Introducing the
International Working Dog Research Consortium
What research could help your organization the most?
Perhaps you want to...
Improve genetic selection and successful breeding outcomes
Improve working performance and longevity
Improve services, products, programs and protocols
Improve client service satisfaction outcomes
… Or investigate other topics that could benefit working dog health, breeding and training success?
What is the IWDRC and why is it important?
How can we reduce cancer or heart disease in our working dog lines? How can we improve working longevity? What genetic selections help us improve working success rates in our dogs?
Funding research with outcomes that directly affect working dog organizations and charities is traditionally difficult and easily influenced by outside sources who have agendas that are not necessarily of interest to those in our industry.
Broadly, this project seeks to connect the research needs of working dog organizations with researchers who can analyse and present data in a way that is useful for the industry.
A diagram depicting some of the benefits the IWDRC brings to working dog orgs and IWDR subscribers.
How will it work?
In short, organizations can choose to opt-in and contribute to research projects by supplying data. Data is only used for research projects when permission is granted by the providing organization, and organizations can choose to opt-out of the program at any time (although previously allowed data will still remain available for any designated research). This data is managed by the IWDR, so any organizations using the IWDR will have the opportunity to opt-in.
Organizations also have a say in directing priority research. The direction of the research is managed by a committee who decides specific research goals based on the needs of participant organizations. The committee includes IWDR subscribers who are contributing to the Research Consortium. Data is then released for specific research projects with rules and agreements determined by representatives of key stakeholders.
Have control over the data you contribute.
⦁ Data contribution is opt-in only.
⦁ Contributors can opt-out at any time.
⦁ Representatives can specify how your data should be utilised.
How did this project begin?
Improving the effectiveness of working dogs through genetic selection is key to ongoing success within the working dog industry.
“The ancient partnership between people and dogs is struggling to meet modern day needs, with demand exceeding our capacity to safely breed high-performing and healthy dogs. New statistical genetic approaches and genomic technology have the potential to revolutionize dog breeding, by transitioning from problematic phenotypic selection to methods that can preserve genetic diversity while increasing the proportion of successful dogs.”
Please click the link below to read the freely available research paper that discusses this topic and summarises why we feel the IWDRC is so important.
How can I contribute?
No operational costs or resource allocations required.
⦁ You don’t need to manage the process or spend precious resources delegating research criteria or staff time.
⦁ Representatives support your organization by ensuring your data is most effectively leveraged towards your organizational goals.
Be a part of the new standard of working dog research.
⦁ Collaborative, industry-specific research helps to support and future-proof the working dog industry in a fast-paced world.
⦁ Be a part of something bigger than any one organization could achieve.
⦁ Showcase your contributions to stakeholders, clients and supporters to show them your direct impact on working dog science.
As details are refined and finalised, we will communicate ways to become involved. If you aren’t already, consider becoming an IWDR user and tracking your colony data through our specialised database: find out more here.
Remember, this project is opt-in only, and there is no requirement to contribute even if you are using the IWDR.