Duke’s ‘puppy kindergarten’ helps raise assistance dogs
Anyone who has ever witnessed a dog delightfully roll around in a pile of stink knows that the canine brain operates a little differently than ours.
But Brian Hare, the man who persuaded Duke University to open a center devoted to dog psychology, understands what goes on between those furry, floppy ears better than just about any human — which is why he’s now working with Canine Companions for Independence on “Puppy Kindergarten.”
CCI provides assistance dogs free of charge to adults, children and veterans with disabilities. In a new venture between the non-
profit and the North Carolina University, Hare is taking in 8-week-old CCI pups at Duke to study their traits and experiences. Then he’ll track them through formal CCI training to see which qualities turn out to foreshadow success — sort of like the parent of a Rhodes scholar who can boast that his kid memorized the periodic table at 3.
“The big question for us is: Can we come up with ways to ways to predict the puppies that are going to be most likely to make it through the CCI training and graduate?” said Hare, founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, during a recent visit to Orlando. “Because if we can do that, we can increase their supply and help more people.”
Canine Companions, whose southeastern U.S. headquarters is based in Orange County, invests an average of $50,000 for each dog that graduates and is assigned to a person with a disability. Those dogs typically can pull open doors, fetch dropped objects, alert the hard of hearing or calm veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Not only are the dogs specifically bred for the job, but they also undergo extensive veterinary check-ups and long months of training. By the end, though, nearly half flunk out.
“What we want to do is identify those features that are going to be linked to success,” said Brenda Kennedy, a veterinarian and director of canine health and research for CCI. “Can we look for those? Can we screen for those? Can we incorporate them in our training processes? Can we make decisions at an earlier point that mean we’ll have greater success?”
Hare’s extensive previous research already has helped him understand which dogs do well in CCI training once they’re older than 18 months. And his big discovery might be a little counterintuitive.
Smart dogs are not necessarily what you want.
“What we found in testing is that, first, eye contact is most important for dogs that are going to be assistance dogs,” Hare said.
He and fellow researchers found this out in part with “an embarrassingly simple” test. You put a toy or treat — something the dog will search for — in a box with a loose lid and set it on the floor so that the dog only has to nudge the lid to get the treat. Then you repeat the exercise with the lid sealed shut so that it’s impossible for the dog to open.
“That’s where you can see how long it takes before they look up and ask you for help,” Hare said. “Some dogs just keep trying… Others, within three seconds, they’re like, ‘Hey you! You’ve got a thumb. Help me out here.’ And they make a lot of eye contact.”
Those, it turns out, are the ones you want for assistance dogs. They tend to bond better with people and look to humans to tell them how to solve problems instead of doing it on their own. By contrast, the ones who persevere tend to make better detection dogs — those who sniff out bombs, for instance.
Puppy Kindergarten has only three “students” to start. The pups spend their days playing with university students while their behavior is tracked. Researchers don’t know if the exercise will ultimately prove valuable, but they’re hopeful.
“You might dedicate your resources to those who have the most potential,” Hare said. “Or you might try to figure out how to improve the [training] process for those who don’t do as well.”