Dog's personality not shaped by breed. They're well known stereotypes : Rottweilers and Pit bulls are aggressive while Labradors, golden retrievers are extra friendly. But can a dog's breed predict its behaviour? A new study questions such stereotypes.
A Complex Study
Because existing stereotypes are so powerful, the team designed their questionnaires to account for owners' bias. They established standard definitions for reporting traits such as :-
* Biddability (dog response to human direction).
* Dog-human sociability (how comfortable dogs are with people, including strangers)
* Toy-directed motor patterns (how interested they are in toys).
Breed Explained Just 9% Variations
Researchers found 11 locations on the dog genome associated with behaviour differences, including biddability, retrieving, pointing at a target and howling. Among these behaviours, breed did play some role - for example, beagles and bloodhounds tend to howl more, border collies are biddable and Shiba Inus are far less so.
However, There Were Always Exceptions to the Rule. For Example :-
* Though Labs had the lowest propensity for howling, 8% still did.
* While about 90% of greyhounds didn't bury their toys, 3% did frequently.
Overall, researchers found that breed explained just 9% of variation in behaviour, with age a better predictor of some traits, like toy play. Physical traits, however, were five times more likely to be predicted by breed than behaviour was.
2,155
The team sequenced the DNA of 2,155purebred and mixed-breed dogs to search for common genetic variations that could predict behaviour and combined this info with surveys from 18,385 pet owners.
The study found that while physical traits such as a greyhound's long legs or a Dalmatian's spots are clearly inherited, the breed is not a strong predictor of an individual dog's personality.
Implications For Legislation
The idea that breed alone is a poor predictor of behaviour runs counter to widespread assumptions that have informed legislation in some countries. For example, the UK has banned pit bull terriers, as have many US cities.
Each Dog Has Its Own Personality
"There is a huge amount of behavioural variation in every breed and at the end of the day, every dog really is an individual" said study co-author and University of Massachusetts geneticist, Elinor Karlsson. She wanted to know to what extent are behavioural patterns inherited - and how much are dog breeds associated with distinctive and predictable behaviours.
Sociability Is Highly Heritable
One intriguing finding was that dog sociability towards humans was "incredibly heritable in dogs", even though it wasn't breed-dependent. The team found a location in dog DNA that could explain 4% of the sociability differences between individuals - and that location corresponds to an area of the human genome responsible for long-term memory formation.
"What we found is that the defining criteria of a golden retriever are its physical characteristics - the shape of the ears, the colour and quality of its fur, its size - not whether it is friendly.
14,000 Years Ago
Dogs became humanity's best friend as the only animal domesticated before the advent of agriculture.
160 Years Ago
People began to selectively breed dogs to have certain consistent physical traits, like coat texture and colour and ear shape.
Courtesy. EXFILE, the NIE.
My take.
It's an amazing world - that of the dogs!
Tailpiece.
Got up around a 20' past 6, the chores and was ready by a 10' to 10.
The heat was a trifle less. Kittu's delightful capers kept us occupied.
Participated in the 566th episode of Aazhchakkoottam : "Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" by Shri PN Easwaran, Praanthakaarya vahak, State General Secretary, RSS Kerala. The interaction post-talk was nice.
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