Do dogs recognise their own breeds?

Asked by: Maisie Hartley, Bristol

There has been no specific research to ascertain whether dogs can recognise their own breed. But we do know that, smart as our canine friends are, they don’t pass the ‘mirror test’ to understand that they are looking at a reflection of themselves, and so we don’t believe that they have a sense of self in the way that dolphins and the great apes do. However, formal research has proved that they can differentiate between pictures of dogs versus other species such as rabbits and cows.

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