Canine Cognition with Zach Silver

Laura Reeves is joined by a very special guest, Zach Silver, who is a doctoral student at Yale University. Zach conducts research on how non-humans learn from and about humans. In this episode, we learn about how dogs learn. 

Zach introduces us to the different types of cognition that have been identified in dogs. When we think about dogs broadly, they have two types of cognition that can be divided into two important categories: social cognition and physical cognition. Social cognition encompasses any time a dog is making inferences about the social world, such as a judgement about a person. Physical cognition is when dogs are operating on their own, without their human. 

Laura poses the question of the episode: which breed is the smartest dog? For Zach, that is a very complex question and comes down to the fact that all breeds have these differently adapted intelligences. Herding dogs are excellent problem solvers, while retrievers have this cooperative relationship which makes them awesome at following services cues. 

Zach uses this episode to explain a little bit about dog domestication, how they evolved from wolves and started interacting with humans more and more. Additionally, Zach discusses the impact that early-life socialization has on the agility of dogs in the long term. Head over to the episode to learn more about canine cognition!