Is this a diagnosis of dog dementia?

No. It is an educational screener built on the DISHAA observation categories. Pain, hearing loss, vision loss and thyroid disease produce the same picture as cognitive decline, and only a veterinary exam can tell them apart.

When does a dog become a senior?

It depends on adult size. Giant breeds reach the senior window around six, large dogs around eight, medium dogs around ten and small dogs around eleven. The assessment uses your dog's size to place them.

What does the Dognition data add?

Your dog's age band is compared against group averages from 25,463 assessments, so you can see what typically changes at that age — empathy rising, reasoning easing off, memory holding then falling after twelve.

How often should I repeat it?

Every six months for a senior dog, or any time something changes. A single result is a snapshot; repeated results are a trend, and a trend is what a veterinarian can actually act on.

Senior yellow Labrador with a grey muzzle sitting on a living room rug, looking up at an owner holding a wooden treat puzzle — A familiar puzzle taking longer than it used to is one of the earliest changes owners can measure for themselves.

Interactive · free · nothing stored

Dog cognitive aging assessment

Where is your dog on the aging curve, and is what you are seeing ordinary? Answer eight observation questions built on the DISHAA categories veterinary behaviorists use, and see your dog’s life stage alongside group averages from 25,463 Dognition assessments — plus the tracking activities that fit what you described.

Educational, not a diagnosis. Nothing you enter leaves your browser. Anything that concerns you belongs with your own veterinarian, who can rule out pain, hearing and vision loss and other causes that look identical to cognitive change.

Check your dog’s stage

Answer for change from how your dog used to be, not for lifelong habits. Two minutes, eight questions.

1. Your dog’s age and adult size

Size decides when the senior window opens — a giant breed reaches it years before a small one.

Age in yearsAdult size

2. What you have noticed in the last few months

These are the six DISHAA categories veterinary behaviorists use when screening older dogs. Answer for changes from how your dog used to be, not for lifelong habits.

Disorientation
Gets stuck behind furniture, stands on the hinge side of a door, or seems briefly unsure which room they are in.
Interaction
Greets you less, seeks contact less, or drifts away from family activity they used to join.
Sleep–wake cycle
Restless, pacing or vocalizing in the evening or at night, and sleepier during the day.
House soiling
Accidents indoors from a reliably house-trained dog, or signalling to go out less often.
Activity level
Less interest in toys, walks or games, or repetitive activity such as circling and licking.
Anxiety
New worry about being alone, about noises, or about places that never bothered them before.
Learning and memory
Slower to respond to familiar cues and names, or seems to forget a routine mid-way through it.
Problem solving
Takes noticeably longer with a puzzle toy or a hidden treat than they did a year ago.

Choose an age, a size and an answer for each observation.

“An aging dog is not a diminished dog. It trades raw problem-solving for a deeper read on its people.”

Dognition research sample · 25,463 dogs

Cognition across a dog's lifetime

Four cognitive dimensions plotted against age across 25,463 Dognition assessments. Each one has its own trajectory — the dog mind does not simply rise and then fall.

Empathy gaze & bonding

Empathy — gaze score (0–90)

Memory recall

Memory — proportion correct (0–1)

Reasoning inference

Reasoning — proportion correct (0–1)

Communication reading your gestures

Communication — proportion correct (0–1)

Sample per bin ranges from n=444 (age 12) to n=3,539 (age 3); a research sample of 25,463 dogs.

Source: Dognition assessment dataset, 25,463 dogs binned by owner-reported age. Gaze is measured in seconds (0–90); the other dimensions are proportions (0–1). Aggregated group averages, not a clinical measure of any individual dog.

Common questions

Is this a diagnosis of dog dementia?: No. It is an educational screener built on the DISHAA observation categories. Pain, hearing loss, vision loss and thyroid disease produce the same picture as cognitive decline, and only a veterinary exam can tell them apart.
When does a dog become a senior?: It depends on adult size. Giant breeds reach the senior window around six, large dogs around eight, medium dogs around ten and small dogs around eleven. The assessment uses your dog's size to place them.
What does the Dognition data add?: Your dog's age band is compared against group averages from 25,463 assessments, so you can see what typically changes at that age — empathy rising, reasoning easing off, memory holding then falling after twelve.
How often should I repeat it?: Every six months for a senior dog, or any time something changes. A single result is a snapshot; repeated results are a trend, and a trend is what a veterinarian can actually act on.

Sources

AAHA Senior Care Guidelines for Dogs and CatsDefines the senior window by expected lifespan and size, and recommends routine cognitive screening at senior visits.
Landsberg et al., DISHAA cognitive dysfunction evaluation toolThe six observation categories — disorientation, interaction, sleep-wake, house soiling, activity, anxiety — used by veterinary behaviorists.
Dog Aging Project — canine cognitive dysfunction researchPopulation research linking age, activity and cognitive dysfunction risk in companion dogs.
Dognition assessment dataset — 25,463 dogs across fourteen age bands.Aggregated group averages. Confirm anything health-related with your own veterinarian.

Keep reading

Canine cognitive aging
How each cognitive dimension changes across a dog's life.
Dog dementia signs
Canine cognitive dysfunction explained through DISHAA.
Sundowning in dogs
Night pacing and evening confusion in senior dogs.
Signs of aging in dogs
Physical, sensory and cognitive change — and the vet thresholds.