What is Kynology?
Kynology is an old-fashioned term for the study of dogs. Kynologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries concerned themselves with science– what the psychology, ethology, and biology of the time had to say about dogs– but they were not often scientists. The majority of kynologists were canine practitioners who devoted themselves to projects such as the preservation of historic breeds of dog, exhibiting dogs in beauty and conformation shows, and the training of dogs to serve practical purposes such as herding, hunting, or protection. These early kynologists were distinguished by their utter seriousness, and the fact that they considered themselves students of their dogs.
What are the Kynology Symposia?
The 21st-century Kynology Project began with Michael Ellis, Forrest Micke, and Stewart Hilliard, modern American kynologists who founded a series of what they called symposia at the Michael Ellis School in Santa Rosa California. Beginning with Kynology Symposium 1.0, these events blended behavioral science with practical demonstration and lively back-and-forth between instructors and participants in order to answer the questions– How do dog training systems work, and how do we decide what are the best systems?
What is the mission of Kynology.org?
Dr. Stewart Hilliard and Dr. Erin Jarvis stood up Kynology.org in Fall of 2025 in order to broaden the effort begun at Kynology Symposium 1.0. Their method is to collaborate with canine professionals from select canine training disciplines, examining each discipline’s technical problems and practical solutions through the lenses of comparative psychology, animal welfare science, stress science, ethics, and philosophy. Their mission is to help amateur and professional kynologists consider canine science and ethics more deeply, critically, and fruitfully; and to help make modern dog training methods more technically powerful, more efficient, and also kinder to dogs
