Dog Emotion and Cognition

In this module, Dr. Hare explores three of his research studies he's done with foxes, New Guinea Singing Dogs, as well as research on wolves. He describes how early dog-wolves may actually be a product of natural selection rather than artificial selection, contrary to popular belief. He introduces a hypothesis called Survival of the Friendliest, which may explain how dogs, bonobos, and modern species evolved in contrast to close relatives, such as wolves and chimpanzees. Last, he relates the high level of social tolerance of these species to human by looking at human self-domestication.

In this module, you will learn about the genius of dogs. Brilliant examples of the canine mind will be explored. Dogs seem to be capable of inferential reasoning using the "principle of exclusion" as well as learning new words by imitating humans. Next, Dr. Hare discusses dog's abilities to understand physical problem solving compared to other species (hint, this isn't most dog's strong suit). Last, he will discuss how dogs are not cooperative breeders, do have a relaxed social system, and are excellent hunting companions for humans.

In this module, Dr. Hare will discuss the common myths of breed differences and what research (including citizen science Dognition data) has actually been done to understand potential differences between breeds. You will also listen to Dr. Hare debunk "aggressive dog breed" stereotypes by learning about the literature and studies that have been done on dog aggression. He poses an interesting question about the actual culprit for the dog aggression problem, which is not even a dog! Next, he will explain how important understanding dog cognition is to training strategies. Dr. Hare will discuss how, unfortunately, not all cultures love dogs, and some see them as food and pests. He suggests ways that humans can live with dogs for mutual benefit. Taking all that you've learned into account, Dr. Hare then discusses how Dognition is revolutionizing what we know about dogs and how beneficial it could be to your relationship with your dog as well as for science!

The final exam covering topics from all modules.