While guide dogs provide tremendous benefits, the current training program faces serious inefficiencies, since a large percentage never actually assist an owner. Only 60% of dogs evaluated for assistance work graduate from their training programs. This means a loss of more than $12,000 per dog unable to complete training. A dog that has completed the program costs up to $50,000, and people can wait years for a trained animal.

Most dogs that fail to complete guide dog training do so because of behavioral issues. This led Breno Fragomeni, associate professor of animal science in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR), to conduct an analysis of dogs’ genetics to see if there was a way to better predict which animals would be successful guide dogs.

“If we can tell before they are trained if they [will be successful], that saves a lot of time and a lot of money, and it will also increase the number of guide dogs out there to help people,” Fragomeni says.

This work was published in Genetics Selection Evolution.

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