Researchers at Virginia Tech and the University of Washington analyzed owner-reported behavior from 47,000 dogs between 2020 and 2023 to assess whether the COVID-19 pandemic altered canine behavior.

The work, conducted through the Dog Aging Project, drew data from dogs in every region of the United States and spanned animals from puppies to seniors. Nearly half of the cohort were mixed-breed dogs and the remainder single breeds, giving researchers a large, diverse sample for tracking behavioral trends as changes in human behavior during the pandemic. Changes in human routines, such as spending more time at home and altered work schedules, led to increased human–animal interaction, influencing both positive and negative behavior changes in pets, including greater calmness and playfulness.

The study’s most striking finding was restraint: overall behavioral profiles did not show large year-to-year changes across the pandemic period. “Interestingly, we found that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic time period, there were not substantial changes in dogs’ overall behavioral profiles from year to year despite what we might have expected given the changes in environment and routines that many were experiencing at that time,” said Courtney Sexton, lead researcher at Virginia Tech. In contrast, a peer-reviewed study from the first COVID-19 lockdown noted that around one-third of dog owners (approximately 35%) reported behavioral changes in their pets, while a significant majority observed no change.

Sexton framed the work as an opening for longer-term study rather than a final verdict. “Most importantly, with these data, we’re excited to now have a starting point from which we can continue to follow changes in the behaviors of tens of thousands of dogs as they age, which will ultimately help us understand how behavior and health are linked,” she said.

The analysis covered the period from 2020 to 2023 (four intake years) and focused on owner reports collected by the Dog Aging Project, a research project that tracks the lives and health of dogs across the United States. The project’s longitudinal design allowed investigators to compare averaged behavioral measures across successive years rather than relying on a single snapshot.

Within that framework, Sexton and colleagues identified finer-grained shifts in certain traits. She noted a particularly small change in reported trainability between the first and last year of the study, calling that difference “the smallest of any in the averages.” “It’s a small statistical significance but could show that dogs, or their owners, are bouncing back,” Sexton added. To facilitate this transition, experts recommend effective training methods that involve reward-based techniques and mentally stimulating activities can be crucial in helping dogs adjust to changes.

Those comments point to the study’s cautious interpretation of small effects amid a large dataset. The sample’s breadth — including animals of varying ages and a wide mix of breeds — helped the team separate population-level trends from isolated experiences reported by individual owners.

Researchers emphasized that dogs often mirror household life, and shifts in their routines can reflect broader changes in human behavior. The study’s authors observed that sudden behavioral changes can signal health or welfare concerns for individual animals, underscoring the value of longitudinal monitoring for both research and veterinary care. Training methods that involve reward-based techniques and mentally stimulating activities can be crucial in helping dogs adjust to changes.

The findings add to a growing body of work on pandemic impacts for pets. Reporting on the analysis and its conclusions is available from outlets such as Earth, which summarized the study’s principal observations.

As the Dog Aging Project continues to collect data, the research team plans to follow the same cohort to chart how behavior and health interact as dogs move through life stages. Sexton’s team at Virginia Tech and collaborators at the University of Washington will use future waves of owner reports to refine understanding of small but potentially meaningful shifts detected across the pandemic years.

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Original reporting: view the original article.