New test reveals how smart your dog is

 Here’s something from the “what will they think of next?” department.

If you aren’t already spending too much money on your dog(s), a North Carolina-based business venture recently launched an IQ test for dogs called Dognition.

For $60 you can put your dog through a series of exercises to determine whether your beloved canine is an “Einstein or Socialite or Charmer,” the Dognition website points out. The tests take about 80 minutes and the results peg your dog as having one of nine kinds of intelligence.

“Find the genius in your dog,” dognition.com urges. The website is full of testimonials, declaring statements like this from Rachel B.: “A completely new way to view my dog. I have two greyhounds, and I received confirmation that they are two distinct, individual dogs.”

I know what most of you are thinking.

You already know your dog is the smartest pooch on the planet. I don’t have a dog, by I do lay claim to two “granddogs,” Odin and Nala, my daughter and son-in-law’s purebred Akitas. And yes, my granddogs are pretty darn smart. But I wouldn’t spend $60 apiece to prove it.

Is this the latest ploy to get pet owners to spend even more moola on their pets? The American Pet Products Association says Americans already dole out more than $55 billion a year on their pets.

Before you dismiss this as a shameless way to prey on dog lovers, consider the world-class team that’s involved with this venture.

Dr. Brian Hare is chairman of the scientific advisory board for Dognition. He has a Ph.D. from Harvard, founded the Hominoid Psychology Research Group while at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and then founded the Duke Canine Cognition Center at Duke University. His research is world-acclaimed.

Dr. Juliane Kaminski is the director of Dog Cognition Center Portsmouth at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. Then there’s Dr. Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, who began his research working with renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. The advisory board list goes on and on with all kinds of heavy hitters in the field of animal cognition.

It turns out that much of the current information about dogs and their intelligence is based on anecdotal evidence, not hard science.

Dognition aims to create a big database that Hare will analyze to pinpoint differences among breeds. He even intends to see if there are regional differences among dogs.

So for a mere $60 you can play games with your dog, “learning who your dog is as a ‘person,’” and you’ll be providing valuable data for the sake of dog science.

And, as the Dognition webnite aptly notes, “Great relationships [with your dog, I’m assuming] are built on more than bacon.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.