“Thus, dog breed is generally a poor predictor of individual behavior and should not be used to inform decisions relating to selection of a pet dog.”
I generally find it annoying that, failing any real evidence of genetic causes of human behavior, people (including behavioral genetic scientists), point to dog breeds to demonstrate some validity to the concept, since dog “behavior” is even more subjective than for humans and is based on the dog’s owner’s opinions, and people can be influenced by breed perceptions. Moreover, the variability in size and build of dogs could have an influence on the behavior.
It appears, however, according to this study, that a lot of claimed breed characteristics are myths. As anyone who has owned more than one dog of the same breed can attest, dogs, like humans, have their own personalities.
Hey Doc-quick question: a family with three young (<8 yr old) children would like to take in a rescue dog. There are two dogs at the shelter, one a golden retriever, the other a pitbull. Let's say we have breeder certificates for both. Which dog would the family be better off with?
ReplyDeleteDepends on the individual dog, don’t you think? I understand you are trying to get me to say the Retriever would be better, as some kind of trap question, but, in my experience, dog breed doesn’t tell you a lot about the disposition of an individual dog. It is also depends on how they were treated prior to the rescue situation.
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