LSAT 153 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q4

LR Question 4 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Dog owner: In general, large dogs need less intensive exercise…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: Large dogs will likely be less troublesome than small dogs if the owner has limited time to exercise them.

REASONING: When dogs don’t get intensive enough exercise, they get troublesome. Large dogs need less intensive exercise than small dogs.

ANALYSIS: This argument is based on the intensity of exercise needed by different dogs. But if you look at the final conclusion, it never mentions intensity – only time commitment. So the necessary assumption is that more intensive exercise requires more time.

___________

1. Our argument is based on an apartment dweller who wants a dog. Knowing more about what makes them likely or unlikely to want a dog is irrelevant to us. Additionally, apartment size is never mentioned in the argument.
2. CORRECT. This answer provides the link between intensity of exercise and the time requirement that we are looking for. When we negate it, the conclusion makes no sense as the large/small dogs would not require different time commitment.
   Negation: Providing a dog with more intensive exercise does not require more time than providing a dog with less intensive exercise.
3. Whether someone should own a dog is irrelevant to our question. We are comparing different dogs on the assumption that the apartment dweller is getting a dog
   Negation: Time limitations never mean an apartment dweller should not own a dog.
4. The argument never relies on apartment size as a metric, so this is irrelevant.
   Negation: Of dogs owned by apartment dwellers, dogs that live in large apartments are not less likely to be troublesome than those that live in small apartments.
5. This answer might be appealing because it mentions frequency of exercise, which is a time measurement. But it relates it to fitness, and we are not looking at fitness of the dog – we want to know about intensity of exercise because that’s our link to how troublesome a dog will be.
   Negation: There is no evidence that dogs who exercise more often are more likely to stay fit.

Recap: The question begins with “Dog owner: In general, large dogs need less intensive exercise”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn more about LSAT Necessary Assumption questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.