Dr. Jenny Essler: Talking Monkeys, Dogs, and Wolves and Their Understanding of Inequity (Pt. 1)

Robin Greubel
12 hours ago
2 min read

What to listen for:

“My pet project has always been to take what you guys as professionals see in dogs, and your ability to accurately assess them, and write it down and put it into numbers and words.”

Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, sit down with canine cognition researcher Dr. Jennifer Essler. She unpacks her journey from coding Capuchin monkey videos in a windowless lab to studying fairness in wolves and dogs.

Starting with music studies before discovering comparative psychology, Essler's academic trajectory took her from Georgia State's primate labs to hand-raised wolf packs in Vienna's Wolf Science Center.

It’s a unique research environment that controls for lifestyle differences between wolves and dogs by raising both species identically in packs. As a result, you can isolate domestication effects from environmental variables. The wolves, however, proved far more challenging subjects than primates, requiring complete experimental apparatus redesigns after initial safety failures.

Her inequity aversion research uncovered pretty interesting species differences: wolves, like primates, showed quality sensitivity by refusing to work when partners received superior rewards.

Dogs, conversely, accepted any reward as long as they received something, possibly reflecting their domestication-driven tolerance for human-directed work, or their reduced attention to partner outcomes.

Robin, Stacy, and Dr. Essler discuss the practical implications this finding has for multi-dog training scenarios and reinforcement strategies.

Essler's transition to Penn Vet Working Dog Center brought her expertise to practical applications: ovarian cancer detection, COVID-19 screening, and spotted lanternfly detection. All while developing behavioral assessment batteries.

Now at SUNY Cobleskill, she's building a canine detection curriculum that bridges academic rigor with field practicality. She believes in contextual thinking over rigid hierarchies, and loves to teach students that vessel selection depends on application: glass jars excel for research but prove impractical for field deployment.

Don’t miss the next episode of K9 Detection Collaborative for part two of this fascinating conversation!

Key Topics:

● Academic Journey from Primates to Canines (03:04)

● Wolf Science Center Research Design (05:45)

● Pack Living Challenges: Dogs vs. Wolves (08:12)

● Impossible Task Apparatus and Behavioral Flexibility (16:14)

● SUNY Cobleskill Teaching and Detection Class (19:33)

● Glow Germ Contamination Training Exercise (27:13)

● 3D Printed Vessels and Odor Considerations (31:18)

● Inequity Aversion: Dogs vs. Wolves vs. Primates (41:39)

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