When Will My Puppy Sleep Through the Night?

By Sam The Dog Trainer | October 2026

 

OVERVIEW: What research tells us about nighttime waking, bladder control, and realistic expectations. Many puppies begin sleeping for longer nighttime stretches around 12 to 16 weeks, but there is no proven age when every puppy can sleep through the night without waking or needing a bathroom break.

Many puppies begin sleeping for longer stretches during their first few months, but there is no dependable age at which every puppy can sleep through the night. At 12 to 16 weeks, some can get through much of the night; others still need to go outside or need help settling. A dry night, a quiet night, and an uninterrupted night are not necessarily the same thing.

 

What does “sleeping through the night” actually mean?

 

For a tired owner, it usually means going to bed and waking up in the morning without a puppy crying, having an accident, or needing to be taken outside. Scientists, however, ask more specific questions. How long does the puppy sleep in total? How often does it wake? Can it postpone urination comfortably? And if it wakes, does it return to sleep without help?

 

A puppy might sleep seven hours altogether while waking several times. Another might wake and shift position without making a sound. A third might stay quiet in a crate even while uncomfortable. Silence is not proof of sleep, and remaining dry is not necessarily proof that withholding a bathroom break was comfortable.

 

At what age do puppies begin sleeping through the night?

 

There is no single scientifically established birthday. As a general management expectation, eight- to twelve-week-old puppies may still need overnight outings. Longer stretches often become possible around twelve to sixteen weeks. By roughly four to six months, many households find that nighttime routines are more predictable. These are practical ranges, not population-based milestones that every puppy must meet.

 

The puppy’s size, health, drinking and elimination patterns, household schedule, environment, and adjustment to a new home can all matter. One puppy may sleep quietly early on; another may need more time without being abnormal. Rather than judging a puppy against a rigid calendar, compare what that same puppy is doing now with what it was doing a week or two ago.

 

What does the research actually say?

 

In a 2020 Generation Pup study, Kinsman and colleagues asked owners about sleep at sixteen weeks and again at twelve months. Among 662 dogs with nighttime sleep estimates at both ages, owners reported an average of about 7.0 hours at sixteen weeks and 7.3 hours at twelve months [1]. That sounds reassuring, but it answers a narrower question than many owners think.

 

Those were owners’ estimates of nighttime sleep, not continuous physiological recordings. The study did not establish that the puppies slept seven uninterrupted hours, stayed dry the entire night, or were comfortable going without a bathroom opportunity. Nor did it identify the age when each puppy first achieved a series of reliably dry nights.

 

An earlier study by Taylor and Mills examined reports of nighttime disturbance and house soiling after puppies entered new homes. Nighttime crying was especially relevant during the early adjustment period, and its pattern was not identical to the pattern of house soiling [2]. In other words, a puppy can stop crying before it has reliable bladder control, or can remain dry yet still become unsettled at night.

Another Generation Pup analysis found associations between early management, reported sleep, and separation-related behavior later in puppyhood. But it was an exploratory observational analysis of 145 puppies. It cannot demonstrate that crating a puppy or ensuring a particular number of hours of sleep causes protection from separation problems [3].

 

Is waking at night a bladder problem or a behavior problem?

 

Sometimes it is neither, and sometimes it is both. The first question should be what the puppy needs, not whether its crying has been rewarded. A newly adopted puppy may be uncomfortable sleeping alone, disturbed by an unfamiliar noise, or genuinely ready to urinate. There can also be learned expectations about what happens when somebody comes into the room.

 

Urinary control develops through changes in the nervous system as well as physical growth. Bladder storage involves more than bladder size: urine production, the signals that indicate fullness, sphincter coordination, health, and opportunities to eliminate all contribute [4, 5]. Learning where to urinate is different from being physically able to wait until morning.

 

You may have heard that a puppy can hold its urine for one hour for every month of age. Treat that as a loose household planning rule, not a physiological law. It does not demonstrate how long a particular puppy can comfortably postpone urination while awake or asleep.

 

Am I rewarding my puppy for crying if I get up?

 

Responding to a puppy is not automatically a training mistake. Consequences can shape behavior, but the fact that crying was followed by attention does not tell us what caused the crying. Conditioning principles do not eliminate the possibility of discomfort, fear, or a genuine need to urinate.

 

Consider two different patterns. In one, the puppy wakes, is taken outside, urinates, and settles again. In another, the puppy wakes and is entertained with extended play, then begins anticipating that activity every night. The consequences differ, but even repeated episodes need to be interpreted in context. I would want to know what happened before the vocalization, whether the puppy actually eliminated, and what happened after returning to bed before treating it as a learned attention-seeking routine.

 

Should my puppy sleep in a crate or near me?

 

The best sleeping arrangement is one that is safe, appropriate for the puppy, and manageable for the household. A crate, pen, bed, or nearby sleeping space does not change bladder maturity. Proximity to a person may make a new puppy more comfortable and make nighttime care easier, while a properly introduced enclosed space may help prevent unsafe roaming and accidents.

 

Neither distance from the owner nor confinement should be treated as a test of character. If a puppy exhibits persistent, escalating distress when confined or left alone, assess the setting and adjust the introduction rather than simply demanding a longer period of silence. The research on sleeping arrangements describes associations; it does not establish one arrangement as universally superior [1–3].

My experience is that having the pup in your bedroom at night is best.

 

What should I do when my puppy wakes at 2:30 a.m.?

 

Start with a calm, ordinary response. Make sure the puppy has a comfortable, secure sleeping area and an opportunity to urinate shortly before bedtime. If it wakes and an elimination break is plausible, take it to the appropriate location without turning the trip into a play session. Then return to the usual sleeping arrangement.

 

If the puppy does not eliminate, look at other possibilities. Has something changed in the room? Is the puppy newly separated from its litter or accustomed company? Does it become distressed only when the owner leaves? Has the evening been unusually stimulating? A puppy that has been kept active or alert for hours may not be better prepared to sleep merely because it looks exhausted. Further, many puppies wake up because they are hungry.

 

A puppy that consistently wakes, urinates, and promptly returns to sleep presents a different practical question from one that never eliminates and becomes more anxious with each confinement attempt.

