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Note: the author of this summary is second author on the paper

This paper describes multiple studies, which assess the effects of genetics and breed on canine behavioral traits; assess the difficulty of visual interpretation of mutt breed ancestry, and the morphological traits people use to guess breed ancestry; and find new genomic regions associated with behavioral traits in dogs.

As is typical of papers published in the prestigious journal Science, this paper contains several related studies that inform each other.

The researchers collected and analyzed:

• 16,000+ owner surveys on their dogs' physical and behavioral traits, through the website darwinsark.org
• 2000+ genetic sequences of dogs with surveys (a subset of the first, larger set of dogs)
• Guesses from the public via the website muttmix.org about the top three breeds in a set of 31 highly mixed mutts, based on images, video, and short descriptions of the dogs

• Keep track of where he is on each skill
• Keep all the information I've collected on different approaches to training that skill (from classes, webinars, books, in-person training with instructors, and my own experience with him)
• Not ignore the forest for the trees - remember where we're headed and prioritize what needs worked on next
• Make a training plan for a single day so I know which skills I'm working on that day and what I'm doing next with each (shaping, luring? criteria? how am I reinforcing?)

Welcome to the Science Cafe! On March 20, 2019, three FDSA instructors with science PhDs hung out for an hour or two and talked science online.

The docs:

• Deb Jones
• Amy Cook
• Jessica Hekman

The subject: They chatted about a 2017 study on punishment-based dog training and social media coverage of the study. Sometimes, social media coverage is all you get, when studies (like this one) are not open access. How much can we trust this coverage? What does the full study actually say?

Welcome to the Science Cafe! On December 10, 2018, three FDSA instructors with science PhDs hung out for an hour or two and talked science online.

The docs:

• Deb Jones
• Amy Cook
• Jessica Hekman

The subject: Hartley, Catherine A., and Francis S. Lee. "Sensitive periods in affective development: Nonlinear maturation of fear learning." Neuropsychopharmacology 40.1 (2015): 50.

(You don't have to have read the paper to appreciate the chat, but a lot of people did!)