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

这项NSERC DG研究的重点是更好地了解家养狗在应对环境压力方面的个体差异。在动物行为、个性和认知方面的研究越来越多地将家养狗作为研究的中心物种。与此同时，对狗的行为和生理变化及其与狗的进化史的关系的有效描述仍然难以捉摸。关于生理变化如何与观察到的行为变化联系起来，特别是在非人类选择性繁殖的狗群中，仍然存在许多问题。拟议的研究将我之前的，高度应用的，狗的行为和福利研究与狗的物种内变异的新基础研究联系起来。在过去的十年里，我的研究专注于在各种情况下改善狗的福利——提高收容所狗的采用率，减少宠物狗的刻板行为，改善狗的训练实践，以及调查治疗犬在治疗自闭症儿童期间的福利风险。然而，在每一种情况下，都出现了一个悬而未决的基本问题：为什么不同的狗对同样的压力事件的感知如此不同？我的目标是在两个不同的变异水平上找到生活史特征、代谢率和个性之间的联系：1)在人工选择的狗品种之间和内部，以及2)在自然繁殖的狗种群之间和内部。从基础科学和应用科学的角度来看，确定动物功能过程之间协调的潜在本质是非常有趣的。对全系统协调的理解将为动物应激生理学和行为生态学的新科学进步铺平道路。此外，我的研究通过建立个体对环境压力和疾病的易感性的预测，推动了动物福利领域的发展，这对于有效管理宠物之家、动物收容所以及商业和政府设施中的伴侣动物至关重要。提出的工作将旨在发现狗的整体有机体功能过程的性质，这些过程是由人为和进化压力引起的。申请的资金将主要用于招聘，优先考虑EDI标准，以及HQP的支持性和包容性培训，大多数实验由博士和硕士学生在UG学者的帮助下领导。在接下来的5年里，这项研究将回答动物生理学和行为生态学中的关键基本问题，并通过更好地了解狗在应激生理学、疾病易感性和由此产生的福利状态方面的个体差异，指导动物庇护和研究环境的政策。

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.