Ray's Blog

The weblog of Ray and Lucy, former racing greyhounds now happily retired.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Why Ray Can't Read

Whether greyhounds are capable of reading has long been the subject of speculation (Scholastic, 2003) and, more recently, conflicting research (Guo, 2008; Neil90254, 2007).

Based upon new empirical data, however, it appears that an explanation for this disconnect may be that the hound's ability to read is highly selective. For example, greyhounds seem to have little trouble deciphering the language on a complex product label, even if it partially obscured...

... but are utterly incapable of comprehending a simple instructional sign or placard.

Further research is warranted to explore the factors that contribute to this curious selectivity phenomenon.