseee take me with you routine.
Having pretty lips is a pretty subtle cue IMO

They all do it if I touch my purse,which is way more obvious but still a totally independently made correct assumption.

and we often have to spell out the word hungry even in normal conversation because Nico knows what it means and will tell us in no uncertain terms that yes she is most definately starving to death!

Mike, I have seen this and found it to be interesting, it is called fast mapping: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_mapping . The other show by Nat Geo called the Science of Dogs that was also a great show. IMO this one, Dog Genius, is worth watching for sure.

Process of Elimintion the way that dogs do it even the great apes don't catch on to at all or as quickly. Like taking direction from humans, this is primarily a domestic animal trait only seen in certain species like dogs, cats, horses, etc though some birds (corvids primarily, some parrots etc) do show the ability as well.

Here is one of the dogs featured on Dog Genius, he is on Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_(dog)
and part of Dog Genius showing Donnie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGQ0n0A71xQ&feature=related
I can't find any other clips right now hmm.

Throwing behaviors is an example of dogs intelligence and the way they focus on humans. My dogs throw behaviors all the time during clicker sessions as I always give them an opportunity to show me something new. The very fact that dogs understand that humans want actions is astounding but people tend to overlook it. Dogs understand us quite well and pick up on things people wouldn't imagine.

I just read up some on the Fast mapping, I was looking at it a bit differently but I do think the same concepts still apply.


I just read an article about Rico the border collie who knows over 200 item names and learns new item names in a single session of fetching it as a new item among a group of known items.
Impressive!

They seem to thrive on that give and take of communication leading to desired behavior or action from both angles.

My pup will bring me his clicker in order to "play"

He will keep doing the clicker games for as long as I will, and it doesnt have to be for food, he will keep going for praise and ear scratches and the simple reward of the interaction.

With everything else he has the attention span of a gnat and is stubborn and talks back and is just generally full of it

I do make him wait and ignore him for a couple of minutes after he brings me the clicker so that he doesnt think he is totally in charge!!

I also thought of other words we have to spell around Nico or else a serious case of a 112 arthritic dog with the puppy crazies ensues.
L-A-K-E and S-W-I-M,
we never taught her those words and I never emphasized them to her, she made the connections from everyday conversation.


And now a somewhat long but totally applicable story!

A good friend of ours has a GSD, King, that is the most uncannily intelligent dog I have ever known.

Not to long ago we were at their house with my son and King loves kids more than anything in the entire world including his person.
He went and got his ball and took it to my son and literally put it in his hand then stood up and stared at him in an obvious come with me way.
Of course my son listened......what kid could resist.

King then walked over to the base of a rock retaining wall and sat down again and gave a short little bark that meant "right here"
so dutifully my son went and stood right there, King then started to walk off and my son followed. Like a patient mother hen King put him back in the spot by sitting and barking and when my son did it King gave him a big ol face snuffle
This time my son understood what was wanted and stayed in the spot. (marker and reward training?)
King then walked around to the top of the wall (about 8 feet) and stood there making little yipping type noises and jerking his head like a horse.
The meaning was crystal clear
Throw me the ball!!!
And of course my son did and King caught it and dropped it back down off the wall to him

My son was so enamoured by the whole thing he stood there and played catch with King for a good half hour.

With most dogs that sort of forward bossy behavior with a kid would worry me but he truly sees himself as protector of all
children and is gentle and kind with them.

Could it be any more clear that he was training my son in the exact same methods we use to train a dog, Not only that he has enough understanding of what humans will understand and can tailor his actions to suit.

He also takes on kittens and baby chicks as a personal body gaurd and teacher. I have seen a row of little yellow peeping fuzzballs following along behind him.

 Quote: Jennifer Marshal

Process of Elimintion the way that dogs do it even the great apes dont ... Like taking direction from humans, this is primarily a domestic animal trait only seen in certain species like dogs, cats, horses, etc though some birds (corvids primarily, some parrots etc) do show the ability as well.

