A new, massive, gargantuan study published in PLOS One looked at data from 47,444 dogs. The result of the study was a gigantic behavioral map of man’s best friend.
Led by researchers from Virginia Tech and the University of Washington, the study used the Dog Aging Project’s trove of data to figure out what really drives dog behavior. The researchers didn’t just look at breed, either. They took age, sex, region, and whether the dog was neutered or spayed all into account. This provided perhaps the most detailed look yet at what determines a dog’s behavior.
The team grouped behavior into four main categories: fear, attention/excitability, aggression, and trainability. They found that Mixed breeds scored higher on fear, attention, and aggression, but were decently obedient.
Tiny dogs that weighed under 20 pounds were generally more fearful, more aggressive, and less trainable. If you imagine a Chihuahua, then you’re on the right track. Puppies were more excitable but less aggressive than adults, though also harder to train for reasons that should be self-explanatory.
Huge Study of 47,000 Dogs Shows What Really Changes as They Get Older
Spaying or neutering your dogs might actually increase fear and aggression and decrease trainability, which contradicts the long-standing belief that fixing your pet chills them out. Though it’s still highly recommended to keep their populations low so there aren’t a bunch of strays out there.
The research suggests that female dogs are generally more trainable than males. It provided such incredible pinpointed data that the researchers could even determine that the dogs in the Midwest are needier than dogs anywhere else in the United States.
The researchers also examined how dogs responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the chaos we humans were dealing with, dog behaviors across the study remained consistent. There was an ever-so-slight dip in trainability observed in dogs enrolled after 2020, suggesting that all that isolation may not have been ideal for raising a well-adjusted pet.
Then again, the same could be said of we humans who lived through that time.
All of the data was self-reported by human owners, so it’s perhaps not as rigorous or detailed as it would’ve been if these 47,444 dogs were under scientific observation. Still, the sheer scale of the project provides researchers with a strong starting point to track how dog behavior changes over time and how their behaviors relate to health and aging.
Who knows, maybe one day this study will help your vet better understand how to treat your aging pup.
The post Massive Study of 47,000 Dogs Reveals How Their Behavior Changes With Age appeared first on VICE.
