Intra-species variation in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris): Testing the Pace-of-Life Syndrome hypothesis

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The focus of this NSERC DG research is to better understand individual variation in coping with environmental stressors in domestic dogs. Research in animal behaviour, personality, and cognition has, increasingly, included the domestic dog as a central species of study. At the same time, an effective description of behavioural and physiological variation in the dog and its relationship with the dog's evolutionary history remains elusive. Many questions still remain on how physiological variation connects to the observed behavioural variation, especially in the population of dogs who are not selectively bred by humans. The proposed research links my previous, highly applied, dog behaviour and welfare research with a new line of fundamental research in intra-species variation in the dog. Over the last decade, my research has exclusively focused on improving dog welfare in various contexts -improving adoption rates of shelter dogs, reducing stereotypic behaviour in pet dogs, improving dog training practices, and investigating welfare risks to therapy dogs during sessions with children with autism. However, in every context, the same unanswered fundamental question arises: Why do different dogs perceive the same stressful event so differently? I aim to find associations between life-history traits, metabolic rate, and personality at two different levels of variation: 1) among and within artificially-selected dog breeds, and 2) among and within naturally-breeding dog populations. Determining the underlying nature of coordination among functional processes in animals is of great interest from both a fundamental and applied science perspective. An understanding of whole-systems coordination will pave the way for new scientific advancements in animal stress physiology and behavioural ecology. Additionally, my research advances the field of animal welfare through establishing prediction of individual susceptibility to environmental stress and disease, which is crucial for effective management of companion animals in the pet home, animal shelters, and in commercial and government facilities. The proposed work will aim to discover the nature of whole-organism functional processes of the dog resultant from both anthropogenic and evolutionary pressures. Requested funds will primarily be used for recruitment, with a priority placed on EDI criteria, and supportive and inclusive training of HQP, with most experiments led by PhD and MSc students with assistance from UG scholars. In the next 5 years, the research will answer critical fundamental questions in animal physiology and behavioural ecology, as well as guide policy in animal sheltering and research settings through a better understanding of individual differences in stress physiology, disease susceptibility, and resulting welfare states in dogs.