---
title: "New Study Uncovers Key Findings on Cognitive Aging in Dogs"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/931024d6-051e-436a-a233-aac8f7d08ead
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/news/20240924_new_study_uncovers_key_findings_on_cognitive_aging_in_dogs.html
category: "Pets"
industry: "Pets"
published: 2024-09-24T12:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T22:33:46.513Z
image: https://imgs.franchising.com/brands/social/dogtopia.jpg
---

# New Study Uncovers Key Findings on Cognitive Aging in Dogs

**TL;DR:** A new study by Dr. Evan MacLean and his team at the Arizona Cognition Center developed a novel set of pet-friendly tasks to measure spatial memory and social cognition in aging dogs. The study was funded by the Dogtopia Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of the Dog Aging Project.

*originally published in Franchising.com on 2024-09-24. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/news/20240924_new_study_uncovers_key_findings_on_cognitive_aging_in_dogs.html).*

## Story

PHOENIX, Ariz. – In a major advance for canine cognitive research, Dr.

Evan MacLean and his team at the Arizona Cognition Center, part of the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine, have developed a new assessment for monitoring health in aging dogs. Funded by the Dogtopia Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study offers critical insights into cognitive aging in dogs. The research was conducted as a part of the Dog Aging Project, a nationwide effort to understand the genetic and environmental determinants of healthy aging in dogs.

The study developed a novel set of pet-friendly tasks to measure spatial memory, executive function and social cognition with during the research experiments. Cognitive decline and dementia are increasingly recognized as important problems in dog aging, but have been difficult to study due to a lack of pet-friendly, objective measures of cognitive function. The newly developed tests will play an important role in studies testing interventions to prolong cognitive health and prevent dementia in dogs.

## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- Pets (sector)
- pet health (topic)
- Dogtopia Foundation (company)
- University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine (company)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) (regulator)
- Evan MacLean (person)
- Arizona Cognition Center (company)
- cognitive aging (topic)
- canine research (topic)

---
Originally reported by Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/news/20240924_new_study_uncovers_key_findings_on_cognitive_aging_in_dogs.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/931024d6-051e-436a-a233-aac8f7d08ead).