UoA Clever Canine Lab

Our latest paper is out in Psychological Science, showing that dogs react appropriately to jealousy-inducing situations, and even imagine out-of-sight social interactions! See our summary video below to learn all about it!

A huge thank you to all the dogs and owners that took part in the study, and Healthy Pet Foods for keeping the dogs happy in between trials with some delicious treats.

Dogs mentally represent jealousy-inducing social interactions Jealousy may have evolved to protect valuable social bonds from interlopers, but some researchers have suggestedthat it is linked to self-awareness and theor...

Our latest paper is out now! We looked into previous research on contagious yawning, and together with the data we collected at our lab, found no evidence to suggest that yawning is a signal of empathy.
Thank you to Healthy Pet Foods for their support and providing our clever canines with the tastiest treats!
Here is a great news article covering our findings:

Dogs' contagious yawning may not be a sign of empathy - study Dogs can "catch" a contagious yawn from humans, but why they do it remains a mystery.

Today the Clever Canine Lab celebrates its first scientific paper, which is now published in Scientific Reports.

Dogs don't steal food any slower when confronted with pictures of eyes in comparison to pictures of flowers, which would suggest that this effect in humans relates to reputation management rather than gaze aversion.

A big thanks to our dogs and their owners who volunteered their time to take part in this study and the pilot studies that helped shape the final design. Also a big thanks to our sponsors, Healthy Pet Foods, for providing the spike treats that our participants found so hard to resist.

You can read the full paper at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-58210-4

Our work was featured today on Seven Sharp!
Head over to TVNZ online to watch the clip: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/seven-sharp/clips/animals-less-likely-to-steal-food-if-you-stare-at-them
And if you own a dog between 2 and 10 years of age that you would like to register with us, please visit our website:

Clever Canine Lab | The University of Auckland Welcome to the University of Auckland’s Clever Canine Lab. With help from you and your dog, we can discover more about how dogs think.

Does your dog have smarts? We are currently recruiting pet dogs to take part in our canine research. By observing the strategies that your dog uses during behavioural games and tasks, we hope to discover how your dog thinks about the world. We are particularly keen to recruit working dogs, or pet dogs with a high level of trainability, i.e. those which take part in obedience, agility, flyball or similar activities. We regularly run one-off sessions held at Tamaki Campus (Glenn Innes/Morrin Road). These sessions typically last 1 to 1 and a half hours, but we also have some longer-term projects involving training you and your dog can do at home!
To learn more, or to volunteer your dog, visit our website https://clevercaninelab.auckland.ac.nz/ or contact one of our canine cognition experts at [email protected]

Clever Canine Lab | The University of Auckland Welcome to the University of Auckland’s Clever Canine Lab. With help from you and your dog, we can discover more about how dogs think.