At first glance, this picture looks like a cheerful collection of familiar dogs. There are corgis with upright ears, little terriers, long eared dachshunds, wrinkly pugs, and golden retrievers with friendly expressions. But this is more than an adorable picture. It is also a simple test of observation.
The challenge is to count every dog without losing your place. Because the animals have different sizes and some rest close together, it is tempting to count the most prominent faces and move on. That is when an easy counting task becomes surprisingly tricky.
How to solve the challenge
Try a method that works every time. Begin in the top left corner, move steadily to the right, and count only one row at a time. When you reach the end of a row, start the next row from the left. Do not switch back and forth between a sitting dog and a lying dog just because one catches your eye.
Once you have a number, check your result by counting from the bottom upward. The second pass helps catch any face you skipped or counted twice.
The answer
There are 19 dogs. The four rows contain 5, 5, 4 and 5 dogs. Add those row totals and you get 19. How many did you notice on your first attempt?
Share the challenge with a friend and see whether they reach the same answer before reading the explanation.