 

Do not routinely withhold drinking water to force a dry night. Adequate hydration matters, especially with exercise, illness, or hot weather. Unusual thirst or urination belongs in a conversation with your veterinarian, not an improvised water-restriction program.

 

When should I call the veterinarian?

 

A sudden change from previously reliable nights, painful or frequent urination, blood in the urine, unusual thirst, straining, diarrhea, or signs of illness warrant veterinary advice. Repeated attempts to urinate with little or no output may indicate an urgent problem. Pronounced or increasing nighttime distress also deserves attention rather than being dismissed as stubbornness.

 

Medical discomfort and learned routines can exist together. If the pattern suggests physical trouble, do not make a behavior plan depend on ignoring it.

 

What should progress look like?

 

Progress means the puppy’s needs are being met while nights become easier for both of you. You might see longer comfortable intervals between bathroom trips, quicker resettling after a short outing, fewer accidents, or less distress in the sleeping area. Those changes are more informative than simply counting quiet hours.

 

Your puppy does not know when you must wake up for work. The realistic task is to manage the nights you have now while the puppy’s body, sleep patterns, and familiarity with the home develop. If the puppy wakes, find out why. An appropriate response tonight is often a better investment than trying to enforce a deadline the science has never established.

 

Glossary

 

Sleep duration. Total time spent asleep during a stated period.

Sleep continuity. How sleep is distributed across uninterrupted episodes and awakenings.

Sleep architecture. The pattern of physiological sleep stages, including REM and non-REM sleep.

Urinary continence. The ability to store urine and postpone elimination appropriately.

Micturition. The coordinated process of urination.

Classical conditioning. Learning associations between events or cues that can influence responses.

Operant conditioning. Learning in which consequences change the future frequency of behavior.

Separation-related behavior. Behavior associated with separation from familiar people or animals, sometimes including distress.

Longitudinal study. A study that follows participants over time.

Confounding. The possibility that another factor helps explain an observed association.

Polysomnography. Physiological recording of sleep, used to characterize sleep stages and continuity.

 

Scholarly bibliography and veterinary resources

[1] Kinsman, R., Owczarczak-Garstecka, S., Casey, R., et al. (2020). Sleep duration and behaviours: A descriptive analysis of a cohort of dogs up to 12 months of age. Animals, 10(7), 1172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10071172

[2] Taylor, K., & Mills, D. S. (2007). A placebo-controlled study to investigate the effect of Dog Appeasing Pheromone and other environmental and management factors on reports of disturbance and house soiling during the night in recently adopted puppies (Canis familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 105(4), 358–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.11.003

[3] Dale, F. C., Burn, C. C., Murray, J., & Casey, R. (2024). Canine separation-related behaviour at six months of age: Dog, owner and early-life risk factors identified using the Generation Pup longitudinal study. Animal Welfare, 33, e60. https://doi.org/10.1017/awf.2024.56

[4] A review of the neural control of micturition in dogs and cats: Neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and neuroplasticity. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9684239/

[5] Neonatal clinical assessment of the puppy and kitten: How to identify newborns at risk? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11640698/

[6] Reicher, V., et al. (2021). Developmental features of sleep electrophysiology in family dogs. Scientific Reports, 11, 22760. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02117-1

[7] University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. House-training your puppy. https://healthtopics.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/health-topics/canine/house-training-your-puppy

Does Your Dog Need a Strong Leader? What Science Says About Leadership, Obedience, and Behavior

OVERVIEW: Dogs benefit from responsible guidance, consistent expectations, and effective teaching, but scientific research does not establish that dominance or forceful control produces better behavior or greater competence.

Dog owners are frequently told that their dogs need a strong leader. When a dog pulls on the leash, jumps on visitors, ignores instructions, or behaves aggressively, the explanation is often that its owner has failed to establish sufficient authority. The proposed solution is equally straightforward: become a stronger leader, take control, and the dog will fall into line. It is an attractive explanation because it reduces a complicated behavioral problem to a single cause. Unfortunately, it also raises questions that are rarely examined. What exactly constitutes leadership? How does it influence behavior? And does a dog that becomes more obedient necessarily become more emotionally stable, better adjusted, or more capable?

There is no question that people have responsibilities toward the dogs in their care. Dogs benefit from understandable expectations, appropriate supervision, opportunities to learn, and protection from unnecessary danger. Yet these responsibilities do not establish that every unwanted behavior represents a challenge to human authority. Nor do they demonstrate that greater control necessarily produces better results. Research on canine attachment, learning, and problem-solving suggests a more complicated relationship between human guidance and canine behavior, one in which the methods used, the circumstances involved, and the outcomes being measured matter considerably more than whether someone appears to be in charge.

What Do We Really Mean by Being a Strong Leader?

The first difficulty is that leadership has no single, consistent meaning in popular dog training. To some people, it means providing clear instruction, establishing household rules, and making responsible decisions. To others, it means controlling resources, restricting the dog's choices, correcting unwanted behavior, or demonstrating superior social status. These practices may produce very different effects, yet they are often discussed as though they belong to one coherent training philosophy.

Consider three owners whose dogs rush toward the front door whenever someone arrives. The first teaches the dog to go to a designated place when the doorbell rings, gradually building a reliable alternative behavior. The second uses a barrier to prevent the dog from reaching the entrance. The third confronts the dog whenever it approaches the door until the behavior stops. All three may succeed in preventing the dog from rushing outside, and all three may describe their success as leadership. But the first has taught a skill, the second has managed the environment, and the third has suppressed an action. Without further observation, we cannot know whether the third dog has learned an appropriate alternative, become more comfortable with visitors, or simply learned to avoid an unpleasant consequence.

This distinction illustrates a larger problem in the way people explain dog behavior. Terms such as respect, stubbornness, dominance, and leadership often express an interpretation rather than identify a behavioral mechanism. They may sound explanatory while leaving the most important questions unanswered. What happened immediately before the behavior? What consequences followed it? What previous experiences might be relevant? What changed when the intervention was introduced? If we cannot answer those questions, claiming that leadership solved the problem tells us remarkably little about what the dog learned.

What Does Research Tell Us About Owners and Their Dogs?

