Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Rixatrix
Aug 5, 2006

a life less posted:

I was at an agility trial yesterday, and there was someone there with a GSD clearly out of American show lines. The dog had a lovely head, great temperament and was jovial and outgoing. But its movement was awkward and ungainly and I didn't like how it looked running the course. It looked like all the dog's concentration was on keeping control of its rear end. It was a shame.
In one agility trial I went to, this show bred GSD who actually trials a lot had his hind end give way when he was running the course. He had to be carried out. His movement was strikingly horrible the two runs before that, so it really wasn't a surprise to me. He's still trialing and doing a bit better (his movement has improved), but I still think the judge at that one trial should've reported him.

Edit.

Warbadger posted:

Honestly it's not something supported by science at this point and is at least somewhat based on outdated concepts that used to be applied to pretty much everything including humans ala eugenics. As in humans or any other animal genetics can influence instinctive behavior which serves as a basic foundation for development, but virtually all of our complex behaviors are learned. A well bred GSD/Pitbull/Pomeranian can become a vicious animal or it can also become a kid's cuddly playmate. In some cases they end up being both at different point sin life. A lovely BYB dog can do the same. That doesn't really support the theory that breeding has a hell of a lot to do with it.
Some basic temperament traits are influenced a lot by genetics and it's very difficult to change them. In humans, temperament traits such as novelty seeking, agreeableness, neuroticism etc. are influenced a lot by heredity. The set of traits you are born with in turn influence your experiences out in the world, i.e. they affect how and what you'll learn. The same is true for dogs. I enjoyed this lay article on the matter. Here is a more scientific link on it. Current scientific consensus really does hold that genetics plays a significant role in temperament and behavior.

If it were impossible to breed for temperament and behavior and the role of heredity would be small, we would not, for example, have such variation in temperament and behavior between different dog breeds that we have now.

a life less posted:

Here's a good article describing how nurture can affect nature:

http://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/its-all-in-how-theyre-raised/
Thanks for this! I'm going to refer people to it in the future.

Rixatrix fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Dec 12, 2012

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Rixatrix
Aug 5, 2006

Triangulum posted:

I think it's kind of understandable that police and military handlers are so gung-ho about harsh corrections because their dogs need to be bomb proof and if those dogs gently caress up, people get hurt.
I really like this article on punishment that addresses many of the points you brought up.

  • Locked thread