Watch Dogs Research Articles

The viewer doesn't always seem to care—response to fake animal rescues on YouTube and implications for social media self‐policing policies

Abstract Animal‐related content on social media is hugely popular but is not always appropriate in terms of how animals are portrayed or how they are treated. This has potential implications beyond the individual animals involved, for viewers, for wild animal populations, and for societies and their interactions with animals. Whilst social media platforms usually publish guidelines for permitted content, enforcement relies at least in part on viewers reporting inappropriate posts. Currently, there is no external regulation of social media platforms. Based on a set of 241 ‘fake animal rescue’ videos that exhibited clear signs of animal cruelty and strong evidence of being deliberately staged (i.e. fake), we found little evidence that viewers disliked the videos and an overall mixed response in terms of awareness of the fake nature of the videos, and their attitudes towards the welfare of the animals involved. Our findings suggest, firstly, that, despite the narrowly defined nature of the videos used in this case study, exposure rates can be extremely high (one of the videos had been viewed over 100 million times), and, secondly, that many YouTube viewers cannot identify (or are not concerned by) animal welfare or conservation issues within a social media context. In terms of the current policy approach of social media platforms, our findings raise questions regarding the value of their current reliance on consumers as watch dogs. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Crop raiding and livestock predation by wildlife in Khaptad National Park, Nepal

Crop raiding and livestock predation are major conservation problems throughout most protected areas in Nepal, including the Khaptad National Park (KNP). However, no information exists on the extent of crop raiding, livestock predation, and animal attacks among villages surrounding KNP. We conducted a survey of 304 households in 30 villages in four districts (Bajhang, Bajura, Doti, and Achham) in the buffer zone of KNP between 24 May and 20 June 2019, using the snowball sampling technique. All households experienced numerous major incidents of crop raiding between April 2017 and May 2019. Major wildlife involved were Wild Boar Sus scrofa, Himalayan Black Bear Ursus thibetanus, Rhesus Macaque Macaca mulatta, Barking Deer Muntiacus vaginalis, Common Leopard Panthera pardus, Golden Jackal Canis aureus, and Porcupine Hystrix spp. Of the 304 households, all had their crops raided over the past two years, 55.5% (n = 169) faced livestock predation, and 2% (n = 6) attacks resulting in death or injury. Over 40% of households reported taking mitigation measures to minimize crop raiding. Common measures such as night guarding, noise making, use of scarecrows, watch dogs, and fencing were practiced. More than half of respondents had negative opinions towards wildlife but they still believed that wildlife should be conserved. There was no or negligible correlation between general opinion of respondents towards wildlife and wildlife conservation with their education, sex, or involvement in natural resources management group. We established baseline information on crop raiding and livestock predation in villages surrounding KNP. Gathered information will be transmitted to relevant authorities to design and implement measures to mitigate such conflicts.

(Always) Playing the Camera: Cyborg Vision and Embodied Surveillance in Digital Games

As the increasingly ubiquitous field of surveillance has transformed how we interact with each other and the world around us, surveillance interactions with virtual others in virtual worlds have gone largely unnoticed. This article examines representations of digital games’ diegetic surveillance cameras and their relation to the player character and player. Building on a dataset of forty-one titles and in-depth analyses of two 2020 digital games that present embodied surveillance camera perspectives, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix 2020) and Watch Dogs: Legion (Ubisoft Toronto 2020), I demonstrate that the camera is crucial in how we organize, understand, and maneuver the fictional environment and its inhabitants. These digital games reveal how both surveillance power fantasies and their critique can coexist within a space of play. Moreover, digital games often present a perspective that blurs the boundaries between the physical and the technically mediated through a flattening of the player’s “camera” screen and in-game surveillance cameras. Embodied surveillance cameras in digital games make the camera metaphor explicit as an aesthetic, narrative, and mechanical preoccupation. We think and play with and through cameras, drawing attention to and problematizing the partial perspectives with which worlds are viewed. I propose the term cyborg vision to account for this simultaneously human and nonhuman vision that’s both pluralistic and situated and argue that, through cyborg vision, digital games offer an embodied experience of surveillance that’s going to be increasingly relevant in the future.