A useful starting point comes from research examining how owners establish expectations and respond to their dogs. In 2023, Lauren Brubaker and Monique Udell investigated whether owner-reported caregiving styles were associated with differences in canine attachment and problem-solving behavior. Adapting concepts from human parenting research, they distinguished between patterns involving relatively high or low expectations and different levels of responsiveness. Dogs whose owners were classified as authoritative, combining expectations with responsiveness, showed more favorable results on certain attachment and problem-solving measures than dogs in other categories.

The significance of this finding is not that researchers have discovered an ideal personality for dog owners. The study was observational, so it cannot establish that adopting a particular style will cause a dog to become more intelligent, secure, or obedient. Nevertheless, it challenges the notion that setting limits and responding to a dog's needs are opposing practices. An owner can establish rules while recognizing that a puppy is immature, that a frightened dog may require support, or that an older dog may have physical limitations. Expectations and responsiveness can coexist, and the research gives us reason to examine that combination rather than treating forcefulness as the defining quality of good leadership.

Research on attachment provides another perspective. Horn, Huber, and Range (2013) investigated the secure-base effect, examining how the presence of a familiar owner influenced dogs working with an apparatus. The dogs spent more time manipulating the apparatus when their owners were present. This suggests that a familiar person can affect a dog's willingness to engage with a challenge, even without actively directing its behavior. But the distinction between participation and competence is essential. Spending more time working on a problem does not necessarily mean that the dog has learned more, found a solution, or developed an ability that will persist when the owner leaves.

A study by Munafó and colleagues (2026) adds an important qualification. The researchers examined frustration-related behavior during a nonsocial problem-solving task and found that owner presence was associated with reduced frustration, without a detected improvement in problem-solving performance. The owner's presence apparently influenced the dog's experience of the situation without producing a measurable advantage in solving the problem. This is a valuable effect in its own right, but it is not the same as demonstrating greater competence. A dog may feel more comfortable attempting a difficult task with a familiar person nearby while remaining no better equipped to solve that task independently.

Is Obedience the Same as Learning?

Obedience is one possible outcome of training, but it should not be confused with the whole of learning or with a dog's capacity to function independently. Imagine a dog that waits for its handler's direction before approaching unfamiliar objects, changing position, or beginning an activity. Such a dog may perform familiar commands with remarkable precision. Yet that performance tells us relatively little about what will happen when the dog encounters a novel problem and no instructions are available. Will it investigate possible solutions, persist in the activity, seek assistance, or abandon the attempt? The answer cannot be determined from obedience alone, because responding to known cues and solving unfamiliar problems involve partly different demands.

Brubaker and Udell explored related questions in a 2018 study comparing pet dogs with trained search-and-rescue dogs. Although the groups did not differ in overall persistence on an independent task, the search-and-rescue dogs were more successful when encouraged by a person. Previous training and experience may have influenced how those dogs interpreted and responded to human encouragement. However, subsequent testing did not establish that the encouragement effect reliably carried over when the encouragement was removed. The finding illustrates why immediate performance should not automatically be treated as evidence of lasting learning. A dog that succeeds with active human support has demonstrated what it can accomplish under those conditions, but not necessarily what it can accomplish alone.

The same distinction applies to ordinary household training. A dog that responds promptly to a recall cue in the kitchen but fails to respond outdoors may not be challenging its owner's authority. The outdoor environment presents different stimuli, competing activities, and possibly a different reinforcement history. A dog that responds to one family member but not another may be reacting to differences in timing, cues, previous consequences, or the relationship between the handler and the task. Describing these differences as failures of leadership can obscure the variables that a trainer actually needs to examine. Before increasing demands, we should determine what the dog knows, under what conditions it knows it, and whether the requested performance has been adequately taught.

Is Dominance Necessary for Effective Training?

Dominance is a legitimate concept in animal behavior research, but its scientific meaning is narrower than its popular use. In studies of social relationships, dominance may describe patterns involving priority access to resources or predictable outcomes of competitive interactions. Such relationships depend on the species, individuals, and circumstances being studied. Their existence does not establish that humans must achieve superior social rank over dogs before effective teaching can occur. Bradshaw, Blackwell, and Casey (2009) examined problems associated with applying dominance concepts to domestic dogs, particularly when those concepts are used to explain or justify human training practices.

Dogs learn through several interacting processes. Classical conditioning can change the significance of events and influence emotional responses. Instrumental conditioning changes the future probability of behavior through its consequences. Social learning, previous experiences, developmental processes, and environmental conditions also contribute. None of these mechanisms requires us to interpret every interaction as a contest for authority. A dog that jumps on visitors may have a history of obtaining attention through jumping. A dog that pulls on the leash may have repeatedly reached interesting destinations by pulling. A dog that growls when someone reaches toward its head may be anticipating discomfort or reacting defensively. These behaviors require different explanations and potentially different interventions, regardless of whether their owners are considered strong leaders.

This is also why I am cautious about explanations that assign motives before examining circumstances. A dog that refuses to enter a vehicle may be frightened, physically uncomfortable, uncertain about the footing, or responding to something it previously experienced. We cannot determine the cause merely from the refusal itself. If we assume that the dog is challenging our authority, we may apply increasing pressure when the real problem calls for a change in the environment, a different training progression, or veterinary attention. The label may satisfy the person who applies it, but it does not necessarily help the dog.

Why Does Forceful Control Sometimes Appear to Work?

Forceful interventions can change behavior, and a serious discussion should acknowledge that fact. Punishment can reduce the future occurrence of an action under particular conditions, physical restraint can prevent an action from occurring, and the removal of a desired outcome can influence future behavior. These are recognizable behavioral effects. The important question is whether the change represents useful learning, improved emotional adjustment, or merely a reduction in visible behavior. Those outcomes may look similar from a distance while having very different implications for the animal.

Consider a dog that growls when someone approaches its resting place. Following repeated corrections, the dog stops growling. Has it become more comfortable with people approaching? Has it learned an alternative response? Or has it learned that expressing discomfort produces an unpleasant consequence? The disappearance of growling cannot answer those questions. In some circumstances, suppressing a warning may leave the underlying conflict unresolved. This is particularly concerning when fear, defensive behavior, or pain may be involved, because an apparently successful intervention can conceal rather than eliminate the conditions responsible for the behavior.

