COGNITION ACADEMY, AND HAPPY FINNEGAN UPDATE!

Miller dogs from days past... Back, left to right: Lucy, Cardigan Corgi and Bonnie, Scorgidoodle. Front - Tucker, Cattle Dog mix, Dubhy, Scottish Terrier, and Katie, Australian Kelpie

Our Cognition Academy

True confession time… Cognition is my favorite of all the various academies we offer here at Peaceable Paws. I find it so exciting to explore the incredible cognitive capabilities of the canine mind – things we were at one time told dog brains were entirely incapable of doing.

Cognition is defined as the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension, including but not limited to: Thinking, Grasping and Applying concepts, Knowing, Remembering, Reasoning, Sense of Self, Theory of Mind, Judging, Problem-solving. These are higher-level functions of the brain and also encompass language, imagination, perception, and planning.

We now understand and accept that most animals, including insects, are far more cognitive than we have, in the past, given them credit for. And it only makes sense… how could animals survive if they didn’t have the ability to remember, problem-solve, reason, and do many of the other things included in the definition cognition?

How could we possibly have believed for centuries that animals couldn’t do any of these things? I attribute it to our species’ arrogant desire to place ourselves above all the other species on earth. But that’s a topic for another discussion at another time…

We have a wonderful time in our Cognition academies and workshops teaching our dogs to understand and apply cognitive concepts. These include: Imitation; Object, Color and Shape Discrimination; Reading, Match-to-Sample; and more. Teams also create a "Cognition Test" that all the dogs get to participate in - essentially a very small sample cognition study. Teams develop and test a cognition hypothesis. Here's one from last week's class:

Cognition Academy – Team Cognition Test

Easy Bites -vs- Brain Bites: Delayed Gratification in Dogs

Katie Beth Miksa & Bethany Davidson

Hypothesis: Given the choice between a standard bowl with kibble and a puzzle feeder with high value food, dogs will choose the more easily accessible bowl of kibble.

Equipment Specifications & Set Up

Equipment: Kibble, High Value Treat (cut into small pieces), Medium-Sized Dog Bowl, Wooded Puzzle Feeder (Round Puzzle with 9 Depressions & 9 Matching Removable Cylinders), Mat, Tape (to Mark Distances), Pen, Data Collection Sheet, Timing Device, Measuring Tape, Chair, leash tab

Set Up

Using a measuring tape mark off a distance of 8 feet. At each end place a piece of tape. From the first tape marker, measure out a distance of 6 feet. From 6 feet, measure out and mark a distance of 1 foot to both the right and left of center (Total Distance is 2 feet). These will serve as markers for the bowl and puzzle feeder. Immediately behind the first tape maker, place a mat to serve as the dog’s starting position. Behind the mat, place a chair for the restraining handler to sit on during the test. (See Diagram A).

Diagram B – Puzzle Layout

Place 5 pieces of kibble into the bowl. We are using poultry free kibble due to the allergies of one subject dog in this class. Place 1 piece of a high value treat under each of the designated puzzle feeder cylinders. The puzzle feeder has 9 total cylinders. All but five have been removed. To ensure consistency, the remaining cylinders will be arranged like the 5 side of a die (See Diagram B). For Canine Cognition, we are using bacon as the high value treat as it is both high value and novel to the participants of this academy.

Dogs will be wearing a short training tab leash to prevent them from wandering in the event that they do not have solid a sit/wait.

Diagram A - Test Layout

Procedure

Have handler bring the subject dog into the testing area and put him/her in a sit/stay on the mat provided. The handler will hold the dog in case they are unable to maintain a “wait” cue.

The experimenter will move forward from the starting point (directly in front of the dog 8 feet away) with both choices in hand to allow the dog sniff each. The choice on the dog’s left side will be presented first. The choice on the dog’s right will be presented second. After that, the experimenter will say wait, and back up 6 feet. The “wait” cue can be repeated as necessary while setting both items on the ground at the same time 2 feet apart. The experimenter will then step back another 2 feet to the starting point and say “choose.” The handler will let go of the training tab and release the dog on the “choose” cue.

