THE LIBRARY
The articles in the FDC Library were summarized by scientists with an eye to providing access to the scientific literature, particularly subjects related to functional breeding. Where possible, we use open access articles so that you can read the original, but occasionally we do summarize an article that is behind a paywall. If you have topic or specific article requests, please feel free to send them to the Library Editor by using the form at the bottom of this page.
Feel free to use these articles in newsletters or other places! Their license information is on each article: they may be reused freely so long as they are unchanged and you link back to the Functional Dog Collaborative. Feel free to contact us with questions. If you want to translate them, just check with us first for permission.
Estrous Cycle Manipulation in Dogs
Estrous Cycle Manipulation In Dogs - Michelle Anne Kutzler, DVM, PhD. Oregon State University. 2018. By Amanda Venturino, MS, MSc Dog breeders have access to medication to delay estrus. However, induction of estrus is rarely if ever attempted. This publication is a...
The Effect of Inbreeding, Body Size, and Morphology on Health in Dog Breeds
Bannasch, D., Famula, T., Donner, J. et al. The effect of inbreeding, body size and morphology on health in dog breeds. Canine Genet Epidemiol 8, 12 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40575-021-00111-4 PubMed Link | Full Text by Amanda Venturino MS, MSc This study...
How Size and Genetic Diversity Shape Lifespan Across Breeds
Kraus C, et al. “How size and genetic diversity shape lifespan across breeds of purebred dogs”. GeroScience (2022). PubMed Link | Full Text (paywall until September 2023) by Dr. Cornelia Kraus (first author of the study) This study investigates the relationship...
Breed, Behavior, and Mutt Genomics
Morrill, Kathleen, et al. "Ancestry-inclusive dog genomics challenges popular breed stereotypes." Science 376.6592 (2022): eabk0639. PubMed Link | Full Text Link by Jessica Hekman, DVM, PhD (Note: the author of this summary is second author on the paper) This paper...
Relative Muzzle Length as a Factor for BOAS: Comment on Packer et al. (2015) & Liu et al. (2017)
This post is part of a three-part series. See also: Summary of Packer et al. (2015) Summary of Liu et al. (2017) by Dr. Cornelia Kraus The papers by Packer et al. (2015, just Packer from here on) and Liu et al (2017, just Liu from here on) on risk factors for BOAS...
Facial Conformation and Risk of BOAS
Packer, et al. “Impact of facial conformation on canine health: brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome”. PLOS One (2015) 10: e0137496. PubMed Link | Full Text Link This two-part study investigates risk factors for brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS)...
Conformational Risk Factors of BOAS in Three High-Risk Breeds
Liu, et al. “Conformational risk factors of brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) in pugs, French bulldogs, and bulldogs”. PLOS One (2017) 12(8): e0181928. PubMed Link | Full Text Link This study identifies breed-specific conformational risk factors for...
Sex-Specific Aging in Dogs?
Hoffman, et al. “Do female dogs age differently than male dogs?”. J Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. (2018): 73: 150-156. PubMed Link | Full Text Link This study investigates sex differences in longevity and causes of death in dogs taking into account the effect of...
Variation in Neuroanatomy Across Dog Breeds
Hecht, Erin T., et al. “Significant Neuroanatomical Variation Among Domestic Dog Breeds.” Journal of Neuroscience. 39(2019):7748 –7758. This study investigates how the size and shape of different areas of the brain vary across dog breeds, which may contribute to...
Behavioral Resilience in Australian Stock Working Dogs
Arnott ER, Peek L, Early JB, et al. "Strong selection for behavioural resilience in Australian stock working dogs identified by selective sweep analysis." Canine Genet Epidemiol. 2015;2:6. This study compared DNA from two breeds, derived from common founder stock but...
Associations Between Sterilization Status and Lifespan & Cause of Death
Hoffman, et al. “Reproductive capability is associated with lifespan and cause of death in companion dogs”. Plos One (2013): 8: e61082. PubMed Link | Full Text This study investigates the effect of reproductive capability (intact vs sterilized status) on lifespan and...
What Genes Control White Spotting in Dogs?
