The Science of Courthouse Dog Behavior

1. The Science of Courthouse Dog Behavior James C. Ha, PhD, CAAB Research Professor Department of Psychology, and Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington Ha Lab

2. Education and Experience • BA, MA and PhD in Biology • Emphasis in Animal Behavior • 1990-1992 Research Scientist, University of Washington • 1992-present Research Faculty, UW • 2004 Credentialed as Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist • Also (past) Editor and (current) Ethics Editor of Animal Behaviour • 12 years as Executive Committee member of professional Animal Behavior Society • Current US Delegate to International Ethological Society

3. Current Activities • Research Scientist, Washington National Primate Research Center (social behavior) • Staff Scientist: Infant Primate Research Laboratory (cognition) • Research Affiliate: Center on Human Development and Disability (child development) • Owner of Clinical Practice in Companion Animal Behavior Treatment (since 1999, over 1000 cases; expert legal witness >40 cases: civil, criminal, and Dangerous Dog)

4. Complex Social Behavior: The Result of Higher Cognitive Function

5. Complex Social Behavior: The Result of Higher Cognitive Function

6. Complex Social Behavior: The Result of Higher Cognitive Function

7. Presentation outline • Credentialing in Applied Animal Behavior. • Three approaches to understanding dog behavior • The uniqueness of the dog/human relationship. • Long co-evolutionary history • The requirements for “courthouse dogs.” • Requirements for training for rock-solid responses. • The issues of using “rescued” dogs and pet therapy dogs

8. Three Perspectives of Dog Behavior: The Physiological Approach Focuses on the biological mechanisms and control of behavior. Veterinarians.

9. Three Perspectives of Dog Behavior: The Experiential Approach Focus on behavior acquired through learning or experience, emphasizing the principles of learning. Professional trainers.

10. Three Perspectives of Dog Behavior: The Ethological Approach Focus on adaptive (genetic) behavioral patterns for each species or breed, and interaction between genetics and learning. In dogs, breed-typical behaviors. Academic ethologists.

11. Three Perspectives of Dog Behavior: Applied Animal Behaviorists need to integrate, and are credentialed in, all three perspectives.

12. Specialists Trained to Deal with Dog Behavior Issues Credentials in behavior (ethology) training. Veterinary Behaviorist(DVM DACVB) • Thru American College of Veterinary Behaviorists • 40-45 in country Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist(PhD CAAB) • Thru Animal Behavior Society • International professional organization • At Associate (Master’s degree) & Full (PhD) levels • 45-50 in country

13. The Uniqueness of the Dog-Human Relationship • Humans and dogs have evolved in very close, interactive proximity for >20,000 years. • Sympatric species: having evolutionary effects on each other. • What effects? Communication, and more: • “Genetic”, “intuitive” ability to monitor emotional and behavioral state from external signals. • “Empathetic”: ability to read and properly react to emotional signals, like body language and pheromones. • More obvious communication: “referential pointing”

14. The Genetics of Canine Disease • The Dog Genome Project • 360 genetic diseases also found in humans • 46% occurring in only one or a few breeds http://www.vet.cam.ac.uk/idid/ • Inbreeding: • Portuguese Water Dog studies for hip dysplasia • 6 ancestors account for 80% of gene pool of the current 10,000 dogs • Controlled by at least 3 genes, additive effect Parker HG, Ostrander EA (2005) Canine genomics and genetics: Running with the pack. PLoS Genet 1(5): e58.

15. Wolf/Poodle Example Zimen, E. 1971. Wolves and King Poodle - Comparative behavioral observations. Piper.

16. Behavior Principles • Genetics: individual species (or breeds, in dogs!) are predisposed to perform certain behaviors. Innate behavior (“instinct”) & temperament. • 2. Environment: environmental influences are overlaid on these predispositions. Learning, experience, and training.

17. What is the Result? • Evidence for physical and mental calming effects of dogs is overwhelming: physical and psychological effects across short and long time frames (Wells 2009). • Physical effects: petting an animal produces short-term decreases in blood pressure and /or heart rate. • These effects may be seen even in individuals simply in the presence of a dog. • Psychological effects: improved social communication and ability to make social contacts, reduced feelings of loneliness and isolation, and improvements in depression and self-esteem (reviewed in Wells, 2009).

18. What is the Result? • So there are strong reasons why dogs fit into a very different relationship with humans than do, say, cats or guinea pigs. • No other species as evolved under such truly long-term conditions of coexistence, and hence “understand” and respond to humans in the same way.

19. Not Just Any Dogs! • Mission-critical situations: • Environments which cannot be controlled, • Exposed to a wide range of stimuli (e.g., darkness, loud children, other dogs of a wide and unpredictable range of socialization and behavior, close quarters, loud sounds, humans acting or smelling “strangely,” perhaps ill or with mental illnesses), • Must perform its function without fail and without exhibiting negative reactions of any kind, including barking, growling, snapping, or biting.

20. Not Just Any Dogs! • The consequences of a failure: disastrous! • To the targeted individuals • To the assistance or therapy program or organization • To the efforts to use dogs in such situations • To the dog itself. • Behavior: combination of genetic influences and learned contingencies, influenced by the internal and external environment of hormones, nervous system, diseases, aging, new environmental stimuli, and the continuous integration of the behaviors and responses of animals, especially other dogs and humans, around them.

21. Not Just Any Dogs! • How can this be done successfully? • Managing genetics: • Working with pure-bred lineage of low innate reactivity, • Managing the pedigree to maintain low genetic inbreeding, • Managing environment and development: • Rearing for two years in a system that provides exposure to a wide range of environments, • Evaluating dogs at or after two years old for temperament, especially reactivity and rejecting the large proportion of dogs who don’t meet a high standard, • Placing into a lengthy training program, including training for appropriate behavior in a wide range of real-life situations, using maximally effective methods.

22. Not Just Any Dogs! • What’s the issue? • Increasing movement to recruit dogs from adoption shelters or “pet therapy” programs for use in assistance situations like forensic interviews or court rooms. • The vast majority of shelter dogs DO NOT meet the requirements for mission-critical assistance situations: unknown history, unknown genetics, limited assessment and limited training. • Pet therapy dogs likewise do not receive appropriate screening or training. Unknown or mixed histories and poor assessment in working environments.

23. Not Just Any Dogs! “I would argue that, for mission critical situations, in support of humans in public places, in emotionally-tense court rooms, with the less-predictable mentally ill, or in situations in which the health and even life of the dog and its human are at risk (e.g., the blind), dogs from shelters should not be used.”

24. Not Just Any Dogs! • Types of Training: • Positive Reinforcement • Punishment, or Aversive • (other possibilities: extinction, negative reinforcement) • Science of Learning: • Most powerful and “strongest” training method is aversive. • Only method demonstrated to produce rock-solid, mission-critical learning.

25. In summary, the take-home messages: There is a real science of animal behavior, and credentialing of qualified experts. Dogs have a unique and deeply strong relationship with humans, placing them into a special category of assistance animals. There are well-supported reasons why shelter and pet therapy dogs are not qualified to perform in mission-critical situations, like court rooms.