“Chicken. chicken Chicken”. The sound of my voice woke me up in a crazy loop. My mind can’t figure out what’s going on. what time is it Am I still dreaming? Then Laika, my dog, comes into my bedroom.
Laika is a good dog, or so I thought. I recently bought a touchpad called FluentPet that allows you to record your voice on a series of buttons so pets can push them and “speak” words. Laika can ask him to fill his water bowl, go to the park or scratch his belly. The problem is, it’s all backfired and he’s started asking for treats at all hours. This makes me wonder how far his mental abilities go. Is his dog-head really smart enough to send me guilt-tripped for snacks? Come to think of it, does he know what a snack is?
Most dog owners, like me, have ask about those deep questionsand we will probably never get completely satisfactory answers. But thought experiments and emerging technologies are beginning to provide a clearer picture of canine intelligence. So with Laika by my side (and candy in my pocket), I set out to find out the dogs they are really happening between their fluffy ears.
On one level, it’s surprising that dogs and humans communicate at all. Our two species separated in the evolutionary tree…