The Moral Service of Trans NPCs: Examining the Roles of Transgender Non-Player Characters in Role-Playing Video Games

Before 2020, no big-budget, mainstream video games featured playable transgender characters, relegating them instead to the role of non-player characters (NPCs). Through a textual analysis of Bioware’s 2014 title Dragon Age: Inquisition, Ubisoft’s 2016 Watch Dogs 2, and Naughty Dog’s 2020 The Last of Us Part II—three role-playing games that feature explicitly transgender NPCs—and a discourse analysis of media surrounding the games’ release, this paper examines the narrative roles afforded to transgender characters. Drawing from the “magical Negro” trope in film studies, I propose the term “magical transness” to describe the unique role of transgender supporting characters whose victimization provides the opportunity for cisgender protagonists to act heroically. This paper interrogates transgender representation and its relationship to media discourses about diversity and inclusion and discusses the political implications of transgender NPCs’ placement in roles of moral service.

Patient Zero, Parasite, Epidemic Agent

This research investigates the figure of the player as a pathogen agent able to impose a propagating form of homologation within the video game Watch Dogs: Legion (Ubisoft 2020). The study involves the analysis of the role of the player according to a multiple configuration: as patient zero, parasite, and epidemic agent. The role of the player is potentially expressed through his or her being a starting point of contagion, a parasite that raids the bodies of non-player characters (NPCs) and an epidemic agent—a potentially uncontrolled transmission medium. Watch Dogs: Legion is set in a totalitarian London of a hypothetical future in which the player can impersonate any NPC in the game world. Since this contagion effect is the fundamental mechanic of the experience, this paper shows how it is not the NPC to represent and be a subject to an idea of homologation but how it is the player who imposes a propagating form of homologation with his or her tastes, political, and social behaviours. Regarding the game narrative framework, it is possible to state that the totalitarian form implemented in the game design is addressed by the player across an epidemic process and expression. Compared to the trend of video games to homologate the player to ideologies and mechanics of the product, the analyzed text proposes an inverse process. The paper argues that as an epidemic agent, the player both generates and fights (as a network) a process of homologation, creating kindred avatars and tackling totalitarianism.

Legible Bodies and the Ghosts of American History: On Racialized Surveillance in Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs Videogames

This article reads Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs, a series of open-world videogames, through and against the entangled histories of race and surveillance in the United States. Drawing especially on recent research at the intersections of STS (science and technology studies) and CRT (critical race theory), several aspects of the videogames’ fictional world, game mechanics, plot, and visual and procedural representation are scrutinized. The first two Watch Dogs titles, I argue, both erase the realities of racializing surveillance in their conceptualization and simulation of a contemporary American surveillance society and prominently feature characters who embody the painful histories and the enduring present of racializing surveillance in the United States in several ways. These two opposing representations ultimately reproduce the racializing logics of contemporary digital surveillance as well as its lineage in American history in the ways that both whiteness and Blackness organize the operation of surveillance in the Watch Dogs franchise.

3D Model of Professionalism: Normative Examination of Journalistic professionalism

Journalistic professionalism in underdeveloped countries seems not up to the mark. Journalists are considered as the watch dogs of the society and are responsible for bringing good to the society with the content they are filing. Despite code of conduct being there, no governing body is there to monitor the situation as per ethical grounds. This study investigates the Normative dimension, one of the three dimensions offered by Singer in his model of professionalism. Qualitative analysis of media content (N=348) and interviews of working journalists is done in this study. Open and axial coding method is used to generate codes/themes, and results show that journalists should abide by the code of ethics, achieve truthfulness and should be able to maintain balance in the stories and lastly as a service to the society, should file the content which is faculty correct and may not harm the audience.
 Key Words: Professionalism, Journalism, 3D Model of Professionalism, Qualitative Research, Content Analysis, Interviews

Violence, Oppression and Injustice in the Drama of Niger Delta: Tess Onwueme and Ahmed Yerima

Oppression begets violence. Violence is a reaction by people who are exploited, abused, oppressed or worst still unrecognized. Niger Delta; people of South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria are vulnerable and deterred by threats and exploitation from the hands of the Federal Government and foreign investors because of the large deposit of oil in their lands, which generate if not all the nation‟s revenue. Part of their dilemma is deception and betrayal from their fellow victims. Perhaps the complexity of oppression and the gross injustice is that the oil resources are obtained and managed by people from other regions to the utter neglect and detriment of the land owners who suffer the ecological problems of the land, air and water degradation as a result of pollution arising from oil spillage. This treatise presents Tess Onwueme and Ahmed Yerima as watch dogs and the prophets of the people. They utilize drama to represent actions, attitudes in the society using variety of props, verbal and non-verbal devices to convey the violence, oppression and injustice to the public. It is a clamour of agitation for human rights and resource control.

