Vanessa Woods — Co-founder & Author, Dognition

Co-founder Profile Vanessa Woods Co-founder of Dognition · Research Scientist & Award-Winning Author Research scientist at the Duke Canine Cognition Center, Director of the Duke Puppy Kindergarten, and New York Times bestselling co-author of The Genius of Dogs , Survival of the Friendliest , and Puppy Kindergarten . Latest video Vanessa answers four of the questions dog owners ask most: the biggest myth in training, how to train on 5–10 minutes a day, what a “stubborn” dog is really telling you, and how to know training is working. More training guidance in the dog training tips hub . The short answer Vanessa Woods is a research scientist at the Duke Canine Cognition Center, Director of the Duke Puppy Kindergarten, and co-founder of Dognition, which she started in 2013 with her research partner and husband Dr. Brian Hare. She is the New York Times bestselling co-author of The Genius of Dogs , Survival of the Friendliest and Puppy Kindergarten , and the author of the award-winning memoir Bonobo Handshake . Role Co-founder, Dognition University Duke University — Canine Cognition Center Directs The Duke Puppy Kindergarten study Books Bonobo Handshake (2010), The Genius of Dogs (2013), Survival of the Friendliest (2020), Puppy Kindergarten (2024) Source: Duke Canine Cognition Center and the Duke Puppy Kindergarten study. Biography Vanessa Woods is a research scientist, award-winning journalist, and New York Times bestselling author whose work bridges rigorous science and vivid storytelling. A research scientist at the Duke Canine Cognition Center and Director of the Duke Puppy Kindergarten, she co-founded Dognition with her husband and research partner, Dr. Brian Hare , to bring the science of canine cognition to dog owners everywhere. Born in Australia, Woods holds a Master's degree in Science Communication from the Australian National University. Since 2005 she has worked as a research scientist at Duke University, where her research has taken her deep into the field — studying bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo and chimpanzees in the Republic of Congo to understand the evolutionary roots of cooperation, friendliness, and what ultimately makes us human. Her writing has reached a global audience, with books published in twelve languages and hundreds of popular-science articles in outlets including The Wall Street Journal , National Geographic , New Scientist , BBC Wildlife , and the Huffington Post . As the main Australian and New Zealand feature writer for the Discovery Channel, and through her bestselling books, she has become one of the most com

pelling popular voices in the science of animal minds. Research Vanessa Woods studies the evolution of cognition and cooperation — what the social lives of our closest relatives can teach us about ourselves. Her fieldwork comparing bonobos and chimpanzees explores why bonobos evolved a remarkably peaceful society, and what that tells us about the role of friendliness and tolerance in evolution. This work is foundational to the "survival of the friendliest" thesis she and Brian Hare advance in their writing and research. At Duke, her focus extends to canine cognition and development. As Director of the Duke Puppy Kindergarten, she leads a pioneering study of how puppies develop the cognitive and emotional skills that shape who they become — research aimed at understanding what makes a great companion or service dog, and how those qualities emerge over a dog's earliest months. This developmental, science-driven perspective is woven directly into Dognition's approach: understanding not just how a dog thinks, but how that mind grows and changes over a lifetime. Books & Publications Vanessa Woods is the co-author, with Brian Hare, of three acclaimed books on dogs and the evolution of cognition: Puppy Kindergarten: The New Science of Raising a Great Dog (2024) — The science of how puppies develop into great dogs, drawn from the Duke Puppy Kindergarten she directs. Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity (2020) — A New York Times bestseller on how friendliness drove human evolution. The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think (2013) — The New York Times bestseller that launched the popular science of dog cognition. She is also the author of the acclaimed memoir Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo (2010) , winner of the Lowell Thomas Award, and a celebrated writer of children's science books — including It's True! Space Turns You Into Spaghetti , winner of the Royal Society's Young People's Book Award in 2007. In 2003, she won the Australasian Science Award for journalism. Press & Media Woods's work and writing have been featured across major international media, including The Wall Street Journal , National Geographic , New Scientist , BBC Wildlife , and the Discovery Channel. She appears alongside Brian Hare in the 2024 Netflix documentary Inside the Mind of a Dog , narrated by Rob Lowe, and her books have drawn praise from voices ranging from Anderson Cooper to Alan Alda. Through her writing, fieldwork, and public science communication, she has helped bring the inner liv

es of animals — from bonobos to puppies — to readers around the world. Explore press coverage → Keep reading The Genius of Dogs — the book she co-wrote with Brian Hare that launched the field for general readers. Canine cognition — the science her Duke research sits inside, explained from the start. The Dognition assessment — the at-home version of the lab protocols she and Hare developed. Dr. Brian Hare — her research partner, co-author, and Dognition co-founder.