Welcome page

GET INVOLVED

If you or any members of your club/community are interested in participating in this new and exciting realm of dog behavioral genetics research, contact us.

To request kits in order to participate in the study, click here or on the Kits link above.

All personal information contributed to the study is completely confidential.

There is no cost to participate, save return postage for mailing sample kits back to us.

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this project. We appreciate your support and interest in the study.

We have a Yahoo! email list so that participants and interested parties can keep up with and discuss news, events, and specifics relating to our project. To join, just click here.

WELCOME

The Canine Behavioral Genetics Project is a collaboration between Dr. Steven Hamilton of the University of California, San Francisco and Dr. Karen Overall of the University of Pennsylvania. The goals of this project are:

To explore the relationship between genes and behavior, both normal and abnormal, in domestic dogs.

To assess the amount and nature of genetic diversity in domestic dogs, both within and between breeds.

Our project is currently recruiting participants and collecting DNA samples from both purebred and mixed-breed dogs. Specifically, w e are looking for:

Behaviorally affected dogs: Dogs that suffer or appear to suffer from panic, fear, anxiety, compulsive behaviors, and aggression. Examples of such behaviors include (but are not limited to) separation anxiety, noise phobias, fears of people, places, or other dogs, and aggression toward people or other dogs.

Family members of behaviorally affected dogs: Members of a known, accessible family (including siblings, parents, grandparents, etc.) related to one or more behaviorally affected dogs. Pedigrees, if available, are highly useful to this research, although not necessary for participation.

Non-behaviorally affected dogs: Dogs that do not display any anxiety related behaviors are welcome to participate in this study. These dogs are necessary for a comparative sample, as well as to assess diversity and population structure both within and between breeds.

Find out what we are doing now, at our What's New page.

For information about the design of the study (why we are looking for the dogs we're looking for), click here.

Thank you, and please enjoy browsing our website. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Just contact us.