Here is one of the dogs featured on Dog Genius, he is on Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_(dog)
and part of Dog Genius showing Donnie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGQ0n0A71xQ&feature=related
I can't find any other clips right now hmm.

Something I ponder is if this way of thinking and understanding is part of the reason why these animals have so succeeded in their relationships with humans since ancient times. Or is it an ability that has evolved because it facilitates a deeper more substantial understanding between the animal and its humans.

Watching the video of Donnie the Dobie made me cry, something in those creation is deeply moving and also like nothing I have ever seen in a dog.

To be honest it makes me think of Autism, the arranging of objects in order to create order and meaning out of chaos.
Im going to have to try to find more information about it.

To make the animals hold hands, or hug, or to have one arm around another shows a possibly deep understanding of symbology, something that is generally used as a litmus for the difference between animals and humans.

 Quote:

To be honest it makes me think of Autism, the arranging of objects in order to create order and meaning out of chaos.

Hyperspecific perception (i.e. NOT being able to conceptualize a "big picture") is what makes animals good at what they do, and what makes us consider autistic people disabled. When every other human can walk around and instantly categorize a bunch of trees as a forest, the person who is burdened with having to perceive every part of every tree just won't be able to function normally. Their perception is so fragmented and narrow.

I think the more interesting position is that typical animal genius isn't about cognition and abstraction (what human genius is usually considered), but the specific and tangible. Example is the small minority of dogs trained to service seizures, who spontaneously PREDICT seizures without explicit training due to their mysterious degree of perception/understanding of body language etc.

Not always fair to compare. Let's face it. Donnie still wouldn't be able to unwrap is own leash from a tree.

 Quote: jennifer lee

To be honest it makes me think of Autism, the arranging of objects in order to create order and meaning out of chaos.
Im going to have to try to find more information about it.

There is a book called Animals in Translation that uses "the mysteries of autism to decode animal behavior." http://www.leerburg.com/963.htm

I haven't read it yet but I've heard it's great and it's on my list.

 Quote: Steven Lepic

Not always fair to compare. Let's face it. Donnie still wouldn't be able to unwrap is own leash from a tree.

Steven, I always love your posts. The signature pic, while not nearly as hot as Eich...is pretty damn good.

 Quote: amber morgan

There is a book called Animals in Translation that uses "the mysteries of autism to decode animal behavior." http://www.leerburg.com/963.htm

I haven't read it yet but I've heard it's great and it's on my list.

FABULOUS book - I'm in the middle of it right now. Temple Grandin is simply amazing - one of those prolific thinkers who just never stops, and the work she has done in the livestock world deserves so much appreciation.

I remember Steven saying he had read this book recently, so I knew just where he was coming from with that last post ... good stuff!

~Natalya

I think that the world in general misses the mooring in realizing how intellegent dogs are. I remember watching a movie about Koko and how she mourned her kitten and had "crushes" on some other gorillas and disliked others. They deduced that *shock, shock* gorillas were intelligent and had emotions. I have known dogs who had pets (Lady, for one) and who were grumpy with certain dogs.
I think that dogs have just as much intelligence and emotions as gorrillas. Since Primates have hands and faces similar to our we recognize similarites much quicker in them. Koko could use sign language but I think that dogs do as well, just looking at the posts above its clear that animals communicate; and why is sign language more indicitave of "intelligence" than what dogs do (if anything they have a wider gap to jump to communicate with us :laugh Now if they had asked dog owners...

I have been eyeing that animals in translation book for months, I dont know why I havent bought it

At first glance that doberman looks like it could be some sort of OCD behaviors, But from what i was aware of OCD in dogs usually manifests as chewing or shredding or self mutilation type behaviors.

And I would not have thought a dog would be able to conceptualize parralel lines or half circles, much less of all one type of stuffie or all one color.

And then there is the whole issue of holding hands or having an arm around another one.

I wonder what on earth he is thinking or what need this behavior is fullfilling.

This is one of those time I so wish they could speak