Julia Espinosa
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jespinosa.bsky.social
Julia Espinosa
@jespinosa.bsky.social
1K followers 570 following 31 posts
Postdoc in comparative psychology, biology, & neuroscience @YorkU & @Harvard | Interested in individual differences and life experiences shaping canine social behaviour | #ManyDogs Founder & Co-Director | My job is just dog 🐶 | she/her/ella #LatinaInSTEM
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jespinosa.bsky.social
Absolutely. There is zero tolerance for inaccurate reporting and spreading falsehoods about dogs.
October 5, 2025 at 3:25 PM
jespinosa.bsky.social
Here are our graphs showing impact of adversity by breed. We found zero evidence that pit-bull types were more impacted by adversity than other breeds, and when it came to baseline aggressive and fearful behaviour? Look at that, solidly in the middle of the pack #CanineScience 🧪 #Boom #TheEnd 4/4
Dumbbell graph showing the impact of early life adversity by individual breed on aggressive behaviour. Permutation testing and linear regression found that there were significant effects of early life adversity for some breeds, including American Eskimo Dog. You know which breed isn't impacted in our study? Pibbles. They're not even close to the most aggressive dog listed. So knock it off and let them be. Dumbbell graph showing the impact of early life adversity by individual breed on fearful behaviour. Permutation testing and linear regression found that there were significant effects of early life adversity for some breeds, including American Eskimo Dog. You know which breed isn't impacted in our study? Pibbles. They're not even close to the most aggressive dog listed. So, knock it off and let them be.
October 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
jespinosa.bsky.social
I really appreciate media coverage of our research, truly, it's huge for an #ECR like me on the job market. But don't get it twisted. The dogs don't deserve that #NotTodaySatan #DogIsLove #FactsNotFiction 3/n
October 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
jespinosa.bsky.social
Despite no good evidence, pit-bull types are frequently characterized as aggressive and dangerous. This false narrative contributes to breed-specific laws which cause relinquishments and euthanasia, and don't actually reduce serious dog bites in society 2/n #BreedSpecificLegislation #CanineScience
a black and white dog is looking at the camera with the words `` what '' written on it .
Alt: a black and white pitty looking dog is looking at the camera with the words `` what '' written on it.
media.tenor.com
October 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
jespinosa.bsky.social
Thank you! I like it not least because it's called a dumbbell graph 🏋️😅🙌
October 2, 2025 at 8:50 PM
jespinosa.bsky.social
This is the first paper from my postdoc with @erinhecht.bsky.social and the Canine Brains Project, check out their ongoing research: sites.harvard.edu/caninebrains...
#CanineScience
Home
Come visit! Are you considering visiting Harvard with your pup to contribute to canine science? Watch our introductory video for a sneak peak at our lab. Travel costs to Boston may be provided for dog...
sites.harvard.edu
October 2, 2025 at 8:34 PM
jespinosa.bsky.social
That's not all! Obvi, nurture doesn't tell the whole story of why dogs develop certain behaviour. We also found that the impact of trauma varied across dog breeds, suggesting that there is a genetic factor for risk or resilience to stress.
#NatureAndNurture #Genes&Environment #IndividualDifferences
Barbell plot summarizing the difference in average aggressive behaviour scores (X axis) for two groups of dogs within the same breed (Y axis). Group 1 (blue dots) are average scores for dogs without a history of early life adversity and Group 2 (red dots) are average scores for dogs of the same breed with a history of early life adversity in the first 6 months. Generally, breeds show a trend towards higher aggression scores for dogs with a history of adversity (i.e., the red dot is to the right of the blue dot), while a few breeds show the opposite trend. None of the instances where dogs with adversity scored lower than those without were significantly different. Dot size represents the number of dogs in the group, with Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers being among the most numerous, while English Shepherds were fewer. Significant differences in aggression scores between dogs with and without adversity are noted by carets next to breed names, including Siberian Husky, American Leopard Hound, and American Eskimo Dog.
October 2, 2025 at 8:22 PM
jespinosa.bsky.social
Also! Tippy tappy your way on over to the MD website to read about the study in more detail and check out our pre-registration of the method: manydogsproject.github.io/manydogs2.html
a brown and white corgi dog is standing on top of a lush green field .
Alt: a red and white corgi dog with forward pricked ears and open mouth with loose tongue is doing a rapid weight change between their front paws on top of a lush green field. This behavior is also known colloquially as tippy-tappies and is generally considered an indicator of positive excitement and anticipation in the dog.
media.tenor.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:33 PM
jespinosa.bsky.social
Like other studies, we found individual differences also matter for dog behaviour! Older age, smaller body size, and living with other dogs or children were associated with increased aggression and fear scores. We also found that some breeds seemed to be more impacted by stress than others 😓🐶
Image of a young human with short brown hair with their arms wrapped tightly around the neck of a light yellow, medium coated dog with dark brown eyes.
May 19, 2025 at 6:01 PM