B.M.V. has filed a patent “Early genetic screening to aid in the selection of dogs for assistance training programs” (US20210047699A1). The authors declare no other competing interests.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of many individuals in collecting the phenotypic data in this study. First, we thank Canine Companions for their ongoing commitment to research and collaboration, especially Kerinne Levy, as well as all of the Canine Companions’ early care and kennel technicians, veterinary and breeding team, and training staff; this work would not have been possible without their support and collaboration. We also acknowledge the following students, lab coordinators, and other volunteers who helped us conduct the cognitive testing and video coding: Carter Bradshaw, Cooper Bradshaw, Molly Byrne, Averill Cantwell, Richard Cawood, Christina Cawood, Amanda Chira, Alexzia Clark, Zachary Cohen, Laura Douglas, Abby Flyer, Kyla Guinon, Erin Hardin, Stephanie Hargrave, Theresa Hatcher, Victoria Holden, Daniel Horschler, Emily Humphrey, Camden Olson, Facundo Ortega, Alessandra Ostheimer, Camila Risueno-Pena, Amber Robello, Kerri Rodriguez, Ashley Ryan, Rachel Shaberman, Paige Smith, Holland Smith, Mia Wesselkamper, Kacey Bauer, Amelia Byrony, Elizabeth Carranza Acevedo, Leah Chaudoir,
Victoria Coon, Alex Evans, Gabi Garcia, Jen Geary, Mia Hickey, Ada Lam, Jessica Nelson, Gianna Ossello, Ellenor Spencer, Lorelei Switzer, and Lily Tees.
This study was supported by funding from Nestlé Purina (#90031348 to B.M.V.), the National
Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (DGE-1746060 to G.E.G.), the P.E.O Scholar Award (to G.E.G), the Office of Naval Research (ONR N00014-17-1-2380 and N00014-20-1-2545 to E.L.M.), and the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation (Grant No. 02518 to E.E.B and E.L.M.). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions.
Ethics
Blood draws and testing procedures for the DCDB were approved by the University of Arizona Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC # 16-175) and were collected in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. All other data was collected directly by Canine Companions as part of their training program and shared with the authors.
Author Contributions
G.E.G.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis (Linear Models), Investigation, Data Curation, Visualization, Writing - Original Draft, Writing - Review & Editing, Resources, Funding Acquisition, Project Administration. D.T.: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Writing - Original Draft, Writing - Review & Editing. E.E.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology (Phenotyping), Investigation (Phenotyping), Data Curation, Writing - Review & Editing, Funding Acquisition. B.S.K.: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing, Resources, Project Administration. S.T.: Formal Analyses (Haplotype Network), Visualization (Haplotype Network), Writing - Review & Editing. E.L.M.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing -Review & Editing, Supervision, Resources, Funding Acquisition. B.M.vH.: Conceptualization, Methodology (Genotyping), Investigation (Genotyping), Writing - Original Draft, Writing - Review & Editing, Supervision, Resources, Funding Acquisition.