Canine cognitive assessment — testing dogs' problem-solving, learning, and social cognition — has advanced dramatically, with welfare implications for training, enrichment design, and understanding of individual dog needs.
Understanding individual dogs' cognitive profiles allows welfare-optimized enrichment provision. Dogs with high problem-solving motivation benefit from puzzle feeders and complex environmental challenges; those with strong social cognition benefit from interactive games with humans. Cognitive enrichment matched to individual preferences provides more positive welfare value than generic enrichment applied uniformly. The recognition that dogs have domestication-specific social cognitive adaptations has welfare implications: social interaction with humans is not just pleasant for dogs but cognitively important in ways that social isolation prevents. Dogs' cognitive complexity — their ability to learn, remember, reason, and engage socially — makes environmental impoverishment a more significant welfare issue than for cognitively simpler animals.