Y-a-t-il une ville pour définir Ubisoft ? Enjeux poétiques et philosophiques d'un monde de l'action.

A partir d'une réflexion préliminaire autour de la mimêsis aristotélicienne, commentée principalement par le philosophe Paul Ricoeur, nous nous intéressons à la représentation de la ville dans Watch Dogs et la place que se donne le héros, en tant que force autoritaire instituant son changement. Nous reprenons la définition de mise en intrigue, le mythos d'Aristote, afin élargissant son champ de réflexion à ce que nous appelons une mise en intrigue de l'objet, en tant que récepteur et créateur des actions des personnages. Cette configuration par les lieux participe de signifier autrement afin de dégager le sens de l'oeuvre. 
 En reconfigurant (mimêsis) ville et héros, Ubisoft en présente une matière apparente et des vérités métaphoriques qui doivent permettre de réinterroger notre réel et de rédéfinir, ainsi, la place même de la poésie.

5V’s of Big Data Attributes and their Relevance and Importance across Domains

“Data is an ocean of Universal Facts”. Big data once an emergent technology of study is in its prime with immense potential for future technological advancements. A formal study in the attributes of data is essential to build robust systems of the future. Data scientists need a basic foot hold when studying data systems and their applications in various domains. This paper intends to be THE go-to resource for every student and professional desirous to make an entry in the field of Big Data. This paper has two focus areas. The first area of focus is the detailing of the 5 V attributes of data i.e. Volume, Variety, Velocity, Veracity and Value. Secondly, we will endeavor to present a domain wise independent as well as comparative of the correlation between the 5 V’s of Big Data. We have researched and collected information from various market watch dogs and concluded by carrying out comparatives which are highlighted in this publication. The domains we will mention are Wholesale Trade Domain, Retail Domain, Utilities Domain, Education Domain, Transportation Domain, Banking and Securities Domain, Communication and Media Domain, Manufacturing Domain, Government Domain, Healthcare Domain, etc. This is invaluable information for Big Data system designers as well as future researchers.

Brian Hodgson's Tibetan Mastiffs: twice presented to the Zoological Society of London

In November 1828, King George IV presented to the menagerie of the Zoological Society of London a pair of Tibetan Mastiffs (Canis lupus familiaris) sent from Nepal by Brian Houghton Hodgson, the Assistant Resident at the British Residency in Kathmandu. The dogs' stay was brief: within weeks of their arrival, both dogs had succumbed to distemper, a disorder which periodically ran rampant through the Society's collections. However, during their short lives they caught the imagination of those naturalists fortunate enough to see them, and they live on in a number of watercolours commissioned by Hodgson before they started on their journey to Britain. This paper traces the brief existence of the “Thibet watch dogs” in London, paying close attention to their intended and abortive use as a gift to gain favour with the King, and places their portraits within the wider context of Hodgson's work in Nepal.

Virtual Anti-racism: Pleasure, Catharsis, and Hope in Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2

This essay examines the representation and consumption of Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2 as a site of catharsis, pleasure, and empowerment. Through not only its representation of white supremacy but its rendering of intervention and transformation as violence, Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2 offer a powerful inscription of gratification. In other words, offering both a space of oppositional gaze and a virtual reality invested in challenging gaze based in violence, Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2 reimagine the conventions of both video games and violence.

Corrupt Practices and Government Delivery of Educational Services in Cross River State, Nigeria

Saying that corrupt practices are diverse and pervasive in Nigeria is a fact that needs no emphasis. Corruption has proven to be the bane of socio-political cum economic development in Nigeria. Do corrupt practices (embezzlement, misappropriation and favouritism) significantly predict government provision of educational services? To solve this puzzle, the study sought to determine the predictive relationship between the three identified corrupt practices and government delivery of educational services in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study was based on a single null hypothesis. Literatures were sourced from both primary and secondary means, and reviewed and analysed accordingly. A Focused Group Interview (FGI), Corrupt Practices Questionnaires (CPQ) and Government Delivery of Educational Services Questionnaire (GDESQ) were employed to obtain primary data for the study. Data were analysed using Multiple Regression Analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Finding indicated a significant composite relationship between the predictor-variables (embezzlement, misappropriation and favouritism) and the dependent variable. An examination of the individual predictor’s predictive ability or relationship shows that while embezzlement and misappropriation have a significant negative relationship with the dependent variable, favouritism was found to be of no significant influence on the dependent variable. The interviewees were not divergent in their opinion on the impact of misappropriation before embezzlement on the government budgetary allocation for educational service provisions. Accordingly, it was recommended that institutional corruption watch dogs direct their search light to the educational sector, where wanton acts of corruption are perpetrated.

