Call for study participants: Consider my Nose – Does nose length affect social cognition in dogs?

The Kennel Club Toy Group includes some of today’s most popular dog breeds such as the pug and the French bulldog. Within toy breeds 70% have significantly short noses (known as Brachycephalic), which raises the question why are these short-nosed breeds so popular?

In the past, it has been shown that some facial features, like nose length, are associated with structural differences in eye anatomy. But does this difference in eye anatomy possibly enable some dog breeds to be better adapted to the human environment in particular give advantages in social communication? And are those breeds therefore favoured as companion dogs? In this study we investigate, whether different dog breeds, in particular short and long nosed dogs, differ in their attention to and processing of human faces using state-of-the-art eye-tracking and physiological technologies.What does the study involve?

If you decide to take part in the study, we will ask you and your dog for some time on four occasions as the experiment involves several test sessions. These will take place at the Riseholme Campus of the University, just north of Lincoln. We will ask your dog to wear a special chest belt similar to a harness but containing several sensors, which measure his/her heart rate, temperature, and breathing rates. We will present your dog with pictures of human facial expressions, while measuring the dog’s behavioural and physiological reactions, including tracking eye movements.
We are looking for dogs…
… older than 1 year
… without eye disease or sight difficulties
… comfortable around unfamiliar human and environments
… of breeds with particularly long or short noses, for example Pugs, French Bulldogs, Boxers, Bullmastiffs, Greyhounds, Manchester Terriers, Italian Greyhounds, English Toy Terriers, German Shepherds, Whippets, Afghan Hounds, Irish wolfhounds, Boston terriers, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, English Toy Spaniels, Chow Chows, Shih Tzus, Bulldogs, Pekingeses or Dobermans.
Please email amwest@lincoln.ac.uk with any questions and to register your interest in taking part! For more information on this and related projects see https://emometer.blog.lincoln.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter @dogemotion

This project is funded by Nestlé Purina, has been approved by the University of Lincoln Ethics Committee (approval number 932) and is in line with current GDPR guidelines. In case of any doubts or concerns get in contact with the PI Dr. Anjuli Barber (abarber@lincoln.ac.uk) or email ethics@lincoln.ac.uk.