What type of dog is that? Can you tell just by looking?

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on August 14, 2017April 4, 2023Categories News, Research & PublicationsTags ,

Take a look at the growing body of evidence on visual breed identification, and commit to shifting the paradigm of how we identify and discuss dogs in our daily lives.  

Take a look at the growing body of evidence on visual breed identification, and commit to shifting the paradigm of how we identify and discuss dogs in our daily lives.  

Is it practical or possible to give a dog a test that will predict how he is likely to behave in real life situations?

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on June 9, 2017April 4, 2023Categories News, Research & PublicationsTags ,

Is there a need for such a test, particularly regarding whether he is likely to get into harmful conflicts with people? This entry in our research library is our attempt to summarize what the best science to date has to say about these questions.

Is there a need for such a test, particularly regarding whether he is likely to get into harmful conflicts with people? This entry in our research library is our attempt to summarize what the best science to date has to say about these questions.

What do we actually know about growling, snarling, snapping and biting behavior in dogs?

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on April 7, 2017April 4, 2023Categories News, Research & PublicationsTags ,

A critical review of the dog bite literature reveals that such encounters are often conflated and warning behaviors such as growls, snarls, and snaps are summarily lumped together with potentially injurious behavior such as biting.

A critical review of the dog bite literature reveals that such encounters are often conflated and warning behaviors such as growls, snarls, and snaps are summarily lumped together with potentially injurious behavior such as biting.

Are we creating a culture of helicopter pet parenting? Two studies with implications for the unintended consequence of hypervigilance.

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on February 17, 2017April 4, 2023Categories Research & Publications

Question of whether people being in urgent need of education about their dogs’ micro behaviors might be pushing people into helicopter parenting of their pets with all the harms that result from over-diagnoses and stress over whether their dogs are behaving appropriately.

Question of whether people being in urgent need of education about their dogs’ micro behaviors might be pushing people into helicopter parenting of their pets with all the harms that result from over-diagnoses and stress over whether their dogs are behaving appropriately.

When you do the math, behavior evaluations flunk

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on August 22, 2016April 4, 2023Categories News, Research & PublicationsTags , ,

Article authors demonstrate why when a shelter dog tests positive for dangerous behavior, it is much more likely that the test has failed the dog, rather than the dog having failed the test.

Article authors demonstrate why when a shelter dog tests positive for dangerous behavior, it is much more likely that the test has failed the dog, rather than the dog having failed the test.

How to Use National Canine Research Council’s Website

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on August 2, 2016April 4, 2023Categories News, Research & Publications, UncategorizedTags , ,

National Canine Research Council’s website is complete with both familiar & new research and resources. Included in the change is an evolution into a canine behavior science and policy think tank.

National Canine Research Council’s website is complete with both familiar & new research and resources. Included in the change is an evolution into a canine behavior science and policy think tank.

The Telephone, Science, and Dogs

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on July 7, 2016April 4, 2023Categories News, Research & PublicationsTags

In the press and in the academic literature, a complex version of Telephone is played every day. If not diligently and knowledgeably researched, reports in the press and the scientific literature may distort messages contained in the underlying reports they are citing.

In the press and in the academic literature, a complex version of Telephone is played every day. If not diligently and knowledgeably researched, reports in the press and the scientific literature may distort messages contained in the underlying reports they are citing.

Are you happy? Disgusted? Your dog can tell the difference

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on August 27, 2014March 18, 2021Categories Research & Publications

Once again researchers at the Family Dog Project in Hungary have confirmed an ability that dog lovers have long suspected in our canine companions. In an ingenious series of experiments the Eötvös Loránd University ethologists demonstrated that dogs can discriminate between human expressions of happiness, disgust, and simply blank indifference. [1] They built on earlier studies which had shown that dogs can tell the difference between smiling and “blank” photos of their owners’ faces, but did not recognize these differences on … Continue reading “Are you happy? Disgusted? Your dog can tell the difference”

Incoherent definitions confound attempts to label dogs as “pit bulls”

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on May 7, 2014May 31, 2022Categories Research & Publications

Most animal shelters continue to assign breed descriptors to dogs whose origin they do not know[1], even though current university research has shown that breed identification based on visual inspection correlates poorly with DNA breed signature, and that observers will disagree with each other when examining the same dog. These difficulties are only compounded when the descriptor itself is subject to different interpretations. A study by researchers in the US and UK examines the question of whether animal shelter workers … Continue reading “Incoherent definitions confound attempts to label dogs as “pit bulls””

No single factor explains barking, growling, lunging and biting behavior in dogs.

Author National Canine Research Council Posted on April 30, 2014May 31, 2022Categories Research & Publications

Dr. Rachel Casey from Bristol University in the UK, and colleagues, recently attempted to estimate the number of dogs barking, lunging, growling or biting – the behaviors they grouped together under the term, aggression[1] — and to see if they could identify decisive causes of such behavior. Of more than 14,000 UK dog owners surveyed, 3,897 replied, answering questions about their dogs’ responses to family members, to unfamiliar persons away from the house where the dog lived, and to unfamiliar … Continue reading “No single factor explains barking, growling, lunging and biting behavior in dogs.”