CONNECTING BRIDGES THROUGH THEATRICAL DESIGN: AN EXAMINATION OF “ASIRI NLA” IN PERFORMANCE

The theatre provides an avenue for the expression of very salient and topical issues about a people through the presentation of performances. These performances, which are often in form of plays, are always created by playwrights and that is why playwrights are said to be the watch dogs of the society because their works x-ray past and present situations while proffering solutions for the future. However, the theatre is a composite art which involves the collaboration of many creative artists: Playwright, Director, Stage Manager, Actor(s), Designer(s), amongst others. The designer(s) are the creative artists that interpret the play in visual terms. Their creativity gives a better understanding to the play in performance as the dramatic piece is given further expressions through the actors‟ costumes, properties, lighting and scenery. This essay will interrogated the use of costume and set design in bridging ethnic divides using a Workshop performance of “Asiri Nla” as performed by students of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka at the Arts Theatre. The study found that through an effective set design and appropriate use of costumes that the production was able to unite different peoples under one roof without acrimony thus, it recommended at the effectiveness of design in theatrical productions is a sure way of enhancing national integration.

Calendar Anomalies:Before and After the Global Financial Crisis in Emerging BRIC Stock Markets

The legal and operational changes in the capital market operation of BRIC nations and availability of information at low cost and some time with no cost influenced the efficiency of capital market in the recent past. In order to identify the calendar anomalies, the present study examine the day of the week effect in the developing stock market of BRIC. The study period has been classified into three sub-periods as pre-financial crisis period (i.e., 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2007), during the financial crisis (1st January 2008 to 31st December 2009) and post financial crisis period (1st January 2010 to 31st December 2016). The dummy variable regression result evidenced that after the financial crisis period BRIC capital markets reached the efficient stage where day of the week trading rules lose the ground to earn the abnormal return. This can be attributed to recent changes in the capital market regulations and strict vigilance of the stock market watch dogs in these countries.

Social literature in design rhetoric : 6 party talks and 3 european watch dogs (young bull dogs, uk, france, germany) and the social cultural landmark heritages in design convergeance

한반도 6자 회담국(6 party talks) 과 유럽의 대표적 국가인 영 불 독(3 watch dogs young bull dogs)은 그 찬란하고 역사성 깊은 국가적 탄생을 배경으로 도시환경 디자인의 역사적 교훈을 통하여 우리에게 허용되는(accept) 반면교사적 거울을 제공한다. 이 주장은 그림 없는 즉, 이미지의 제공이 없는 디자인의 조형적 수사학(rhetoric) 을 도구(tool) 로 그 6자회담 국과 영불독의 3개국 사회문화 유산을 인문학적으로 묘사하고 그 특징을 논조의 단초로 다학제적 접근 방식으로 제공한다.BR영불독 (young bull dog) 유럽의 주요 3 국은 경비견(watch dog)의 역할을 수용하며 한반도의 지정학적 안정에 기여한다.BR따라서 본 본 논문은 한반도 6자 회담 국과 유럽의 주요 3국의 인문사회학적 논리로 표현하고, 이를 조형적 수사학을 통하여 해석하여 우리의 사회문화적 유산과 민주주의의 발전에 어떻게 기여했는가에 대한 인문사회 문화적 가치의 다학제적 디자인연구이다. 문화는 인간이 창출한다. 그러므로 디자인의 분야에서 이미지 없이 사회문화적 해석을 시도하는 것이 새로운 논문의 형태가 될 수 있도록 노력하고자 하는 논자의 시도이다. 일부는 논조가 지정학적 편에서 서술되고 있으나 이를 조형언어를 통하여 환경디자인의 지정학적 논조를 설명하고, 사회문화적 배경의 근간이 되는 예술분야를 어떻게 수사학으로 추론한 가에 대한 설명을 본 논문은 시도하였다.BR연구결과 및 내용은 다음과 같다.BR한반도 6자 회담국 또는 유럽의 3국 영, 불, 독은 우리 디자이너들에게 간과할 수 없는 문화적 교훈을 제시하고 있다.BR여기서 창출된 문화는 사회 구성원의 ‘삶의 질’을 결정하기에 이를 검증할 수 있는 융합적 연구가 필요하며, 인간이 창출할 수 있는 문화는 인류에게 있어, 아름다움과 함께 진리에 가까이 있는, 유형의 주제(sujet)이며 무형의 오브제(objet)임이 확인되었다. 또한 오브제적인 형식을 통하여 찬란한 문화의 주제를 표현하는 것은 조형예술(plastic art)의 수사학 덕분이라 규정할 수 있으며 이를 통하여 디자이너들이 논리적 조형 수사학을 더욱 발전시키고 디자인의 조형적, 사회문화적 유산을 피력하여 디자인의 인문사회학적인 시너지 효과와 발전을 유도할 수 있다.

