New research finds that “everyone learns differently” applies to detection dogs too.
Because the process of memory consolidation, the brain’s way of stabilizing learned information, is slow and influenced by the environment, it can be shaped by experiences during and after the learning itself. Collins-Pisano et al. (2025) investigated how arousal, during and after training, influenced how well scent detection dogs retained newly learned odor information and how effectively the dogs discriminated between that odor and distracting ones 24-hours later.
Thirty-seven Labradors, bred and trained by Auburn University’s Canine Performance Sciences program for scent detection, were divided into three groups after being taught a new scent: a ‘social’ group where they played with a human, a ‘nonsocial’ group where they were given a toy, and a ‘control’ group given no stimulation. Arousal was assessed through heart rate, cortisol levels and physical activity assessment.
The ability to correctly identify the target scent was found to be influenced by both the type of post-training activity and the individual dog’s arousal level – not all dogs handle arousal the same. More chill dogs with lower arousal around rewards consolidated the learned scent training better after fun social interactions with a human, while the same interactions negatively impacted the performance of more excitable dogs with a high reward arousal.
The findings highlight that efficient memory consolidation for scent detection dog training may require the assessment of individualistic learning styles and arousal temperaments.
Read the full paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-09902-2