Research on aversive training methods has identified welfare concerns, and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior recommends reward-based approaches while advising against aversive methods. This recommendation should not be confused with the claim that punishment is incapable of influencing behavior. The issue is broader: whether an intervention is necessary, what risks it introduces, what alternatives are available, and whether the resulting behavior reflects a desirable improvement in the dog's overall condition. A dog that becomes quieter is not necessarily more comfortable, and a dog that stops resisting has not necessarily learned to participate willingly. If obedience is our only measure of success, we may overlook precisely the outcomes that matter most.

Can an Owner Become Too Controlling?

There is a further question that deserves attention: whether excessive human direction can reduce a dog's opportunities to explore, make choices, and solve problems. The attachment and problem-solving studies reviewed here do not establish that strict handling inevitably damages independent competence, and highly trained working dogs provide many examples of excellent obedience combined with initiative. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to ask what experiences a dog loses when every activity is directed, every investigation interrupted, and every unfamiliar situation managed through immediate human commands.

Dogs acquire information about their surroundings by interacting with them. They investigate odors, observe other animals, encounter different surfaces, discover the consequences of their actions, and learn which activities are rewarding or unpleasant. These experiences occur within developmental, genetic, and environmental limits, but they are part of how dogs become familiar with the world. If an owner treats every independent action as something to control, the dog may have fewer opportunities for such learning. That possibility warrants further research rather than a sweeping conclusion, but it also suggests a sensible practical principle: training should develop useful cooperation without unnecessarily eliminating initiative.

Of course, independence does not mean allowing a dog to behave dangerously. Owners must prevent access to traffic, protect other animals and people, and establish boundaries where safety requires them. Yet there is a difference between controlling a dangerous situation and controlling every moment of a dog's life. A dog can learn to wait at a doorway while still enjoying opportunities to investigate its environment. It can develop reliable obedience while also learning to solve appropriate problems. The objective should be a capable animal that can cooperate with people and function successfully under a variety of circumstances, not one that depends on continuous direction for every ordinary activity.

What Should Dog Owners Actually Do?

When a dog behaves in an unwanted way, the first task is to understand the circumstances rather than assign a leadership label. I would begin by comparing situations in which the dog succeeds with those in which it struggles. Does the behavior change with the handler, the location, the distance from a distraction, or the equipment being used? Is the dog able to perform the requested skill when conditions are easier? Does the problem appear suddenly, suggesting that discomfort or illness might be relevant? Such questions help distinguish insufficient learning from competing motivations, environmental difficulties, and possible changes in the dog's physical or emotional condition.

Once the problem is better defined, the owner can establish an appropriate training plan. That may involve teaching a new response, strengthening an existing skill, adjusting reinforcement, reducing unnecessary difficulty, or managing the environment while learning takes place. Expectations should be understandable and consequences reasonably consistent, but consistency should not mean ignoring the dog's condition. A fearful puppy, an adolescent dog encountering unfamiliar distractions, and an older dog with physical limitations may require different approaches even when the owner's long-term expectations are similar. Effective teaching involves adjusting the demands to the learner, not simply repeating instructions more forcefully.

Progress should also be evaluated beyond the immediate training session. A dog that performs a skill today may not retain it tomorrow, and a dog that responds reliably indoors may not yet be prepared to perform in a busy public setting. Important behaviors should be practiced and evaluated across appropriate environments, distractions, handlers, and periods of time. We should also consider the dog's willingness to participate, ability to recover from challenges, and general welfare. These measures help us distinguish temporary compliance from learning that is useful in everyday life.

Some situations require more than a change in training technique. Aggression, significant fear, sudden behavioral changes, or possible pain warrant careful assessment, and veterinary evaluation may be appropriate when a medical cause is suspected. In such cases, increasing control without understanding the underlying problem may introduce additional risks. The purpose of assessment is not to excuse dangerous behavior or abandon reasonable expectations. It is to determine what is happening so that management and training address the actual problem.

So, Does Your Dog Need a Strong Leader?

If leadership means accepting responsibility for a dog's welfare, providing understandable guidance, establishing reasonable boundaries, and teaching useful skills, then the concept has practical value. But if leadership means proving dominance, controlling every activity, or interpreting unwanted behavior as resistance to human authority, the scientific justification becomes much weaker. Research suggests that human responsiveness, familiarity, encouragement, and training history can influence canine behavior and performance, but those effects are not identical, and none establishes that greater forcefulness automatically produces greater competence.

A dog can obey without feeling secure, feel secure without knowing how to perform a task, and perform successfully with assistance without having learned to work independently. These distinctions are not academic technicalities. They determine how we interpret behavior, what we choose to teach, and whether our interventions produce lasting benefits. Rather than asking whether an owner is sufficiently dominant, I would ask what the dog has learned, what conditions influence its behavior, and whether the proposed intervention improves both its ability to function and its welfare. That is a more meaningful foundation for responsible dog training than the simple demand to become the boss.

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Glossary

Attachment: An enduring social relationship in which a familiar individual may provide security, comfort, or support under particular circumstances.

Authoritative caregiving: A pattern combining relatively high expectations with responsiveness. The concept has been adapted from human parenting research for studies of dog–owner relationships.

Aversive training: Training involving unpleasant stimuli or consequences that an animal seeks to avoid or escape.

Classical conditioning: Learning through associations between events or stimuli, including associations that influence emotional responses.

Dominance: A concept in animal behavior describing particular social relationships, often involving priority access to resources or predictable outcomes of competitive interactions. It is not synonymous with effective teaching.

Generalization: The extent to which a learned behavior occurs under conditions different from those in which it was originally taught.

Instrumental conditioning: Learning in which consequences influence the future occurrence of behavior. Also called operant conditioning.

Persistence: Continued engagement with an activity or problem. Persistence does not necessarily establish learning or successful problem-solving.

Positive reinforcement: A process in which adding a consequence after a behavior increases the future probability of that behavior.

Secure-base effect: A change in exploration or engagement associated with the presence of a familiar attachment figure.

Social learning: Learning influenced by observing or interacting with other individuals.

Welfare: An animal's physical and psychological condition in relation to its needs, experiences, and environment. Obedience alone is not an adequate measure of welfare.

