What Your Dog Really Thinks of You

Do you ever wonder what your dog is thinking? You aren’t alone. Researchers across the country are looking for answers in a relatively new academic field, known as canine cognition, which grapples with questions about dog intelligence, psychology, emotions and more. What they’re finding behind those puppy-dog eyes isn’t necessarily extraordinary intelligence. It’s something deeper that sets them apart.

Bring your dog and join Future Tense for a happy hour conversation on Wednesday, June 14, exploring what we know about how dogs think, how that informs their behavior, and their roles in our lives. The event will take place at Wunder Garten, a dog-friendly beer garden located in the NOMA neighborhood of Washington.

After the conversation, guests will have the opportunity to continue the conversation with refreshments and participate in a citizen science-driven project called Darwin’s Dogs. Darwin’s Dogs invites dog owners to submit saliva samples from their dogs and fill out brief surveys, which will contribute to research exploring the genetic basis of dog behavior, as well as diseases such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and cancer.

The reception and registration will open at 6:30 p.m., followed by the conversation at 7 p.m.

Speakers:

• Kathryn Bowers, co-author, "Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health;" Future Tense Fellow, New America @KathrynSBowers
• Elinor Karlsson, assistant professor in bioinformatics and integrative biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School; director, Vertebrate Genomics Group, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard @darwinsdogs
• Clive Wynne, lab director, Canine Science Collaboratory; professor of psychology, Arizona State University; director of research, Wolf Park, Indiana @caninecognition

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University. Follow the conversation online using #FutureTenseFido and following @FutureTenseNow.