Today’s episode is “Play Bows and Visual Perception”, with Dr. Sarah Byosiere. This is a fun one, and the discussion will help you understand the function and evolution of your dog’s play bows, and how your dog visually sees the worlds.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Sarah Byosiere is the Director of the Thinking Dog Center at CUNY Hunter College where she focuses on studying the behavior and cognition of domestic dogs and other canids. Dr. Byosiere began her career at the University of Michigan where she studied the function of the play bow in adult pet dogs throughout her undergraduate and master’s degrees. She has worked as a research assistant for various canine cognition and behavior research groups including the Duke Canine Cognition Center, the Clever Dog Lab and the Wolf Science Center. Dr. Byosiere earned her PhD at La Trobe University in Australia under the supervision of Dr. Pauleen Bennett and the Anthrozoology Research Group. Her dissertation focused on evaluating whether or not dogs are susceptible to visual illusions. More recently at the Thinking Dog Center, her work has expanded to include applied research topics, including dog training methodologies and sheltering practices, and was my thesis advisor for my master’s degree. Dr. Byosiere has published her research in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presented her findings at conferences, and has been featured on NPR’s Science Friday, The New York Daily News, Gizmodo, and CuriosityStream.
References:
Dr. Byosiere's Play Bow Studies: https://www.researchgate.net/project/The-Function-of-Play-Bows-in-Canids

Dr. Byosiere's Visual Perception Studies: https://www.researchgate.net/project/Visual-Perception-in-Dogs