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Scholarly Bibliography

American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior. (2021). AVSAB position statement on humane dog training.https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AVSAB-Humane-Dog-Training-Position-Statement-2021.pdf

Bradshaw, J. W. S., Blackwell, E. J., & Casey, R. A. (2009). Dominance in domestic dogs: Useful construct or bad habit? Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 4(3), 135–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2008.08.004

Brubaker, L., & Udell, M. A. R. (2018). The effects of past training, experience, and human behaviour on a dog's persistence at an independent task. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 204, 101–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.04.003

Brubaker, L., & Udell, M. A. R. (2023). Does pet parenting style predict the social and problem-solving behavior of pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)? Animal Cognition, 26, 345–356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-022-01694-6

Horn, L., Huber, L., & Range, F. (2013). The importance of the secure base effect for domestic dogs: Evidence from a manipulative problem-solving task. PLOS ONE, 8(5), e65296. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065296

Munafó, M., et al. (2026). [Complete author list and article title require verification before publication.] Behavioural Processes, 242, 105439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2026.105439

Places for Sam to Personalize Before Publishing

The strongest place for a firsthand example is in the discussion of behavior that disappears under correction without necessarily resolving the underlying problem. A real case involving pain, fear, or defensive behavior could make that distinction more memorable.

A second useful addition would be an example of a dog that performed well with one handler or in one environment but struggled under different conditions. That would reinforce the article's distinction between obedience, learning, and generalization.

The Munafó et al. bibliography entry still requires completion before publication.

 

Can Pain Cause Aggression in Dogs? What Veterinary Research Says

What veterinary research reveals about pain, biting, and the danger of mistaking illness for disobedience. Aggression in dogs is not always a behavioral problem; sometimes it is a response to physical pain or illness. Drawing on veterinary research and my firsthand cases involving cancer, arthritis, spinal disorders, dental infections, pancreatitis, and severe allergies, this article examines how medical conditions can contribute to biting and attacks, why these causes are often overlooked, and how appropriate veterinary care can sometimes resolve aggression without behavioral modification... (MORE)

Why Are Dog Trainers So Obsessed With Calm Dogs?

“Calm” has become a remarkably flexible promise in companion-dog training. It may mean emotional comfort, a low level of physiological activation, an obedient down-stay, a quiet house, or simply a dog that does not interrupt its owner. Those outcomes are not equivalent. This article examines the scientific limits of inferring emotional states from visible actions, distinguishes operant and Pavlovian learning from biological regulation, and considers the role of development, selective breeding, daily activity, stress, and recovery... (MORE)

Can We Genetically Engineer a Better Military Working Dog? What Science Tells Us

From Scott and Fuller's dog experiments to Russian silver foxes, animal cloning, and CRISPR, scientists have learned a great deal about how genes influence behavior. But can we use that knowledge to produce exceptional working dogs?

 

OVERVIEW: Genetic engineering and cloning may improve the health and breeding of military working dogs, but research shows that complex behavior also depends on development, experience, training, and the environment.

 

Genetics can increase the likelihood that a dog will possess desirable working characteristics. Cloning can reproduce an exceptional dog's nuclear genetic makeup, and modern gene-editing technology can change specific biological characteristics. What science has not yet demonstrated is the ability to reliably engineer the complete behavioral abilities of an exceptional military working dog.

 

A newly announced company called Warhound intends to explore some of these possibilities. Its ambitions raise fascinating questions about animal genetics, behavior, and development.

 

What Is Warhound Trying to Accomplish?

 

On October 22, 2026, Warhound announced that it had raised $200 million to develop an American supply of advanced working dogs for military, law-enforcement, and emergency-response applications.

 

The company, conceived by entrepreneurs Ben Lamm and Palmer Luckey, proposes combining advanced breeding, cloning, genetic technology, training, and specialized equipment.

 

Its objectives include producing healthier dogs, improving working capabilities, and reducing reliance on imported animals.

 

These are worthwhile subjects for scientific investigation. Producing suitable working dogs is expensive, time-consuming, and frequently unsuccessful. Not every dog entering a training program eventually qualifies for operational service.

 

However, there is a distinction between producing a genetically promising puppy and producing an adult dog capable of performing demanding assignments. To understand that distinction, and appreciating the difficulty, we should begin with research conducted more than 60 years ago.

 

Haven't Dog Breeders Been Doing Something Similar for Generations?

 

In a sense, dog breeders have been attempting to accomplish something similar for generations through purebred breeding, linebreeding, and, in some cases, close inbreeding. These practices are not cloning in the biological sense, since each puppy inherits a new combination of genetic material from its parents. However, the objective is often similar: to preserve and reproduce desirable inherited characteristics with greater predictability. 

 

Breeders may carefully select dogs from generations of successful working animals, repeatedly concentrating particular bloodlines in an effort to produce consistent physical and behavioral traits. Yet anyone familiar with breeding working dogs knows that even puppies from the same litter can develop remarkably different personalities, motivations, sensitivities, and working abilities. Some become exceptional working dogs, while their littermates may be better suited to entirely different lives. Even prolonged linebreeding does not eliminate this variation.

 

Genetic recombination, developmental differences, environmental influences, and individual learning histories continue to produce unique animals. Cloning offers a much closer reproduction of an individual dog's nuclear genetic makeup than traditional breeding, but it does not eliminate the developmental processes that make each dog an individual. This is one reason the work of Scott and Fuller remains so relevant to modern genetic engineering.

 

What Did Scott and Fuller Discover About Dog Genetics and Behavior?

 

John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller demonstrated that canine behavior is influenced by heredity, but that genetic differences do not determine every aspect of an individual dog's development or performance.

 

Their landmark book, Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog (1965), summarized years of experimental research involving five breeds: Basenjis, Beagles, Cocker Spaniels, Shetland Sheepdogs, and Wire Fox Terriers.

 

They examined behavioral development, emotional responses, social behavior, learning, and problem-solving abilities. Their research went beyond comparing breeds. They also conducted breeding experiments, studied crosses between breeds, manipulated aspects of the dogs' environments, and investigated the effects of different rearing conditions.

