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“For hundreds of years, there have been stories of heroic Lassie-type dogs (and at least one kangaroo) running to fetch help when their owners are in trouble. To fetch help, Lassie needs to understand that she needs to inform other people of the emergency because only she saw it. This may not come as a surprise, but based on the first generation of experiments, it is unlikely your dog, no matter how much of a dog genius they are, has the cognitive abilities to do this.” — Brian Hare
For hundreds of years, there have been stories of heroic Lassie-type dogs (and at least one kangaroo) running to fetch help when their owners are in trouble. To fetch help, Lassie needs to understand that she needs to inform other people of the emergency because only she saw it. This may not come as a surprise, but based on the first generation of experiments, it is unlikely your dog, no matter how much of a dog genius they are, has the cognitive abilities to do this.