Breed-Specific Cognition and Behavior: A Comparative Study of 8-week-old Border Collies and Standard Schnauzers

Brianna Artz Fish

Advisor: Doris Bitler Davis, PhD, Department of Psychology

Committee Members: Erin Murdoch, Elizabeth Freeman

Johnson Center, #326, Meeting Room B
April 21, 2025, 02:00 PM to 04:00 PM

Abstract:

Previous research has demonstrated that labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, and labrador x golden retriever crosses poised for training as service dogs possess a variety of cognitive skills as early as 8-weeks of age. These skills include the ability to use cooperative-communicative gestures from humans to find food, locate hidden food after a 20-second delay, and some skills related to inhibitory control and reversal learning, among others. The present study expanded on this previous research to investigate whether similar skills were present in other dog breeds with different working purposes. Eight-week-old standard schnauzers and border collies were tested on the Dog Cognitive Development Battery (DCDB), a three-day assessment including 14 tests across varying cognitive and behavioral domains. Most puppies were able to participate successfully in all tests, with breed differences present in some of the cognitive domains. Our results support the notion that skills in some cognitive domains may be present across multiple breeds of dog by 8-weeks-old, while certain breeds may be more skilled or apt to perform better in other domains.