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The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs

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Published on: October 13, 2017

Genetic testing predicts appearance but not behavior in dogs.

Kathryn A Lord^1,2, Vista Sohrab^1,2,3, Kasia Bryc^2,4

¹Genomics and Computational Biology, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|November 24, 2025

Summary

Genetic tests for dog behavior lack predictive accuracy. Current genetic tests for dog personality traits are unreliable, as behavior is complex and influenced by environment, not just a few genes.

Keywords:

artificial selection behavior dog genetic testing genomic prediction

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Area of Science:

Canine genetics
Animal behavior
Genomic prediction

Background:

Genetic testing for dog behavioral and personality traits is commercially available.
The predictive accuracy of these tests has not been rigorously validated.
Community science initiatives offer large datasets for such evaluations.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate the reliability and predictive accuracy of genetic tests for canine behavioral traits.
To investigate the association between genetic variants and individual-level behavioral phenotypes in dogs.
To identify potential confounders in previous genetic studies of dog behavior.

Main Methods:

Analysis of genetic data and individual-level behavioral phenotypes from over 3,000 dogs in the Darwin's Ark community science initiative.
Testing associations between candidate genetic variants and behavioral traits.
Comparing results with previous studies that used breed-average phenotypes.

Main Results:

No significant associations or predictive power were found for candidate variants related to behavioral traits.
Strong associations were identified between genetic variants and aesthetic traits (e.g., height, leg length, ear shape).
Previous studies using breed-average phenotypes may have been confounded by population structure.

Conclusions:

Current genetic tests for dog behavior are unreliable due to the polygenic and complex nature of behavior.
Environmental influences and moderate heritability limit the accuracy of genomic predictions for dog behavior.
Developing accurate genetic predictions for complex canine traits requires large cohorts with individually measured phenotypes to improve dog health and welfare.