# Longitudinal Cognitive and Emotional Development in Working Dogs

> **NIH NIH R01** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $377,730

## Abstract

Abstract
Increasingly, clinical studies show that service and companion dogs can have a
significant positive impact on children, adolescents, and adults with physical and mental
disabilities. Unfortunately, there is a finite supply of service dogs and the growth potential
of this supply is limited. The main limitation is the 50-70% attrition rate of dogs bred,
raised and trained to be companion or service animals. The high attrition rate makes
these animals costly and leads to long waiting lists of those in need. There is a clear
need for systematic research that helps identify why some dogs are successful while
some are not, that then leads to a larger supply of certified dogs to meet the demand. A
revolution in our understanding of dog cognition has occurred in the past decade, with
previous work by our group linking individual differences in cognition and emotional
reactivity to working dog performance in adults. We propose to combine the resources
of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and
Canine Companion for Independence (CCI) to characterize the development of the
cognitive and emotional traits that our previous work have shown predict success in
service dogs. First, we will detail how these cognitive traits, and their physiologic
correlates, develop in CCI dogs using a longitudinal design during the critical period of
brain development from 8-20 weeks of age. Second, we will test for the influence of
different but common service dog rearing strategies on these skills by testing CCI
puppies being reared in human homes or together with same age peers on a college
campus. In studying the cognitive abilities and emotional reactivity of service dogs we
will develop a better understanding of what psychological mechanism(s) successful
service dogs rely on or are constrained by when helping humans. We can then use this
information to better predict which puppies will be successful service dogs – improving
the success of training while increasing the potential number of service dogs available.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9859424
- **Project number:** 5R01HD097732-02
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Margaret Elizabeth Gruen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $377,730
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2024-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9859424

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9859424, Longitudinal Cognitive and Emotional Development in Working Dogs (5R01HD097732-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9859424. Licensed CC0.

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