Dog With Supernatural Powers - Video Online

[Mr. Scott]

Found this video online of mind-reading dog Maggie The Mathematic Dog (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/21958/maggie_the_mathematic_dog/). Maggie clearly can "read the mind" of her owner but is presented as having knowledge of mathematics.

What I think is interesting is that all the humans present seem to be irrational and deluded, but the dog is completely rational.

The first half of the segment has some standard obedience tricks -- it's in the second half that the dog is presented as having supernatural powers.

This echoes a famous horse of a century ago name "Clever Hans" who fooled scientists with similar methods. According to Carl Sagan in a 1978 article, Hans, like Maggie, had "operant conditioned a human being." Hans was successfully debunked by Oskar Pfungst for the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

[MWare]

It looks like a fox terrier (might be a Jack Russell like my pooch) which are among the most readily trained dogs. This is why I let him do my taxes.

Anyway - it's great how the camera zooms in on the paw so you can't see the physical clues being given.

ETA: It's great though that the girl from MAD TV tells us there is no signals being given. That's good enough for me.

[supercorgi]

It's amazing the cues that animals pick up without being directly trained. I'm continually suprised by my dog who picks up on the funniest things. For example, he freaks out whenever I brush my hair because I always brush my hair before going out.

I also think that he's associated my opening the back door with an appearance of a squirrel in the yard because usually there is a squirrel in the yard when I first open the back door and it runs. However, he'll refuse to come in and I have to open and close the door multiple times. Whenever I open the door, he runs off under the trees, barks, and stares up at the tree limbs looking for that squirrel.

[supercorgi]

I just watched the video. I must say, that woman has very good control over that dog. She tortured it with that biscuit and the dog resisted eating it. With my dog it would have been gone in 1 second - everything that falls on the floor belongs to him!

[case sensitive]

It looks like a fox terrier (might be a Jack Russell like my pooch) which are among the most readily trained dogs. This is why I let him do my taxes.

Anyway - it's great how the camera zooms in on the paw so you can't see the physical clues being given.

ETA: It's great though that the girl from MAD TV tells us there is no signals being given. That's good enough for me.

And I guess she has super hearing too. I am sure she would hear if someone was standing back stage blowing a dog whistle.

[gnome]

Damn, was that codec from uzbekistan or something? couldn't get it going on this machine ...

[Miss Whiplash]

I couldn't get the link to open.

For what it's worth, Charles Eisenmann could have his dogs perform the "mind reading bit" with simple cues and misdirection of the audiance. I'm sure London the Wonderdog would do better with my accounts than I do at times.

http://blog.mikebrowne.com/media/1/hoborock.jpg

[xenxabar]

And I guess she has super hearing too. I am sure she would hear if someone was standing back stage blowing a dog whistle.
I was thinking of a simpler explanation. There were only two auditory numbers used 6 and 8. The trainer could have put out a signal to the dog to count to eight instead of six. Of course the panel could have also been in on it in some small way, too. Although the way she looked around at one point may be indicative of a whistle (could just be the excitement, too).

[Gravy]

It's amazing the cues that animals pick up without being directly trained. I'm continually suprised by my dog who picks up on the funniest things. For example, he freaks out whenever I brush my hair because I always brush my hair before going out.

I also think that he's associated my opening the back door with an appearance of a squirrel in the yard because usually there is a squirrel in the yard when I first open the back door and it runs. However, he'll refuse to come in and I have to open and close the door multiple times. Whenever I open the door, he runs off under the trees, barks, and stares up at the tree limbs looking for that squirrel.
One of my best friends is a headstrong corgi with squirrel attention addition disorder. Sassy thing.

[BlackCat]

I just watched the video. I must say, that woman has very good control over that dog. She tortured it with that biscuit and the dog resisted eating it. With my dog it would have been gone in 1 second - everything that falls on the floor belongs to him!
Off topic, but I thought she had terrible control of the dog. She had to tell him to stop numerous times, when the dog should listen at one or two commands. Of course, I've helped raise several guide dogs for the blind, who are some of the most well-trained dogs I've ever seen. When those dogs are told to wait, they wait, not this pretend waiting, while it picks up the treat.

BlackCat

[Dogdoctor]

They always panned away from the owner when the dog completed the trick so we couldn't try to figure out the signal. The dog however looked at the womens hand close to that time. One of the judges mentioned that they always see the signals and she wanted to do one more, implying to look for the signal not that the dog had supernatural powers.

[supercorgi]

Off topic, but I thought she had terrible control of the dog. She had to tell him to stop numerous times, when the dog should listen at one or two commands. Of course, I've helped raise several guide dogs for the blind, who are some of the most well-trained dogs I've ever seen. When those dogs are told to wait, they wait, not this pretend waiting, while it picks up the treat.

BlackCat
I didn't think the control was too bad (certainly better than I could do with my chow hound). True, she had to repeat herself and that's not great, but I'm still impressed that the dog could sit there with the cookie in his mouth and not try to gobble it.

My dog barely passed his Therapy Dog certification because he is so damn food fixated that he almost didn't respond to my "leave it" command. If I'm holding food in my hand, I can put it right under his chin if I tell him "wait" and he won't touch it until I say "ok" but when food is on the floor it's fair game. (Everything that hits the floor belongs to him. :D )

P.S. I think it's fantastic that you train guide dogs! Being a puppy raiser and a trainer is one of the most wonderful things you can do.