In this episode, Dr. Sarah Byosiere teaches us about how she studies dog cognition and ongoing research at the Thinking Dog Center at the City University of New York Hunter College. We discuss:

• Why study dog cognition?
• Ongoing research on enrichment and contrafreeloading
• How to introduce enrichment to your dog
• Surprising research about breed labels in animal shelters

Dr. Byosiere's bio:
Dr. Byosiere is the Director of the Thinking Dog Center and an Assistant Professor at CUNY Hunter College where she focuses on studying the behavior and cognition of companion animals. She is also a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. Dr. Byosiere has worked at various canine cognition and behavior research groups including the Duke Canine Cognition Center, the Clever Dog Lab and the Wolf Science Center. Dr. Byosiere earned her PhD at La Trobe University in Australia at the Anthrozoology Research Group, where her dissertation focused on evaluating whether or not dogs are susceptible to visual illusions. More recently at the Thinking Dog Center, her work has expanded to include applied research topics, including human-animal interactions, dog training methodologies and animal sheltering practices. Dr. Byosiere has published her research in peer-revived scientific journals, presented her findings at conferences, and has been featured on NPRs Science Friday, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, The New York Daily News, Gizmodo, WIRED Currents, and Curiosity Stream.

Links:
Thinking Dog Center Website
Twitter Thinking Dog Center
Instagram Thinking Dog Center
Facebook Thinking Dog Center

Theme music composed and performed by Andy Sells

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