The breeds differed in several behavioral characteristics. For example, Beagles performed particularly well on scent-trailing tasks, while Basenjis excelled in certain manipulation problems.

 

Yet no breed demonstrated universal superiority across all the problem-solving tasks.

 

The researchers also observed substantial individual differences within breeds.

 

These findings are important because they challenge the assumption that an animal possesses a single general quality called intelligence, trainability, or working ability. A dog can excel at one task and perform poorly at another.

 

Scott and Fuller also showed that emotional characteristics could influence performance. A dog's response to an unfamiliar situation might affect its ability to demonstrate a behavior that it was otherwise capable of performing.

 

This distinction matters enormously in working-dog training. A dog that fails an exercise is not necessarily incapable of learning or performing it. The animal's motivation, emotional response, previous experience, and immediate circumstances may all influence the outcome.

 

The lesson is not that genetics are unimportant. Scott and Fuller found substantial hereditary influences. The lesson is that the relationship between genes and behavior is complicated, and environmental conditions can influence how inherited characteristics are expressed.

 

What Did the Russian Domesticated Fox Experiments Demonstrate?

 

The Russian silver fox experiments demonstrated that selectively breeding animals for their responses to humans can produce substantial behavioral changes over generations.

 

Beginning in the Soviet Union, geneticist Dmitry Belyaev and his colleagues selected foxes partly according to their willingness to approach humans and their relative lack of defensive responses. Over successive generations, the selected populations developed pronounced differences in their interactions with people.

 

The experiments are often presented as evidence that selecting animals for tameness can also produce changes in appearance, physiology, and development. However, there is an important scientific controversy.

 

A 2020 review by Kathryn Lord and colleagues examined the history of the fox populations and questioned whether some physical characteristics attributed to the experiment were already present in their fur-farm ancestors. The authors also challenged the idea that domestication necessarily produces a universal collection of physical and behavioral characteristics.

 

This criticism does not eliminate the importance of the behavioral selection results. Rather, it reminds us to distinguish what an experiment demonstrated from broader explanations subsequently attached to it. The fox research shows that inherited behavioral tendencies can respond to sustained selection. It does not establish that selecting for one characteristic will automatically produce every other characteristic we might want.

 

That distinction is directly relevant to military working dogs. Selecting for stronger pursuit behavior, for example, does not necessarily produce better environmental stability, handler cooperation, or reliable behavioral control. Those characteristics may have different genetic and developmental influences.

 

Can Scientists Actually Change Animal Behavior by Manipulating Genes?

 

Yes. Experiments involving several species demonstrate that changing genetic activity can alter behavior, sometimes dramatically.

 

·      In 1998, researchers Mario de Bono and Cornelia Bargmann studied the microscopic roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. They demonstrated that natural variation in a gene called npr-1 influenced whether worms tended to feed alone or aggregate with other worms. Experimental genetic changes could alter this feeding pattern. This was important because it established a direct connection between a particular genetic mechanism and an observable behavioral difference.

 

·      Research in fruit flies has also identified genes involved in courtship behavior, neural development, and other behavioral processes.

 

·      Experiments in mice have shown that modifying genes associated with neurotransmitter regulation can alter aggression-related responses and other behaviors.

 

But these experiments also demonstrate an important limitation. A gene rarely operates in complete isolation from the rest of an animal's biology.  Changing a gene associated with one behavior may also affect sensory processing, physiological regulation, development, or other behavioral characteristics. Scientists call this pleiotropy, meaning that a single gene can influence multiple traits. A genetic modification that produces a desirable result in one laboratory test may therefore have unintended consequences elsewhere. And a behavioral change demonstrated in a worm or mouse does not establish that the same intervention will produce a useful result in a dog.

 

The nervous system, developmental processes, and behavioral demands of a military working dog are considerably more complicated.

 

What Can CRISPR Genetic Engineering Actually Do?

 

CRISPR-based gene editing allows researchers to make targeted changes to DNA. Its potential is especially promising when scientists understand the biological function of the gene being modified.

 

For example, researchers have genetically modified pigs to resist porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, an important disease affecting swine. The virus depends on particular features of a cellular protein called CD163. By modifying the relevant genetic sequence, researchers produced pigs resistant to infection under experimental conditions.  This is a meaningful example of successful genetic engineering. The scientists were addressing a relatively well-defined biological mechanism. They knew something important about how the virus entered cells and could test whether the genetic modification interrupted that process.

 

Other research has demonstrated that seemingly similar edits can produce different results, reinforcing the need to validate the exact modification rather than assume that editing a particular gene guarantees the intended effect.

 

Now consider the difference between modifying a viral entry mechanism and attempting to produce a dog with exceptional courage, persistence, scent-detection ability, and cooperation with its handler. There is no established single gene for an exceptional military working dog. Complex behavioral characteristics generally involve numerous genes, interacting physiological systems, and developmental influences. CRISPR may eventually contribute to improvements in specific aspects of canine health or performance. But successful editing of DNA is not the same as successfully predicting the adult animal's behavior.

 

Can Cloning Reproduce an Exceptional Working Dog?

 

Cloning can reproduce much of an exceptional dog's genetic foundation, but it cannot reproduce the animal's entire developmental history or learned behavior.

 

Cloning has already been investigated in working dogs.

 

A study published in Behavior Genetics in 2014 examined seven puppies cloned from an elite drug-detection dog and compared them with four naturally bred control dogs. The researchers reported an 86% selection rate among the cloned dogs, compared with a reported 30% among naturally bred dogs. This is encouraging evidence for cloning technology. However, the study involved very small groups, and its findings cannot establish that cloning will produce the same results across different donors, working assignments, and training programs.

 

We also need to distinguish qualification for service from long-term operational performance. A dog that successfully completes a detection-dog training program may not necessarily demonstrate the same working longevity, health, or reliability as the animal from which it was cloned.

 

Cloning has also been used in horses, including animals valued for their athletic performance and breeding potential. But cloning a successful horse does not transfer the original animal's conditioning, training, experiences, or learned responses. The same applies to dogs.

 

A cloned dog does not inherit the original dog's memories. It must still develop, learn, mature, and interact with its environment.

 

Why Doesn't Identical DNA Guarantee Identical Behavior?

