Comparison of owner-reported behavioral characteristics among genetically clustered breeds of dog (Canis familiaris).

Tonoike, Akiko; Nagasawa, Miho; Mogi, Kazutaka; Serpell, James A.; Ohtsuki, Hisashi; Kikusui, Takefumi

doi:10.1038/srep17710

Cited by 46 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…There is no consensus on the effects of sex on canine anxiety/separation traits. Females are known to have increased risk of developing fear of unfamiliar humans and dogs 20,30 . Intact females have increased fear of dogs compared to intact males, but levels are increased further -and the sexes are indistinguishable -when they are neutered 20 .…”

Section: Variable Association and Correlation Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intact females have increased fear of dogs compared to intact males, but levels are increased further -and the sexes are indistinguishable -when they are neutered 20 . Males are at increased risk of being more aggressive than females [30][31][32][33][34][35] . Here, neutering of both sexes was positively correlated with behavioral diagnosis, consistent with previous reports 20,35 .…”

Section: Variable Association and Correlation Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

Zapata

Lilly

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Very little is known about the etiology of personality and psychiatric disorders. Because the core neurobiology of many such traits is evolutionarily conserved, dogs present a powerful model. We previously reported genome scans of breed averages of ten traits related to fear, anxiety, aggression and social behavior in multiple cohorts of pedigree dogs. As a second phase of that discovery, here we tested the ability of markers at 13 of those loci to predict canine behavior in a community sample of 397 pedigree and mixed-breed dogs with individual-level genotype and phenotype data. We found support for all markers and loci. By including 122 dogs with veterinary behavioral diagnoses in our cohort, we were able to identify eight loci associated with those diagnoses. Logistic regression models showed subsets of those loci could predict behavioral diagnoses. We corroborated our previous findings that small body size is associated with many problem behaviors and large body size is associated with increased trainability. Children in the home were associated with anxiety traits; illness and other animals in the home with coprophagia; working-dog status with increased energy and separation-related problems; and competitive dogs with increased aggression directed at familiar dogs, but reduced fear directed at humans and unfamiliar dogs. Compared to other dogs, Pit Bull-type dogs were not defined by a set of our markers and were not more aggressive; but they were strongly associated with pulling on the leash. Using severity-threshold models, Pit Bull-type dogs showed reduced risk of owner-directed aggression (75th quantile) and increased risk of dog-directed fear (95th quantile). Our findings have broad utility, including for clinical and breeding purposes, but we caution that thorough understanding is necessary for their interpretation and use.

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Section: Variable Association and Correlation Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Variable Association and Correlation Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

Zapata

Lilly

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Humans have selectively bred dogs for different, specialized abilities-herding or protecting livestock, hunting by sight or smell, guarding property, or providing companionship. Significant breed differences in temperament, trainability, and social behavior are readily appreciable by the casual observer, and have also been documented quantitatively (Serpell and Hsu, 2005;Tonoike et al, 2015). Furthermore, recent genetic research indicates that this behavioral variation is highly heritable (MacLean et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Significant Neuroanatomical Variation Among Domestic Dog Breeds

et al. 2019

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Humans have bred different lineages of domestic dogs for different tasks such as hunting, herding, guarding, or companionship. These behavioral differences must be the result of underlying neural differences, but surprisingly, this topic has gone largely unexplored. The current study examined whether and how selective breeding by humans has altered the gross organization of the brain in dogs. We assessed regional volumetric variation in MRI studies of 62 male and female dogs of 33 breeds. Neuroanatomical variation is plainly visible across breeds. This variation is distributed nonrandomly across the brain. A whole-brain, data-driven independent components analysis established that specific regional subnetworks covary significantly with each other. Variation in these networks is not simply the result of variation in total brain size, total body size, or skull shape. Furthermore, the anatomy of these networks correlates significantly with different behavioral specialization(s) such as sight hunting, scent hunting, guarding, and companionship. Importantly, a phylogenetic analysis revealed that most change has occurred in the terminal branches of the dog phylogenetic tree, indicating strong, recent selection in individual breeds. Together, these results establish that brain anatomy varies significantly in dogs, likely due to humanapplied selection for behavior.

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“…While acknowledging that (a) dog phylogenies inherently are associated with uncertainties due to the domestication history of the dog (Tonoike et al. 2015) and (b) ancient breeds are an imperfect proxy for early domestic dogs, ancient breeds are arguably the only available representatives for earlier stages of dog domestication. Thus the division of ancient and modern breeds provides an opportunity for temporal comparisons among dogs on a domestication time scale.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We further added a temporal component by assessing seven ancient and 71 modern breeds separately, referring to previously used divisions of these breed categories (Tonoike et al. 2015; Smith et al. 2017; Hansen Wheat et al.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphology does not covary with predicted behavioral correlations of the domestication syndrome in dogs

Wheat

Bijl

2020

Evolution Letters

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Domesticated animals display suites of altered morphological, behavioral, and physiological traits compared to their wild ancestors, a phenomenon known as the domestication syndrome (DS). Because these alterations are observed to co‐occur across a wide range of present day domesticates, the traits within the DS are assumed to covary within species and a single developmental mechanism has been hypothesized to cause the observed co‐occurrence. However, due to the lack of formal testing it is currently not well‐resolved if the traits within DS actually covary. Here, we test the hypothesis that the presence of the classic morphological domestication traits white pigmentation, floppy ears, and curly tails predict the strength of behavioral correlations in support of the DS in 78 dog breeds. Contrary to the expectations of covariation among DS traits, we found that morphological traits did not covary among themselves, nor did they predict the strength of behavioral correlations among dog breeds. Further, the number of morphological traits in a breed did not predict the strength of behavioral correlations. Our results thus contrast with the hypothesis that the DS arises due to a shared underlying mechanism, but more importantly, questions if the morphological traits embedded in the DS are actual domestication traits or postdomestication improvement traits. For dogs, it seems highly likely that strong selection for breed specific morphological traits only happened recently and in relation to breed formation. Present day dogs therefore have limited bearing of the initial selection pressures applied during domestication and we should reevaluate our expectations of the DS accordingly.

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Comparison of owner-reported behavioral characteristics among genetically clustered breeds of dog (Canis familiaris).

Cited by 46 publications

References 34 publications

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

Significant Neuroanatomical Variation Among Domestic Dog Breeds

Morphology does not covary with predicted behavioral correlations of the domestication syndrome in dogs

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