Baranowska Körberg, Izabella et al. "A Simple Repeat Polymorphism in the MITF-M Promoter Is a Key Regulator of White Spotting in Dogs." PLoS One 2014: 9(8). This 2014 paper examined the role of mutations in a gene that is known to affect white spotting in...
Genetics of Inbreeding Depression
Charlesworth, Deborah & Willis, John. “The genetics of inbreeding depression”. Nature Reviews Genetics. 10 (2009): 783-96. This study is a broad review of inbreeding depression research to date, focusing on the genetic mechanisms hypothesized to produce reduced...
Inbreeding Depression and Lifespan
Yordy, J, et al. "Body size, inbreeding, and lifespan in domestic dogs". Conserv. Genet. 21 (2020): 137-148. PubMed Link | PDF Link This study investigates evidence for inbreeding depression in lifespan in dogs at three scales: comparing mixed breed and purebred dogs,...
Why Large Dogs Die Young
Kraus, C, et al. "The size-lifespan trade-off decomposed: Why large dogs die young". Am. Nat. 181 (2013): 492-505. This study investigates the demographic mechanisms behind the trade-off between size and lifespan in the domestic dog. Background Large dogs die younger...
Hybrid Vigor in Dogs
Nicholas, FW, et al. "Hybrid vigour in dogs?" Vet J. 214 (2016): 77-83. This article is a review of the existing research examining hybrid vigor in dogs. Review articles summarize the research published to date on a particular subject and often comment on the validity...
The Relationship Between Maternal Care and Rat Behavior
Caldji, Cristian, et al. "Maternal care during infancy regulates the development of neural systems mediating the expression of fearfulness in the rat." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95 (1998): 5335-5340. PubMed Link | PDF Link This 1998 study describes a relationship...
Heritability of Behavior Meta-Analysis
Hradecká, L., et al. Heritability of behavioural traits in domestic dogs: A meta-analysis." Applied Animal Behavior Science 170 (2015): 1-13. This meta-analysis examines the heritability of behavior in dogs. A meta-analysis is a study that pools and analyses the data...
Effects of Diet Restriction on Hip Health
Smith, Gail K., et al. "Lifelong diet restriction and radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis of the hip joint in dogs." J Am Vet Med Assoc. 229.5 (2006): 690-693. PubMed Link | PDF Link This study looked at the effect of limiting food consumption on the development...
Effects of Diet Restriction on Lifespan
Kealey, Richard D., et al. "Effects of diet restriction on life span and age-related changes in dogs." J Am Vet Med Assoc. 220 (2002): 1315-1320. PubMed Link | PDF Link This study evaluates the effects of a modest (25%) lifelong calorie restriction on life span and...
Factors Affecting Reproductive Performance
Hollinshead FK, Hanlon DW. “Factors affecting the reproductive performance of bitches: A prospective cohort study involving 1203 inseminations with fresh and frozen semen.” Theriogenology 101 (2017): 62-72. PubMed Link | PDF Link This study describes a variety of...
Heritability of Behavior in Service Dogs
Wilsson, E. and P.E. Sundgren. "The use of a behaviour test for selection of dogs for service and breeding. II. Heritability for tested parameters and effect of selection based on service dog characteristics." Applied Animal Behavioral Science 54 (1997): 235-241. With...
The Relationship Between Maternal Care and Puppy Behavior
Guardini, Giovanna, et al. “Influence of morning maternal care on the behavioural responses of 8-week-old Beagle puppies to new environmental and social stimuli.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 181 (2016): 137-144. ScienceDirect Link | PDF Link This study describes...
The Impact of Inbreeding on Litter Size
Chu, Erin T., et al. "Inbreeding depression causes reduced fecundity in Golden Retrievers." Mammalian Genome 30.5-6 (2019): 166-172. This study describes a possible relationship between inbreeding and litter size in Golden Retriever dogs. Inbreeding refers to the...
REQUEST AN ARTICLE SUMMARY
If you’d like to request an article summary, please send details to our Library Editor using this form, please be sure to provide a link to the article in the message box (if for some reason a link is not available, please complete the form noting this and the editor will respond by email for an attachment).