 

Identical or nearly identical nuclear DNA does not guarantee identical behavior because genes operate within developing biological systems that are influenced by environmental conditions.

 

Consider two puppies with essentially the same nuclear genetic makeup. They may develop in different surrogate mothers, experience different prenatal conditions, receive different maternal care, and encounter different environments after birth. Their experiences with people, other dogs, unfamiliar surfaces, noises, objects, and training may differ substantially. Those experiences can influence later behavior.

 

Epigenetics adds another dimension. Epigenetic processes regulate gene activity without necessarily changing the DNA sequence itself. Some epigenetic mechanisms are involved in normal development, while others may respond to environmental conditions. However, we should avoid assuming that every behavioral difference between genetically similar animals results from epigenetics.

 

Prenatal development, learning, random developmental variation, health, and numerous other processes can contribute. The specific role of persistent epigenetic changes in adult working-dog performance remains an area requiring additional research.

 

Scott and Fuller's findings are relevant here because they demonstrated that hereditary influences and developmental conditions must be considered together.

 

Can Genetic Testing Predict a Dog's Future Behavior?

 

Genetic information can help predict some behavioral tendencies, particularly at the population level, but predicting the behavior of an individual dog remains much more difficult.

 

A major study published in Science in 2022 examined behavioral information from more than 18,000 dogs and genetic information from more than 2,000. The researchers found that many behavioral characteristics were heritable. However, breed explained approximately 9% of individual behavioral variation in the population studied. This figure does not mean that genetics explains only 9% of behavior. It means that breed identity, by itself, was a limited predictor of an individual dog's behavior in that study.

 

We should also be careful about applying results from a broad population of companion dogs directly to highly selected working-dog lines. Purpose-bred populations may differ substantially in their genetic characteristics and behavioral distributions.

 

Research into working-dog breeding has shown that genomic information, pedigree analysis, and estimated breeding values may improve selection decisions. The important distinction is between improving the probability of producing desirable traits and guaranteeing that a particular puppy will possess them. The former is scientifically supported. The latter remains much more difficult.

 

Can Artificial Intelligence Calculate the Genetics of a Perfect Working Dog?

 

Artificial intelligence can analyze enormous quantities of genetic information, identify patterns that would be difficult for human researchers to recognize, and help breeders predict which combinations of dogs are more likely to produce desirable characteristics. However, having the mathematical ability to analyze millions of genetic variables is not the same as knowing precisely what those variables will produce in a living animal.

 

Recent research involving guide dogs demonstrates both the promise and limitations of this approach. A 2026 study of Labrador Retrievers found that incorporating genomic information improved predictions of inherited behavioral characteristics compared with pedigree information alone. Nevertheless, the predictions remained far from perfect. Another study involving more than 3,000 dogs found that previously proposed individual genetic markers were not reliable predictors of the behavioral traits examined.

 

We also need to consider the familiar bell curve. When breeders select animals for desirable characteristics, they may shift the average performance of future generations. More puppies may possess the characteristics necessary for demanding work. But improving the average does not eliminate individual variation. Puppies from carefully selected working lines still differ in motivation, environmental responses, learning, health, and eventual working ability.

 

Cloning changes part of that equation because cloned animals possess essentially the same nuclear genetic makeup. Yet research involving cloned dogs has documented differences among animals produced from the same donor. Other experiments have found greater behavioral consistency among clones than among control dogs. Both findings matter. Cloning may reduce some variation without eliminating it.

 

CRISPR technology introduces another possibility by allowing scientists to modify particular genetic sequences. This may be especially useful when a desirable outcome depends on a well-understood genetic mechanism. However, complex behavioral characteristics are influenced by numerous genes and their interactions with development and experience. Editing one or several genes does not establish that the resulting animal will possess the complete combination of abilities required for operational work.

 

This brings us back to Scott and Fuller. Their experiments demonstrated that inherited behavioral characteristics are important, but they also showed that environmental conditions and individual development influence how those characteristics are expressed.

 

AI may eventually help produce more healthy, capable working dogs and reduce the number that fail to qualify for service. That would be a meaningful achievement. But even an exceptionally sophisticated mathematical model cannot guarantee an outcome when many of the biological relationships it must calculate remain incompletely understood.

 

The realistic scientific objective is not necessarily to eliminate the bell curve. It is to improve the probability of producing dogs that meet demanding standards while preserving health, welfare, and genetic diversity.

 

Why Is Producing an Exceptional Working Dog So Complicated?

 

An exceptional working dog must possess more than one desirable characteristic, and those characteristics must function together.

 

Working-dog trainers often discuss prey drive, defense drive, pack drive, hunt behavior, persistence, environmental confidence, and handler responsiveness. These terms describe useful aspects of behavior, but they should not automatically be treated as separate genetic units.

 

Consider prey drive. In working-dog terminology, this can include orienting toward moving objects, pursuing, grabbing, maintaining possession, and engaging in related activities.

Those behaviors may involve different motivational, sensory, neurological, and learned processes. Likewise, what trainers describe as defense drive may involve several forms of defensive responding that differ according to context. Pack drive is another traditional working-dog term, often used to describe aspects of social affiliation and cooperation. It should not be confused with a single scientifically established genetic mechanism. 

 

A dog may possess intense motivation yet lack the behavioral flexibility needed to perform reliably. Another may show excellent environmental confidence but insufficient persistence for a demanding search assignment. A third may perform exceptionally well with one handler but respond differently when the handler, training conditions, or environment changes.

 

From my perspective as a dog trainer, the distinction is between possessing a desirable characteristic and being able to use it appropriately. High motivation is not the same thing as reliable performance. Nor is suppressing a dog's behavior necessarily evidence that the animal has learned to regulate its responses effectively.

 

A successful working dog must be able to engage in demanding activity while remaining responsive to relevant cues and changing circumstances. That combination cannot be reduced to a simple genetic label.

 

Could Better Genetics Still Improve Military Working Dogs?

 

Absolutely. Genetic technologies may offer substantial improvements without making behavior completely predictable.

 

One promising application is reducing the incidence of particular inherited diseases. Another is improving breeding decisions through genetic information combined with health records, pedigree analysis, and carefully measured behavioral performance. Cloning may also help preserve valuable genetic material from exceptional animals. These approaches could potentially improve the percentage of dogs that successfully complete training and remain healthy throughout their working lives. However, improvements should be evaluated against the complete breeding and training process.

