Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - BH520: The Melting Pot: Genes, Environment, Personality

Course Details

Why is your dog so awesome? And where do those annoying (or seriously troublesome) quirks come from? Of course, both genetics and environment affect canine personality, but if that were all there was to it, you wouldn't need to take this course. Luckily, there's a lot more to learn.

How do we measure personality traits? (Take a second to try to quantify how "friendly" a dog is in numbers.) What does it mean to have a "gene for friendliness" or a "gene for shyness"? What do we mean when we say a particular behavior problem is "genetic," and are there better ways of wrapping our brain around the causes of behavior problems? What do we know about how early development affects behavior, both in individuals and in different breeds? How does a dog "save" her experiences in her DNA to affect her behavior later in life?

Jessica asked herself many of these questions while working as a computer programmer and doing retriever rescue and agility. (Not all of these questions, because some of them she didn't know enough to ask yet.) To find the answers, this New Englander who hated sciences embarked on a quest that took her through the depths of veterinary school (she still has nightmares about it), to a shelter medicine internship in the deep South, and on to a Ph.D. program studying tame foxes in the Midwest. Having escaped with her life and multiple advanced degrees, she is now back home in Massachusetts and ready to share with you everything she's learned. Are you ready for a crazy ride?

This class will run at the silver and bronze levels.

Registration

There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please subscribe to our mailing list for notifications.

Registration will begin at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.

Enrollment limits: Gold: -0- students, Silver: 30 students, Bronze: unlimited.

Gold Level there are no gold level students in this class.

Silver Level includes access to all course materials and the ability to participate in the discussion forum. Students are encouraged to ask questions and discuss the material. As this is not a training class, the instructor does not expect questions to be accompanied by video.

Bronze Level includes access to all course materials and the ability to read all questions and answers posted in the class forums. Students will not post questions or submit written or video assignments.

For more details, refund policies, and answers to commonly asked questions see our FAQ page.

Syllabus

View Full Syllabus

[Note: this syllabus is still subject to minor changes as I finish class development. It will be finalized by the time class begins.]

This class will be structured a bit differently than most FDSA classes. There will be no videos for me to revivew, because I'm not a dog trainer. I'm a working scientist and veterinary researcher. But there will be a lot of outside reading. For many lectures, I'll link to an outside resource for you to read, and add my own notes and perspectives on what I hope you'll get from it. There are a lot of great resources on the genetics of canine behavior out there, and one of the things I hope you'll get out of this class is an idea about where to go to answer any questions you have in the future.

Every week I will post at least one quiz. I encourage you to take it before reading any silver threads so that you don't get spoiled for the answers. When you take it, there will be feedback in the quiz, but if you have additional questions, go ahead and ask in your silver thread.

Also, your homework every week is to post to the discussion forum for the week (there will be a new thread created each week so it doesn't get overwhelming). I encourage you to interact with other students and talk about the material. To get you started, I encourage you to answer some or all of these questions about the week's material:

What interested you the most this week? Why?
What was difficult to understand?
What do you want to know more about?

I will include some conversation starters in some lectures as well, so you can look there for ideas to get you going.

Week 1

What is personality?
Can personality be changed?
Is personality genetic?

Week 2

What is heritability? What does it tell us about the genetics of personality?
What is actually inherited when a dog "inherits" personality traits?
How do these personality traits function biologically, in cells and organs?
How does genetics affect this function?

Week 3

Now that we understand how to think about personality traits at a biological level, how does genetics affect how they function?
Examples: neurotransmitters
Examples: The stress response
Hypotheses: socialization
Hypotheses: motor action patterns

Week 4

Mendelian vs complex traits: heritability
Personality traits are complex. Why does that make them difficult to study?
What is a continuous trait? What is an additive trait? What does that have to do with personality traits?
So we've found some genes for behavior. Do they always mean the same thing in every dog in every situation? What is a gene-by-environment interaction and what are the implications of this concept?

Week 5

We said development was important. How do those experiences get saved in the brain? What is epigenetics? How does it affect phenotypes like personality?
What is gene regulation and what does it have to do with epigenetics?
Example: epigenetics in socialization

Week 6

Can epigenetic effects be passed down across generations? How common is this?
What are some of the problems with the current hype surrounding epigenetics?
What are some typical problems with epigenetics studies?
Some nitty-gritty on epigenetic mechanisms for you nerds (methylation, acetylation)

Prerequisites & Supplies

View all Prerequisites & Supplies

There are no prerequisities or required supplies for this class.

There is one optional book that I suggest you buy for the class - "Science Comics: Dogs: Predator to Protector," by Andy Hirsch. It's a great easy to read little book that covers some of the material I'll cover and will be a helpful reference. We won't refer to it until week 2 so you have plenty of time to get it, especially as it is available on Kindle. If you don't want to buy it, no worries - everything is covered elsewhere; it's just a nice extra visual guide to some concepts.

This class is designed to support both learners who come with previous genetics knowledge, and those who come with none. For those starting from scratch, there will be ample support to get you through the basics. For those who don't need that support, there will be ample new to learn. I am also always willing to find more resources for silver students who want to dig deeper into a particular class topic.

Sample Lecture

Lecture 1c. What is personality?

The definition of personality

Before we can talk about the genetics of personality, we have to know what personality actually is. It's one of those things - you think you know what it is until you start trying to define it!

To me, personality is made up of a bunch of separate personality traits. A personality trait is something like "friendliness" or "fearfulness." A dog may act fearful at one moment, but if that behavior is unusual for him, he's not a fearful dog. So what makes this a personality trait? It's when it lasts over time. So to me, personality traits are behavioral responses that are generally predictable over long time periods. Of course, a fearful dog may sometimes behave in a way that is unusual for him, which is why I say that these behavioral responses are generally predictable. There are always exceptions - that's what makes personality both so interesting and so difficult to study.

The trait theory of personality

Personality traits have been well studied in humans, and many believe that we can break human personality down into a small, set number of traits. (What's that number? Depends on who you talk to.) Here's a great summary of the trait theory of personality (remember, I said most of this class would involve outside readings):

* The trait theory of personality, Kendra Cherry, VeryWellMind

But how does this trait theory of personality apply to dogs? I'm glad you asked! Sam Gosling has done some really interesting research applying this trait theory of personality to a bunch of different species of animals, famously including dogs:

Personality Test for Dogs: Pet project may to help unravel the biological basis of character, Helen R. Pilcher, Nature
Gosling, Samuel D. "Personality in non-human animals." Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2.2 (2008): 985-1001. [Definitely read to p 990 - don't worry, it doesn't start at p 1! Stop at "Why Study Animal Personality." But read the rest if you're interested.]

Personality change over time

Personality traits, then, are pretty constant over long periods of time. Does that mean they can't change? Absolutely not. They certanly can change - they are just typically slow to change (except perhaps after trauma) and changing them takes a lot of work, and is more difficult in adults than in youngsters. But yes, for those dogs who have behavioral issues that are really part of their personalities, it is definitely worth trying - for many of them, significant progress can be made.

I was interviewed on the FDSA podcast about the genetics of personality, and I talked a lot about my shy dog Jenny. She's a great case study for this. Due to a difficult early life, she came to me at 13 months of age as an extremely shy dog. But with a lot of time, behavioral medication, behavioral management, and behavioral modification, her personality continues to change and she continues to become less and less terrified of the world. You can either listen to me talk about it or read the transcript:

The story of Jenny, Jessica Hekman, FDSA Postcast