A couple weeks back i asked my 130 pound dog Townes if he wanted a 'biscuit' and he ignored me- i had forgotten that he isn't the smartest dog in the world and that he can not make the automatic association that a 'biscuit' is a 'cookie' so as i spoke, he just stared into another room. (read: it really isn't that he is dumb just that he wasn't trained). Now he has become a bit of a taxonomy star and it might be getting to his head.

Today i ran into someone who had just read my personal blog for the first time recently and had seen my post titled "Why my dog is like a search engine without a taxonomy" and had loved the video i made. She told me that she used it in an internal discussion about taxonomies. She wasn't the first one who has said they loved the video so i figure i would repost it here.

So that morning when i asked him if he wanted a 'biscuit' instead of a 'cookie' and all i got was was a blank stare, i told him he was "like a search engine without a taxonomy" and then he looked even more confused. Then we made this video. He is a bit bored in this video because it is the second take so the intial reaction is not 100% but hopefully you get the idea!

The moral of the story? As humans we easily make associations between words- machine and dogs can't unless they are "trained".

He is a 4 year old Great Dane in case you are wondering- and yes he got lots of biscuits and cookies that morning! (like most days....)