Mothering matters: Maternal style predicts puppies' future performance.

Bray et al. (2017, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(32), 9128-9133) recently showed that maternal interactions between service dog mothers and their puppies were predictive of puppies' future success as a candidate service dog. These findings prompt questions into the role of genetics and early experiences and may provide useful selection tools for working dog breeding programs.