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Research on dogs has expanded rapidly in recent years, offering new insight into one of humanity’s most loyal companions. But postdoctoral fellow Julia Espinosa says much of that knowledge still comes from studies that capture only a limited range of dogs and the people who live with them.

Espinosa, a member of the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Health, is among researchers working to better understand dogs as a global species within the fields of comparative psychology and canine science. Her work examines how animals think and behave, and how those processes shape their relationships with people in different environments.

Across scientific fields, researchers aim to draw conclusions that are consistent in different populations and contexts. That requires studying a wide and representative range of subjects. In canine science, however, that breadth is often limited, Espinosa says.

Most studies on dog behaviour and cognition tend to focus on companion canines in affluent regions of the Global North, whose lives are shaped by specific cultural and economic contexts. That leaves out a large portion of the world’s dog population – especially free-living canines and those in the Global South – as well as the many different ways humans and their pets interact across cultures and environments.

That narrow focus also shapes how studies are built. In many cases, participants are recruited through university communities or social media, which can skew toward people with the time, resources and interest to take part. Those same factors can influence the kinds of dogs being studied, favouring well‑trained, highly socialized pets while excluding others.

“With research drawing mostly from similar types of dogs and owners, it becomes harder to know whether the results reflect the species as a whole or just a specific subset,” says Espinosa.

Espinosa has observed this kind of variability in her own work. In studies examining how dogs respond to human pointing gestures, she and her collaborators found that results can differ depending on where the they are studied and the conditions they are raised in. For example, canines in Toronto respond differently to pointing gestures than those studied in Vancouver and Nebraska.

Findings like these, she says, highlight how much remains unknown and point questions that may be overlooked if results were broadly representative.

“Once we understand that there are these gaps in how we do our science – and even our individual ability to address them – we can start collectively working on ways forward,” she says.

In an article published in , Espinosa offers an analysis of current canine research and proposes a shift in approach to improve the relevance of the field. Through large‑scale collaborative studies, researchers from multiple sites and countries can better capture the diversity of dog ecology and dog-human relationships using shared methods and larger, more diverse samples.

“The main goal is to propose how we could make science more representative and equitable, both in the type of dogs that are studied and the people who do the research,” she says.

One example is the ManyDogs Project, founded by Espinosa in 2018, which brings together collaborators from different locations and populations to study canine behaviour across contexts. By combining data and comparing results across sites, researchers can test findings across diverse groups.

In practice, this could lead to better inform human-animal relationships, animal welfare and ecological interactions. It could also offer a clearer picture of how dogs adapt across environments, including when they move between them.

Espinosa points to the growing practice of bringing canines from other regions, such as the street of Mexico, into Canadian communities as one example. Understanding how dogs from different backgrounds behave, she says, can support more effective training when they struggle to adjust to new environments.

Espinosa stresses that what she calls “big team science” is not intended to replace the work done by individual groups, but rather to complement those efforts and broaden understanding and research practices through international collaboration, diverse viewpoints and scientific traditions.

“Understanding that what we know is just a drop in the ocean and only applicable to a small subset of very particular dogs can help us appreciate the value that diverse perspectives can add to the conversation,” Espinosa says.

By widening its lens, canine research has the potential to produce more reliable findings while deepening peoples’ connection with one of its oldest and most widespread companions. “Ultimately, the goal is improving dog well-being and supporting healthy dog-human relationships,” says Espinosa.

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