Behavioral Science Fair Project Ideas About Dogs

Dog owners always seem to wonder what's going on in their dog's brain. The question arises of what brain impulses trigger the behavior of barking for no reason, chasing after their own tails or staring at the wall for 30 minutes. Although science will never fully explain a dog's full behavior, some experiments will enlighten people as to why dogs engage in certain actions.

  1. Tricks for Treats

    • Tricks for Treats is a science fair project that observes how long it takes to train a dog to perform a specific action on demand. Using professional animal training techniques, the experiment requires several weeks of work to effectively document a dog's learning activity. At first, the student will have to use a dog's favorite toy or treat to condition a dog to do a common trick such as sitting, lying down, rolling over or shaking its paw. After several days of training, the dog should be able to successfully complete the command without seeing a treat. Students will document the dog's results over time to view the learning process in real time.

    Pet Poll

    • Pet Poll is a behavioral activity that tests several of the dog's senses, including taste, smell and sight. The activity allows others to observe a dog's favorite type, flavor or brand of treat. In this project, a dog is presented with multiple unique treats in separate bowls every day for over a week. The student is to observe and report which treat the dog goes for first. This exercise is repeated in the subsequent days. Students also record the behavior that the dog exhibits each day, such as barking, wagging of the tail, hyperactivity and good behavior such as sitting down or performing a trick.

    Music and Mood

    • In this experiment, a student will observe the behavior of a dog when listening to a song. A dog will respond to various components of music, such as tone, pitch and note key. In the experiment, a student will play a different song or instrument a day, over a period of several days. Behavior such as howling along in unison, barking or pleasantly wagging its tail will be noted in the experiment. Students are to record the behavior of the dog and analyze it to see which types of songs the dogs responded to and enjoyed the most.

    Spatial Perception

    • Spatial Perception is an experiment where a student will measure canine intelligence with a simple behavioral test. This activity shows how well a dog understands spatial relationships between objects. The results should show that intelligent dogs or dogs that routinely walk on different elevations will perform better in this experiment. The participant will place a treat or toy on a table that is within his dog's viewing on a horizontal eye level. The way a dog reacts shows its understanding of spatial objects and their relationships with each other.