 

Cloning, for example, involves reproductive procedures that can carry costs and animal-welfare concerns. A higher qualification rate among live-born cloned puppies would not, by itself, establish that the entire process is more efficient or beneficial. There are also questions about maintaining genetic diversity. Repeatedly reproducing a small number of exceptional genotypes could have advantages, but responsible breeding programs must consider long-term population health and the consequences of concentrating particular genetic characteristics.

 

The objective should not simply be producing more dogs that pass an initial test. It should be producing healthy animals capable of performing their intended assignments reliably and sustainably.

 

How Would We Know Whether Warhound's Approach Works?

 

The strongest evidence would come from independently evaluated outcomes across the complete lives of the dogs produced.

 

A meaningful evaluation would examine the proportion of dogs successfully qualifying for service, the reasons other dogs were disqualified, veterinary health, operational performance, working longevity, and animal welfare. It would also need to account for differences in breeding, early development, training, handlers, and assignment requirements.

 

Suppose a new breeding program achieves a substantially higher qualification rate than a conventional program. That would be encouraging. But the improvement might reflect better genetic selection, better veterinary care, improved developmental practices, more effective training, or some combination of these factors.

Without appropriate comparisons, we could not determine how much improvement came from genetic engineering itself.

 

This is why research design matters. The question is not simply whether a program produces exceptional dogs. It is whether the program produces better outcomes than reasonable alternatives, and whether those improvements can be reproduced consistently.

 

What Should We Conclude About the Future of Genetically Engineered Working Dogs?

 

Genetic engineering may improve the production of military working dogs, but current science does not establish that we can reliably design the complete behavioral profile of an exceptional operational animal.

 

The history of behavioral genetics provides good reasons for both optimism and caution. Scott and Fuller demonstrated that inherited differences matter, but also that environmental conditions and emotional characteristics influence performance. The Russian fox experiments showed that sustained selection can change behavioral tendencies across generations. Research involving worms, mice, livestock, and other animals has demonstrated that genetic manipulation can produce measurable biological and behavioral changes.

 

Cloning research has shown that valuable genotypes can be reproduced, sometimes with encouraging working-dog selection outcomes. And CRISPR has opened possibilities that earlier generations of geneticists could scarcely have imagined. But none of these findings establishes that we can assemble a collection of desirable genetic characteristics and reliably produce a fully trained, operationally successful dog.

 

Warhound's project may contribute important advances to canine genetics, veterinary medicine, breeding, and working-dog development. Its greatest contribution may ultimately be improving the probability of producing healthy, capable working dogs rather than making their individual performance completely predictable. For me, that is the most interesting possibility.

 

The science suggests that we should continue improving our understanding of genetics while giving equal attention to developmental biology, learning, motivation, health, and the environments in which dogs live and work.

 

We may become much better at producing the genetic potential for an exceptional working dog. But producing the exceptional working dog itself remains a much larger biological and developmental undertaking. I am very interested in how these experiments turn out.

 

Glossary

 

Behavioral genetics: The study of how genetic variation contributes to differences in behavior.

Cloning: Producing an organism with essentially the same nuclear genetic sequence as another organism, commonly through somatic cell nuclear transfer.

CRISPR: A family of technologies used to make targeted changes to genetic material.

Epigenetics: Processes that regulate gene activity without necessarily altering the underlying DNA sequence.

Genotype: An organism's genetic constitution, either generally or at specified genetic locations.

Phenotype: The observable characteristics of an organism, resulting from genetic, developmental, environmental, and other influences.

Heritability: A population-specific estimate of the proportion of variation in a measured trait statistically attributable to genetic differences under the conditions studied.

Polygenic trait: A characteristic influenced by numerous genetic variants.

Pleiotropy: The influence of a gene on more than one characteristic.

Genomic selection: Using genetic information to help predict breeding value and improve selection decisions.

Gene-environment interaction: A situation in which the effects of genetic differences depend on environmental conditions, or environmental effects depend on genotype.

Operational qualification: Meeting the standards established for a particular working assignment. Qualification does not necessarily establish long-term operational success.

 

Scholarly Bibliography

Bray, E. E., Otto, C. M., Udell, M. A. R., Hall, N. J., Johnston, A. M., & MacLean, E. L. (2021). Enhancing the selection and performance of working dogs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8, 644431. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.644431

Chen, F. L., Zimmermann, M., Hekman, J. P., Lord, K. A., Logan, B., Russenberger, J., Leighton, E. A., & Karlsson, E. K. (2021). Advancing genetic selection and behavioral genomics of working dogs through collaborative science. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8, 662429. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.662429

Choi, J., Lee, J. H., Oh, H. J., Kim, M. J., Kim, G. A., Park, E. J., Jo, Y. K., Lee, S. I., Hong, D. G., & Lee, B. C. (2014). Behavioral analysis of cloned puppies derived from an elite drug-detection dog. Behavior Genetics, 44(1), 68–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-013-9620-z

de Bono, M., & Bargmann, C. I. (1998). Natural variation in a neuropeptide Y receptor homolog modifies social behavior and food response in C. elegans. Cell, 94(5), 679–689. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81609-8

Lord, K. A., Larson, G., Coppinger, R. P., & Karlsson, E. K. (2020). The history of farm foxes undermines the animal domestication syndrome. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 35(2), 125–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2019.10.011

Morrill, K., et al. (2022). Ancestry-inclusive dog genomics challenges popular breed stereotypes. Science, 376(6592), eabk0639. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abk0639

Scott, J. P., & Fuller, J. L. (1965). Genetics and the social behavior of the dog. University of Chicago Press.

Whitworth, K. M., et al. (2016). Gene-edited pigs are protected from porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Nature Biotechnology, 34, 20–22. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3434

Company announcement and background reporting

Warhound. (2026, October 22). Warhound launches with $200 million to rebuild America's military working dog supply, using advanced genetics and defense technology. PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/warhound-launches-with-200-million-to-rebuild-americas-military-working-dog-supply-using-advanced-genetics-and-defense-technology-302917498.html