Genetic dissection of behavioral traits related to successful training of drug detection dogs

Drug detection dogs play integral roles in society. However, the interplay between their behaviors and genetic characteristics underlying their performance remains uninvestigated. Herein, more than 120,000 genetic variants were evaluated in 326 German Shepherd or Labrador Retriever dogs to profile the genetic traits associated with various behavioral traits related to the successful training of drug detection dogs. Behavioral breed differences were observed in ‘friendliness to humans’ and ‘tolerance to dogs.’ A genome-wide association study within both breeds identified 11 regions potentially associated with drug detection dog characteristics as well as ‘interest in the target’ and ‘friendliness to humans,’ which are related to drug detection abilities. Among them, 63 protein-coding genes, including Atat1 and Pfn2 known to be associated with anxiety-related or exploration behavior in mice, respectively, were located surrounding the identified candidate polymorphisms. This study highlights genetic characteristics associated with behavioral traits that are important for the successful training of drug detection dogs. Thus, these findings may facilitate improved breeding and training of these dogs.