Dog Cognition 101 for curious pet parents
6 weeks of classes and interactive brain games sessions with a dog scientist.
What Your Dog Wants You to Know™️ is a 6-week highly interactive online program that will teach you the basics of Dog Cognition and bring you closer to your dog.
During the program you will:
1. Play interactive games that reveal how your dog's mind works and how you can make them happier
2. Hear from scientists who are studying dogs and trying to answer the questions every dog parent has
3. Learn complex concepts in dog science via weekly lessons, guided discussion and group learning
Dogs have the mental capacity of human toddlers! That means your dog has a rich inner life that’s waiting to be explored and understood.
Get introduced to the main concepts in Dog Cognition in an easy to understand, fun, weekly lesson that breaks down the concepts and helps you apply them to your relationship with your dog. Stay on track with an effective, 6 week schedule designed with busy dog parents in mind
Led by our Resident Dog Scientist, each week we get together on Zoom to play games together.
Games are not only a fun bonding tool, they each reveal something about your dog's cognitive profile. At the end of the 6 weeks you’ll not only have exercised your dog’s brain, you’ll better understand their unique personality.
*These sessions will all be recorded for those who can’t make it live. A supplies list will be provided, and most are common household items
If you have follow up questions for our Dog Scientist, you can bring them to an Office Hour. We will be offering 4 opportunities to attend. These sessions will also be recorded, and you can submit questions in advance if you like.
We introduce you to many of the top scientists and researchers in the field to bring you advanced learnings in topics like:
• The genetic basis of Dog Cognition
• How Dog Cognition impacts the Human-Animal bond
• How Dogs learn language
• The latest research on how our dogs see the world
And more!
In addition to the live video calls and recorded videos, you'll have access to a private online community where you can connect with other pet parents and experts in a friendly and welcoming space. You’ll get the opportunity to learn from others’ experience, ask questions and get personalized advice for your dog. We’ll also be posting interesting articles and other goodies throughout the program.
You will have access to this community for 3 months, so you can go back and rewatch all the videos and continue to engage with like-minded pet parents.
What is Dog Cognition, and why should we care?
.png)
How to Communicate with dogs so they actually understand us
How you and your dog can take each other's Perspective
How does your dog Measure up to a 2 year old?
Learn what strategies your dog uses to figure things out
We'll discuss emotions, anthropomorphism and more!
Laisuna graduated with a masters in Animal Behavior and Conservation. Her thesis evaluated pet dog and working dog performances in a visual discrimination reversal learning task. She was previously the Manager of The Thinking Dog Center in New York City. During this program, Laisuna will be guiding you in the dog cognition games and helping you interpret your results.
Sonali is a Biomedical Engineer turned Public Health Researcher turned Founder at Petminded. She is also dog mom to Ella a chi-terrier mix adopted in 2018.
After working in science based roles her entire career, Sonali is passionate about bringing scientific insights to pet lovers, so they can ensure the mental and emotional wellbeing of their pets. Sonali will be your host and facilitator for this program.
Topic: The Genetic Basis for Cognition in Dogs
Speaker Bio: Gitanjali Gnanadesikan is a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona in the School of Anthropology. Her research focuses on cognitive evolution and social behavior, especially in domesticated species. She studied Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University where she examined differences in methylation (a type of genetic regulation) between dogs and wolves. Before beginning graduate studies, Gitanjali worked as the laboratory coordinator for the Arizona Canine Cognition Center, where she continues her graduate research.
Topic: The Secret Lives of Dogs: how our dogs think and perceive the world
Speaker Bio: Julia Espinosa is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. She works with Dr. Daphna Buchsbaum (Brown University) and Dr. Laura Corbit (University of Toronto, investigating cognitive processes in non-humans. Her broad research interests are centered around how dogs think and learn about the physical world. She has explored how dogs reason about physical properties of objects and understand causal relationships of objects and agents. She is currently developing online studies for dogs, and organizing the first multi-lab study of the ManyDogs project.
January 18 to February 24th
New content is released on Mondays
Live calls are Wednesdays 8pm EST
Office hours on some Sundays or Mondays
Full schedule will be provided upon registration
• Weekly lessons you can learn from at your leisure
• Weekly zoom sessions to play Dog Cognition Games
• Expert chats with Dog Scientists
• Office Hours
• Online Community
We are offering the inaugural Winter 2021 session at half price!
Regular Price: $899
Winter 2021 session: $445
