Donnie (dog)
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Donnie is a Doberman Pincher dog who came to the attention of science due to his penchant for arranging his plush toys in geometric forms.[1] His owner rescued him from an animal shelter, and at first he was slow to learn, and very reluctant to interact socially with her.[2]
[edit] Behavior
He has appeared on the National Geographic Channel’s Dog Genius show.[1][3] On the show, he is shown arranging some of his 80 plush toys into evenly-spaced triangles and lines, and chooses to use, for example, only stuffed frogs or monkeys for a particular design.[4] He is shown creating his arrangements in his large yard in Maryland on remote video cameras without humans being present.
He is even said to create social vignettes with the toys.[5][4] For example, the day after he first allowed his owner to put her arm around him, he placed a large bear with its arm around a smaller frog.[2][6] Dr. Barbara Smuts, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan who studied Donnie, attributes these behaviors to his being caged in the shelter for a year with only a single toy.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Gershman, Dave (2007-12-22). Brilliant pet tricks? For Donnie the dog, toys do more than soak up drool. Mlive.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ a b Dog Genius. 2007-12-23.
- ^ Eppele, Esther (2008-02-04). See Prof. Barb Smuts on National Geographic's Dog Genius documentary this weekend. Department of Psychology. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ a b c Press News Service (2007-12-22). U-M professor explores dog genius. Mlive.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ Smuts, Barbara. Holding hands (2). University of Michigan. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ Smuts, Barbara. 2 sets of 'hugs' - cat in center. University of Michigan. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
[edit] External links
Pictures of Donnie and his compositions on University of Michigan website
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