Thread by @Naomi_D_Harvey, Published today, my latest research led by @asherblab and with @BeccaSomm provides [...]

Published today, my latest research led by @asherblab and with @BeccaSomm provides the first data on adolescent-phase behaviour in young dogs

There’s a lot of data & interesting findings in it, so I’m going to summarise the paper in this thread

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0097

Adolescence is a vulnerable time for parent-child relationships in humans, but little is documented about dog-owner relationships at this time.

Neurologically, the teenage brain

undergoes huge changes that impact behaviour, reducing impulse control & heightening emotions.

Data from human and rat studies show that adolescence is a sensitive period for development.

Behavioural challenges at this time could strain the dog-owner relationship, potentially increasing risk of relinquishment or future behaviour problems.

Although the adolescent period is little studied in dogs, and there are likely to be breed differences, it’s typically thought to begin at around 6 months of age and end with behavioural maturation at about 2 years of age.

Based on knowledge of human & rat biology, we formed three hypotheses:

1) dogs would show reduced obedience towards their caregiver during puberty

2) this would be more pronounced in dogs with insecure attachments to their caregiver

3) female dogs with insecure attachments to their caregiver would enter puberty earlier (as is seen in human females)

We studied a cohort of 285 juvenile guide dogs

of various breeds and cross breeds using both observations from behaviour tests & owner report questionnaires.

First, using behavioural data collected by @BeccaSomm in a modified strange situation test, we showed that dogs with higher scores on the CBARQ scales ‘Attachment and Attention-seeking’ & ‘Separation related behaviour’ can be considered to have an insecure attachment type.

Using CBARQ scores from dog caregivers at 5, 8 & 12 months of age, we showed dogs had lower

scores for Trainability during puberty (age 8m) & scores for Separation-related behaviour were 36%

at this time.

Yet when scored by their trainers there was no dip in Trainabililty

Using CBARQ scores from dog caregivers at 5, 8 & 12 months of age, we showed dogs had lower scores for Trainability during puberty (age 8m) & scores for Separation-related behaviour were 36% at this time. Yet when scored by their trainers there was no dip in Trainabililty

Supporting this finding, we showed that dogs which at 5 months of age (pre-adolescence) responded to a known command “sit” were less likely respond to their caregivers when aged 8 months (during puberty), but they still responded well to a stranger (me!) at this time.

This suggests that dogs can still cognitively process a previously learnt command, but that there is a socially-specific breakdown in obedience towards their caregivers only during puberty.

This behaviour mirrors human teenagers & may function to test relationship strength.

As hypothesised, we found that dogs categorised as insecurely attached to their caregivers when 5 months of age (pre-adolescence), showed a greater decrease in sit response and Trainability during puberty at 8 months of age.

The finding with perhaps the broadest relevance was that the quality of the dog-owner bond was related with the age at with female dogs had their first oestrus.

Dogs that were more insecurely attached (with higher AAS scores) were more likely to enter puberty earlier.

This result was significant even when controlling for diet and weight (two other factors that impact oestrus timing).

This is the first evidence of such a cross-species impact on reproductive development & could have implications for other captive & companion animals.

Beyond the world of dog

science, these results show that the dog-owner relationship could be used as a model for studying the adolescent-parent relationship.

Adolescence in dogs is hugely understudied, but experiences at this time could have long lasting impacts.

It’s important that new puppy owners remember that their dogs might be struggling a bit more when they’re 6-12 months old.

Key tips would be to try & cut them some slack, support them more, don’t punish disobedience & don’t give up on them: they won’t be teenagers forever!

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