Working dogs could now benefit from the same approach.

A Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and Meat and Livestock Australia-funded study has identified and mapped the genetic traits that aim to improve the accuracy of breeding high-performing working dogs.

University of Sydney veterinary researchers carried out the study by using DNA analysis to reveal some gene-behaviour associations.

The research showed many of the traits working dog breeders and handlers valued, such as trainability and boldness with stock, have strongly inherited components.

These heritability estimates indicate the expected effectiveness of a selective breeding program and can be used to generate EBVs, helping breeders to better select breeding dogs and identify kennels that have similar breeding goals to their own.

The study discovered the traits that clustered most strongly together in working dogs were intelligence, calmness, patience and trainability.

In addition to the identification of key genetic traits, the study also calculated an estimation of the economic worth of the working dog, and this revealed a five-fold return on investment.

The dogs' economic worth was calculated by estimating the costs associated with acquiring, training and maintaining them, and an estimate of the work they typically performed over a lifetime.

Lead researcher Professor Paul McGreevy said the research had paved the way for a robust and objective system of selection and breeding to be developed and put in place.

"Optimising dog performance requires that we understand husbandry, training and management techniques," he said.

"This study did that by revealing management factors and handler attributes that relate to the success of dogs in the workplace."

The study identified the working behaviours of most value to farmers, and found owners were generally good assessors of the ability of their own dogs' core attributes.

Preliminary results suggested that yard trial scores reflect important aspects of work performance, are useful in understanding dog's efficiency in yard work and suggest that high-scoring dogs might actually cause less stress to sheep.

Valuable behavioural phenotypes in Australian farm dogs can be downloaded free from https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/15-081