Monday, January 28, 2013

Dognition dog personality profiles

I was lucky enough to be chosen to be a beta tester for a new start-up, dognition.com.  This offered me a unique opportunity to work with and study the personalities of two of my dogs, Sue and Ranger.  Basically, it's the Myers Briggs Test for dogs. The results of the profiles were in a way similar to, but also very different from my opinions about them. 

Ranger

Perhaps the labels attached to the results are where I have a disconnect with the results.  While I am not sure what all of the labels Dognition has are, I do know that my Ranger, was labeled an "Einstein" which as far as I can tell means that Ranger is a very independent problem solving dog who relies more on his brain than on communication with or from me.    Hmmm, and all this time I had thought him to be stubborn, cuddly, and a little lazy.  I do think he's smart, but I would never have hung the "Einstein" label on him.

Sue

Sue, my little wunderkind princess, on the other hand, tested as "Protodog" or the most like the primitive dogs who first began the canine relationship with humans.  According to Dognition, "independent problem solving may not be a strong suit, but she has what counts - a desire to communicate and connect with you (me)".  Who knew? Well, she is my most communicative, (read whiny) dog.  However, I also like to think of her as my smartest dog.  She learns things super fast in training situations. She's super compliant, a dream dog for performance venues, really.  How can she be my "Protodog"?  I won't say that she's the smartest of my three, but she definitely is the easiest to train, and I always thought that she was smarter than the "Einstein", Ranger.  When I think about Sue, she does rely on me telling her what to do and then she does it.  She's not a very creative dog at all, but I would categorize her as an independent soul as well.  She's an explorer at heart. Often she goes off solo following trails over hill and dale until I whistle her back in, but she's not a dog who runs away, I allow her freedom to roam and she returns when I call her back.

What does it all mean?

So, what does all of this mean in the long run?  Was it just a fun activity like a quiz in a magazine? Do I have any useful information that I didn't already know here? Is my participation in the "Citizen Science" process going to reveal something monumental about dogs as a whole?  How can it help my training process with these dogs?  I think that Dognition has a way to monetize the obsession many dog owners have with their dogs.  In March, they are planning to launch Premium memberships, where each month or twelve times/year, for a fee, Dognition will send me more games to play with my dogs based on their personality profiles.  Depending on the price, I might try it. 

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