All breeding rights puppies have been reserved. Thank you!
Are you a training organization looking for a puppy to add to your Diabetic Alert program?
MD Dogs has 2 openings to place puppies with established, reputable training organizations looking to add to their Diabetic Alert program. In exchange for a discounted puppy and MD Dogs covering all health testing fees, MD Dogs will receive breeding rights for the first breeding program to evaluate transgenerational memory (more about this below).
About MD Dogs puppy partnership
What your organization receives:
What MD Dogs receives:
About MD Dogs transgenerational memory breeding program
This Birdi x Dublin litter is specifically receiving ESI and neonatal target odor imprinting to help set them up for success as future Diabetic Alert Dogs. We are hoping to collect data on these dogs' alert accuracies - during the day and during the night - to look for differences or correlations due to their early exposure. However, in future generations we hope to continue this research even further. Our ultimate goal is to see if, over numerous generations, we are able to affect transgenerational (epigenetic) memory through positive reinforcement.
Transgenerational memory has been proven in other species when exposed to aversive stimuli. For example, researchers exposed male mice to a cherry blossom odor and paired it with an electric shock. Then they inseminated female mice with that sperm and found the pups and even grandpups of the mice had an adverse reaction to the odor despite never experiencing the shock. Additionally, they found that the offspring actually had developed additional receptors for that particular odor! (article).
A few other studies have shown how fears can pass down to future generations due to epigenetics. However, no study has shown the inverse - if positive reinforcement paired with a specific stimulus can result in a natural affinity for that stimulus in future generations. And this is what we would like to test. By breeding trained Diabetic Alert Dogs, as close to final placement as possible (for females) or even after placement (males) with a client, in addition to extensive exposure and classical conditioning when young, we hope to test whether it is possible to develop a line of dogs who have a natural desire to seek out the odor of low blood sugar from birth.
Now, this is a long shot, and we know it :) This is a 10-25 year long project that has no concrete evidence to show it will be successful as nothing has demonstrated that positive reinforcement can be passed through generations like positive punishment. However, if we discover it is unsuccessful, at the end of the day we will have a line of DADs with great temperaments and multiple generations to back up their ability to become DADs!
Feel free to email with any questions or inquiries - we'd love to talk!
About MD Dogs puppy partnership
What your organization receives:
- Discounted puppy: $2,800 ($1,000 discount)
- Free health tests: MD Dogs will pay for the puppy's PennHIP tests between 4-6 months of age. Additionally, once the organization decides the DAD in training is ready to be matched with a client MD Dogs will cover the following, at minimum: OFA hips (prelim or full), OFA patella, OFA elbows (prelim or full), DNA.
What MD Dogs receives:
- 5 breedings worth of shipped semen collection from the DAD 6 months after placement. (MD Dogs will never require a live cover, and the dog may be altered after the final collection. We know collection and neutering after placement is not ideal so will make it as convenient as possible! Collection can just be a few scheduled veterinary trips that take 10-15 minutes)
- Alert accuracy data from the time at placement until the time of semen collection.
About MD Dogs transgenerational memory breeding program
This Birdi x Dublin litter is specifically receiving ESI and neonatal target odor imprinting to help set them up for success as future Diabetic Alert Dogs. We are hoping to collect data on these dogs' alert accuracies - during the day and during the night - to look for differences or correlations due to their early exposure. However, in future generations we hope to continue this research even further. Our ultimate goal is to see if, over numerous generations, we are able to affect transgenerational (epigenetic) memory through positive reinforcement.
Transgenerational memory has been proven in other species when exposed to aversive stimuli. For example, researchers exposed male mice to a cherry blossom odor and paired it with an electric shock. Then they inseminated female mice with that sperm and found the pups and even grandpups of the mice had an adverse reaction to the odor despite never experiencing the shock. Additionally, they found that the offspring actually had developed additional receptors for that particular odor! (article).
A few other studies have shown how fears can pass down to future generations due to epigenetics. However, no study has shown the inverse - if positive reinforcement paired with a specific stimulus can result in a natural affinity for that stimulus in future generations. And this is what we would like to test. By breeding trained Diabetic Alert Dogs, as close to final placement as possible (for females) or even after placement (males) with a client, in addition to extensive exposure and classical conditioning when young, we hope to test whether it is possible to develop a line of dogs who have a natural desire to seek out the odor of low blood sugar from birth.
Now, this is a long shot, and we know it :) This is a 10-25 year long project that has no concrete evidence to show it will be successful as nothing has demonstrated that positive reinforcement can be passed through generations like positive punishment. However, if we discover it is unsuccessful, at the end of the day we will have a line of DADs with great temperaments and multiple generations to back up their ability to become DADs!
Feel free to email with any questions or inquiries - we'd love to talk!
