Longitudinal Cognitive and Emotional Development in Working Dogs

摘要 越来越多的临床研究表明，服务犬和伴犬可以有一个 对儿童、青少年和成年人的身心健康产生重大积极影响 残疾人士。不幸的是，服务犬的供应和增长潜力是有限的。 这种供应的数量是有限的。主要的限制是饲养的狗的流失率为50%-70%， 饲养和训练成为伴侣或服务动物的。高流失率使 这些动物价格昂贵，导致需要帮助的人排起了长队。有一种明确的 需要进行系统的研究，以帮助确定为什么有些狗在 有些不是，这就导致了更多合格狗的供应，以满足需求。一个 在过去的十年里，我们对狗认知的理解发生了革命， 我们小组之前的工作将个体在认知和情感上的差异联系起来 成年犬对工作犬表现的反应。我们建议将资源整合在一起 杜克犬认知中心、北卡罗来纳州州立兽医学院和 犬类独立伴侣(CCI)描述了 我们之前的研究表明，认知和情绪特征可以预测成功 服务犬。首先，我们将详细介绍这些认知特征以及它们的生理 CCI犬在关键时期采用纵向设计进行相关、发展 8-20周龄的大脑发育。第二，我们将测试 通过测试CCI对这些技能的不同但共同的服务犬饲养策略 在人类家中饲养或与同龄同龄人一起在大学里饲养的小狗 校园里。在研究服役犬的认知能力和情绪反应时，我们 会更好地了解(S)成功的心理机制是什么 服务犬在帮助人类时依赖或受其约束。然后我们就可以用这个 更好地预测哪些小狗将成功地为狗提供服务的信息-改进 训练的成功，同时增加了可用的潜在服务犬的数量。

Abstract Increasingly, clinical studies show that service and companion dogs can have a significant positive impact on children, adolescents, and adults with physical and mental disabilities. Unfortunately, there is a finite supply of service dogs and the growth potential of this supply is limited. The main limitation is the 50-70% attrition rate of dogs bred, raised and trained to be companion or service animals. The high attrition rate makes these animals costly and leads to long waiting lists of those in need. There is a clear need for systematic research that helps identify why some dogs are successful while some are not, that then leads to a larger supply of certified dogs to meet the demand. A revolution in our understanding of dog cognition has occurred in the past decade, with previous work by our group linking individual differences in cognition and emotional reactivity to working dog performance in adults. We propose to combine the resources of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and Canine Companion for Independence (CCI) to characterize the development of the cognitive and emotional traits that our previous work have shown predict success in service dogs. First, we will detail how these cognitive traits, and their physiologic correlates, develop in CCI dogs using a longitudinal design during the critical period of brain development from 8-20 weeks of age. Second, we will test for the influence of different but common service dog rearing strategies on these skills by testing CCI puppies being reared in human homes or together with same age peers on a college campus. In studying the cognitive abilities and emotional reactivity of service dogs we will develop a better understanding of what psychological mechanism(s) successful service dogs rely on or are constrained by when helping humans. We can then use this information to better predict which puppies will be successful service dogs – improving the success of training while increasing the potential number of service dogs available.