The fall 2021 cohort at the Duke Canine Cognition Center鈥檚 Puppy Kindergarten sat -- and stood, and lay down -- for their class portrait Wednesday.
Fearless, Dunn, Ethel, Gilda and Gloria are part of a long-term study at the Duke Canine Cognition Center funded by the National Institutes of Health on the cognitive development of potential service dogs.
The puppies come from in California, which raises puppies to be trained as service dogs for people who need help with mobility, hearing and other challenges.
鈥淲e take a puppy at 10 weeks old, run them through a series of service games and see which puppy is suited for which job,鈥 said Vanessa Woods, director of the program.
Dozens of trained student volunteers support the program by helping care for the puppies during their time at Duke.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not much research on the best way to raise a dog, especially a dog who is going to have such an important job,鈥 Woods said. 鈥淲e know with children that if they get exposed to a lot of different people early on that they become more tolerant, and in some cases more cooperative. So we want to expose the puppies to all the love on Duke鈥檚 campus, with lots of different puppy-raisers, to see if that makes a difference in their success.鈥
Check the center鈥檚 and for updates on the puppies鈥 development.