How do We Predict the Success of a Potential Service Dog?Emma Blumstein, Evan L. MacLean, PhD, and Brian A. Hare, PhD

Duke University

Research Question

Methods

Results from this Summer

Discussion

It may be entirely possible to determine which of the hundreds of dogs entering the program have the greatest potential to successfully graduate from the program and the relationship between these three paradigms and the dogs’ later success gives us hope that we are not far from our goal.

Acknowledgements

Can cognitive tests be run with the dogs currently in a training program to help us predict whether or not a dog will successfully graduate from the training program?

Task 1: Mutual Gaze

Task 2: Inhibitory Control

Task 3: Laterality

Familiarization: - Dog watched as experimenter placed a small piece of dog food and a kong toy inside a black, opaque cylinder- Dog was given 30 seconds to retrieve food using the two open sides

- Experimenter vigorously played with a squeaky, plush dog toy for ten seconds- After ten seconds, experimenter abruptly stopped playing - Experimenter recorded the amount of time the dog made eye contact over a period of twenty seconds

Test Trials:- Opaque cylinder was replaced with a transparent cylinder and dog was given 30 seconds each trial to retrieve the food- Experimenter recorded whether or not the dog was able to inhibit the impulse to lunge for the food straight on thus touching the front of the cylinder apparatus

-Dog was guided to sit on top of a small platform-Experimenter called dog and recorded whether the dog’s first step was with the left or right paw

Inhibitory Control LateralityMutual Gaze*

Released Dogs

Released Dogs

Released Dogs

Successful Dogs

Successful Dogs

Successful Dogs

(s) %

*Statistic calculated using data from Summer 2012 as well as Summer 2011

Mutual Gaze: - There was an observable positive relationship between how long a dog made eye contact with the experimenter and success in the training program Inhibitory Control:-There was a significant difference between the performance of the dogs who were soon released from the program and those that were successful in the program- Dogs that were later released made fewer preservative errors than the dogs who later graduatedLaterality:- Of the dogs that graduated from the training program, most tended to have a significantly dominant paw

A great thanks goes out to the Hare Lab for accepting me into their lab as well to the Duke Undergraduate Support Office for making my involvement in the lab possible.

Lastly, thank you to Canine Companions for Independence for welcoming us with open arms!

With more research and data, it shall be only a matter of time until we are able to save canine service training programs immense amounts of time and money by assessing each dog’s individual potential to graduate from the rigorous training program.