We are thrilled to announce that the fourth and final wave of the Dognition Beta Program is just around the corner. The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity, and thanks to the waves of the beta users that have come before this one, we’re confident that the Dognition Experience will be more enjoyable than ever for you and your dog.
So how is this wave different than the previous waves? For starters, everyone who signed up to be a beta participant has now been called. Also, we’ve built out the support required for international users, so we’ll have people (and dogs!) from over 38 countries participating!
The best part about any beta product is the chance to learn from people who share your passions. Going into the first wave, we knew we’d have a chance to use your feedback to make continual enhancements to Dognition.
So, thanks to feedback from previous beta waves, we’ve improved the overall user experience. Since people learn in different ways, we’ve added voiceovers to the video instruction and more visuals to the written instruction. We’ve also kept a close eye on the game play itself. The balance here is ensuring a scientifically valid assessment of how your dog thinks, while making it fun and easy for you both to play.
We’ve been making refinements here continuously, and for the current release we’ve shortened the Memory and Reasoning games by 17%, with assurance that the outcomes remain as scientifically valid as before.
The Dognition Profile report, which provides our findings about your dog when you complete the Toolkit, has been improved too. Findings are now even more descriptive. The inclusion of comparisons to people and other animals offers additional context about your dog’s unique cognitive style.
The beta program is ending on January 28th at noon EST so we can get ready for our public launch. If you’re a part of Wave 4, or any earlier waves, it’s important that you complete the Toolkit games before then. After the 28th, as we begin making a transition to the public site, the data from the Beta site will no longer be available. So if you have completed the Toolkit, please be sure to print your Dognition report before Monday at noon.
We want to give a great big “woof!” to all of the dogs who have participated in the Beta Program and a “thank you!” to their people who have played along with them. You have helped us create something that hasn’t been done before — a fun way for owners to scientifically evaluate how their dogs see the world, by simply playing games in the comfort of their own home. We can’t wait to share this with dog lovers everywhere.
(photo by rharrison)
So excited to have received my email this morning 🙂 It doesn’t give me much time, so I may restrict the CAT games to just one of my dogs. This weekend is going to be such fun! 🙂
@Neets Have fun, and let us know how it goes!
I just completed the CAT games with my second dog. & I’m so impressed! With both of my dogs the results quantified what I’ve vaguely known about each of their personalities. Now I can finally articulate what types of personality & intelligence qualities each of them has and understand each of my girls a whole lot better! Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be a Beta tester. It has been an honor to act as a “citizen scientist” and anything that allows me to better understand my dogs is invaluable. I have already been singing the praises of Dognition to all my dog-loving friends. Again, thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I’m so happy to hear that you feel like you understand your girls better, and thank YOU for contributing the greater good of all dogs as a citizen scientist! – Nick