Dog Intelligence

The Power of Scent

Horowitz, Alexandra. “Smelling Themselves: Dogs Investigate Their Own Odours Longer When Modified in an ‘Olfactory Mirror’ Test.” Behavioural Processes, vol. 143, Oct. 2017, pp.

17–24. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2017.08.001.

I found this article by typing the keywords "dogs" and "self-recognition" into the provided text boxes. I specifically thought the word "self-recognition" would be useful after watching the TEDtalk “The Secret Life of Dogs” by Julia Espinosa. This is because I wanted to find research similar to the scent self-recognition test that she mentioned for the sake of proving dogs are self-aware. Thankfully, I came out happy with my results.

Furthermore, the study's main goal was to test whether dogs notice when their urine has been modified. The scientists knew that dogs have a strong sense of smell and can pass social cognitive tests, yet fail at the mirror self-recognition test. This may be because sight is not their strongest asset, whereas scent is. As a result, this experiment allowed dogs to use their olfactory signals to investigate canisters with different urine samples. The canisters either had the dog's own urine or a modified version of it. In order to determine if the dog noticed this change and could differentiate their own urine from an unknown or different urine, the scientists timed how long the dog sniffed the samples and noted the times.

After interpreting the experiment's findings, the researchers concluded that the dogs were able to determine when their urine was modified. This is due to the fact that the dogs investigated their own odor for a shorter amount of time compared to when it was modified with an additional odor. Taking all this into account, the dogs appeared to recognize their urine as "themselves" and the tampered urine as "not themselves." Overall, these findings prove that dogs spend more time smelling unknown odor from other dogs compared to their familiar odor. They are able to recognize what is "them" and what is "not them," which demonstrates that dogs have self-awareness.

This study can help all people understand that dog's do not only use their nose just for the sake of communicating or smelling random objects. They actually use their unique gift to determine if an odor is unfamiliar. They can determine new information from this and gain knowledge about another dog, person, or even another species.

Round and Round in Circles

Pattison, Kristina F., et al. “The Case of the Disappearing Bone: Dogs’ Understanding of the

Physical Properties of Objects.” Behavioural Processes, vol. 85, no. 3, Oct. 2010, pp. 278–282. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2010.06.016.

I used the keywords "dogs" and "intelligence" to discover this article since I knew they were a simple, yet strong combination. They did their job and refined the articles dealing with animal science. This helped limit down the possible sources that could be beneficial for my research process. Despite this, there were still multiple articles I had to scroll through, but I believe this made the process a lot quicker and less tedious.

Additionally, this experiment’s main intent was to assess a dog's memory through a gaze duration procedure dealing with an occluded object. There were two different situations that could have occurred. Both situations possessed a biscuit in the shape of a bone located behind a rotating solid screen. However, the first included the rotation of the screen until it reached sixty or one hundred twenty degrees, which were possible events. However, the second showed the screen rotating one hundred eighty degrees, which was impossible since it would have had to physically pass through the bone.

The scientists found that the dogs peered at the screen for a significantly longer time when the impossible event occurred compared to the two possible events and seemed to know it was impractical. On the other hand, there was no difference in time when the dogs were looking at the screen for the two possible events. This is because they realized what was happening. These results allowed the researchers to conclude that dogs understand an object’s physical properties. Therefore, they have an understanding that objects are not able to physically cross through different objects.

Overall, this experiment can help individuals better understand dog intelligence since they are capable of doing what a human can do. More specifically, young children begin to understand the physical properties of an object, just like dogs. People who think they are superior just because dogs are incapable of completing similar tasks now have to realize their argument was proven wrong. Dogs, like humans, are able to successfully understand certain tasks in their own unique way.

Final thoughts

As a whole, this assignment was both very helpful and frustrating at the same time. I got really annoyed at first because I was unable to find any relevant sources that I could possibly reference in my essay. I spent wasted time scrolling, hoping something would catch my eye. Then, I had enough and remembered the "Ask a Librarian" feature that was mentioned in the assignment. I decided to try it out and am very glad I did. I was connected to a librarian who chatted with me and gave some help tips, which I utilized. Afterwards, I was able to find some research sources I could see myself using in the future. By following the steps, I learned that it is okay to ask for help since I am not as experienced as a librarian. I also learned more keywords I could use to limit my search due to her guidance.