Dogs will be allowed to investigate each option. Once they eat a piece of food from their choice, the other will be removed by the experimenter. If the dog goes to the puzzle and begins to engage a timer will be started. Dogs will be allowed to engage for 1 minute before the experimenter steps in to assist if they are unable to complete the puzzle and obtain a treat on their own. This is to prevent frustration. As the dogs remove the cylinder from the puzzle, the experimenter will remove them from the area to prevent the dogs from chewing on them.

The test will consist of four trials. The puzzle will be on the dog’s left for trial one and three while the kibble bowl will be on the dog’s right. For trials two and four, the kibble bowl will be on the dog’s left and the puzzle will be on his/her right.

And in case you were wondering, Katie Beth and Bethany's hypothesis was disproven - the dogs pretty consistently preferred to work for the bacon (or later, chicken) in the puzzle toy rather than the easily accessible kibble.

Here is the curriculum from our recent Cognition Academy:

I was disappointed that we only ended up with three human students for the week (we brought in some extra dogs) but we had a great time with this small and mighty group:

Katie Beth Miksa demonstrates a behavior for Maggie to copy.

Bethany Davidson teaching Evan Match to Sample.

Kimana Merrill doing color discrimination with Logan

Peaceable Paws KC (this photo) and Kai (photo on the right) learn to read with Kimana and Katie Beth.

Happy Finnegan Update

I ended my last blog post with a description of Finnegan, a Labradoodle who turned out to be too fearful to be able to participate in the Level 1 Academy he was here for. Sara-Sun Cangelosi had worked with him every day despite a jam-packed academy schedule, and we said a sad good-bye to him on Graduation day with prayers and hope for his future.

We were thrilled to hear that he had been adopted, and his new humans shared this lovely e-mail with Sara-Sun:

<<Hello Sara,

My name is Jim. On July 30, I adopted Finnegan, the black Labradoodle you trained recently. I wanted to let you know he is doing great. He is gaining more confidence in his new environment each day. I have a 11 ½ year old yellow Lab Kirby, and a 1 ½ year old Golden Doodle, Oshie (female). Finn loves them and they love him (especially Oshie). Finn and Oshie have already bonded, playing nonstop and sleeping with each other at night in my bed with me. My old boy Kirby likes that he can now chill and get his much-needed nap time in while the kids play non-stop, lol.

I was thinking about renaming Finn at first, but after reading the beautiful write up you did about him with his photo on it, it brought tears to my eyes and said to myself, he is Finnegan. I live in the suburbs of Bel Air, Maryland. A nice older well-established community that is very dog-friendly, with people walking their dogs every day. I have a nice big back yard with a privacy fence and pool that has become Finn's safety sanctuary so far. He is timid on our walks, being afraid of cars, loud noises and other things you wouldn't see on trail walks, but he is doing well. He does not like car rides, has vomited in car twice, so we will stay away from that for time being.

I have to get back on Finn's training. He is not responding to my cues to sit, stay and just about everything else. I know it is hard for him to focus with the other dogs around, so I will make adjustments so we can have alone time to train.

I was hoping you would be okay with giving me your number so I can send you pics and video of Finn. Also I wanted to see if you resided in Maryland and if by any chance you would be an option for me to watch Finn if I traveled in the future. I have family and neighbors I can rely on, but it's always nice to have someone else, especially someone that Finn knows.

Thank you for all that you do with the dogs you train and helping them get through rough stages waiting to find their forever home. Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Jim Dupree>>

Of course, Sara-Sun will get back to Jim and hopefully will continue to get (and share!) updates about Finn’s progress. She can let him know that Finn really couldn’t learn those behaviors here because he was too stressed, so it not surprising that he’s not responding to the cues. She lives in Brooklyn, so probably can’t help him in person, but two students from that academy live in Maryland, and can hopefully help Jim with his furry boy.

Life At Peaceable Paws

And ending with some more PPaws farm photos to brighten your day…