Empowerment or exploitation: the case of women employment system in India's textile and clothing industry

Subject area Governance challenges in reverse value chain. Study level/applicability Women employment system in textile and clothing industry. Case overview The textile and clothing firms, often frustrated by frequent labor issues, used an innovative employment scheme – Sumangali scheme – to employ young female workers from poor families in rural areas, aged between 18 and 25 years, as apprentices for three years who would stay in dormitories located in the vicinity of the factories, draw low wages with minimum benefits. But the scheme was criticized by labor unions and Europe- and US-based non-governmental organization (NGOs) on the grounds of alleged violation of labor rights such as freedom of association, freedom of movement, exploitative working conditions, low wages with minimum or no benefits, long working hours and abusive supervisors. Their public campaign against the alleged employment practices has put tremendous pressure on the global buyers to take steps to ameliorate the situation. In the wake of campaign by NGOs, few buyers have even terminated the relationship with the manufacturers. Others have warned action against those erring manufacturers. The actions by global buyers, NGOs against some of the women employment practices raised several questions in the minds of manufacturers. They were wondering why US- and Europe-based NGOs were up in arms to dump an employment scheme unmindful of socio-economic realities in India? Is it a clever ploy that developed nations use some private, voluntary, corporate social responsibility norms to stop companies purchasing textile and clothing products from a developing country like India on the grounds of violation of labor rights? As per the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 81, it is the responsibility of central/state governments to inspect and monitor labor employment practices in an industry. Then why NGOs and other private groups volunteer to become watch dogs of labor practices and launch campaigns against mills? Would it not undermine the role of government in ensuring industrial harmony? Even if NGOs' actions are justified on the grounds of moral and ethical principles, what role should they play when it comes to management–worker relationship? In the Indian context, only the government can interfere if the relationship turns sour? Should NGOs need to use a different set of ethical standards which are more relevant and contextual to the socio-economic environment in India? Expected learning outcomes To understand evolution of apparel global value chain and workforce development challenges in India; to explore the link between consumer activism and corporate social responsibility; to explore the challenge of addressing issues such as alleged human rights violation and labor exploitation by independent suppliers located in India; to explore the challenges faced by global buyers in contextualizing, operationalizing and realizing certain human rights along the supply chain located in India; and to explore sustainability challenges of women employment in textile and clothing mills in India. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Social implications Sustenance of women employment system in India's textile and clothing industry and its associated challenges.

Game Studies meets Surveillance Studies at the Edge of Digital Culture: An Introduction to a special issue on Surveillance, Games and Play

While we could attribute the close ties between surveillance and video games to their shared military roots, in this editorial we argue that the relationship goes much deeper to that. Even non-digital games such as chess require a mode of watchfulness: an attention to each piece in relation to the past, present, and future; a drive to predict an opponent’s movements; and, a distillation of the player-subject into a knowable finite range of possible actions defined by the rules. Games are social sorting, disciplinary, social control machines.In this introduction we tease apart some of the intersections of games and surveillance, beginning with a discussion of the NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden on using games to both monitor and influence unsuspecting populations. Next, we provide an overview of corporate data-gathering practices in games and further outline the production of manageable, computable subjectivities. Then, we show how the game Watch Dogs explores the surveillant capacities of games at both the game mechanical and representational scales. These three different facets of surveillance, games, and play set the scene for the special issue and the diverse articles that follow. In the following pages we pose new lines of questioning that highlight the nuances of play and offer new modes of thinking about what games - and the processes of watching and being watched that are a foundational part of the experience – can tell us about surveillance.

특수 목적견으로서의 품성 및 능력 관련 유전자들에 관한 생물정보학적 분석

특수 목적견(구조견, 군견, 안내견 및 탐지견)은 집중력, 소유욕, 대담성 등을 기반으로 한 훈련시험을 통해 선별된다. 최근 특수견으로서의 특수한 능력 및 품성에 대해 유전적인 정보가 중요한 인자로 다뤄지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 특수견으로서의 개의 특수한 능력 및 품성과 관련된 유전자들의 분자적인 특징을 고찰하고자 하였다. 이전 연구에서 보고된 24개의 유전자(AR, BDNF, DAT, DBH, DGCR2, DRD4, MAOA, MAOB, SLC6A4, TH, TPH2, IFT88, KCNA3, TBR2, TRKB, ACE, GNB1, MSTN, PLCL1, SLC25A22, WFIKKN2, APOE, GRIN2B, PIK3CG)를 선택하여 품성, 후각, 운동 및 학습능력 관련 유전자, 네 가지 카테고리로 분류하였다. 본 연구에서는 생물학적인 기법을 이용하여 이 유전자들의 염색체상의 위치, 유전자들 간의 네트워크를 통한 상호관계를 조사하였으며, 어떤 생물학적 기능과 관련이 있는지 Gene Ontology 분석과 데이터베이스를 기반으로 in silico 발현 양상을 살펴보았다. 또한 이전 연구를 통하여 품성 관련 유전자들의 다양한 유전적 다형성에 대한 보고를 조사하였다. 본 연구는 특수 견으로서 주요하게 고려되는 개의 고유한 능력 및 품성 관련된 유전자에 대해 분자적 특징을 제시하고 있다. 이 후보 유전자들은 개의 특수한 표현형과의 관계를 밝힐 수 있는 연구의 기초자료로서 이용될 수 있을 뿐만 아니라 핵심적인 유전인자로 응용되어 신속하고 정확한 특수견 선발에 기여할 수 있을 것으로 전망된다. Working dogs, such as rescue dogs, military watch dogs, guide dogs, and search dogs, are selected by in-training examination of desired traits, including concentration, possessiveness, and boldness. In recent years, genetic information has been considered to be an important factor for the outstanding abilities of working dogs. To characterize the molecular features of the canine genes related to phenotypes for working dogs, we investigated the 24 previously reported genes (AR, BDNF, DAT, DBH, DGCR2, DRD4, MAOA, MAOB, SLC6A4, TH, TPH2, IFT88, KCNA3, TBR2, TRKB, ACE, GNB1, MSTN, PLCL1, SLC25A22, WFIKKN2, APOE, GRIN2B, and PIK3CG) that were categorized to personality, olfactory sense, and athletic/learning ability. We analyzed the chromosomal location, gene-gene interactions, Gene Ontology, and expression patterns of these genes using bioinformatic tools. In addition, variable numbers of tandem repeat (VNTR) or microsatellite (MS) polymorphism in the AR, MAOA, MAOB, TH, DAT, DBH, and DRD4 genes were reviewed. Taken together, we suggest that the genetic background of the canine genes associated with various working dog behaviors and skill performance attributes could be used for proper selection of superior working dogs.

Genetic structure and variability of the working dog inferred from microsatellite marker analysis

Working dogs serve as military watch dogs, search dogs, rescue dogs, and guide dogs with un-come-at-able character. They are drafted by in-training examination including concentration, capacity for locomotion, boldness and earthly desires. In this study, genetic diversity and relationships among two groups of working dogs (pass and fail group in-training examination) were assessed based on 15 microsatellite markers in 25 individuals of working dogs (military watch dogs and Korean search dogs). For the 15 microsatellite markers, the values of allelic richness (A R ) ranged from 2.21 (pass group) to 1.60 (fail group) in military watch dogs, while A R ranged from 2.79 (pass group) to 2.72 (fail group) in Korean search dogs. Among 52 different alleles of military watch dogs, 22 alleles were detected in pass group only, while 8 alleles in fail group only. In case of Korean search dogs, 3 alleles were observed in pass group only, while 13 alleles in fail group only. These group-specific unique alleles reflect good biomarker for selecting working dogs (military watch dogs and Korean search dogs), indicating that those group specific microsatellite alleles could separate working dogs to be pass or fail group in out-training dog population. Taken together, this study demonstrates the feasibility of microsatellite analyses for the selection of superior working dogs objectively. Furthermore, this approach could be used for the proper selection of working dogs in combination with in-training examination.