How Genetics Play Into Life and Training - It’s Just the Dog You Have
Before the life of pets we all know and love today, there was a time when dogs were bred for a purpose—and that’s it. Life was too consumed by nature and labor that there was no want or need for companions that didn’t perform a job or make our lives easier in some way. In other words, there were no resources to go around for animals that didn’t provide us with anything of immediate value. Humans owned cows for milk, horses and mules for transportation, and raised goats and sheep for wool and food. Humans also owned dogs, but for a purpose rather than companionship. Labs were bred and sold for game retrieval, Australian shepherds and cattle dogs for herding, hound dogs for hunting, pit bulls for baiting, and huskies for mushing.
Breeders used to select the dogs they were breeding based on the individual dog’s temperament, drives, nerves, and health. The better the dog was at its job, the better chances the dog had at throwing puppies that were of equal or better genetics than their parents. Simply put, this is what human selection looked like when breeding animals. The breeder picks the best of the best and pairs it with another dog of greater or similar caliber in order to produce more working pups with traits akin to their parents’. That being said, not every dog in the litter is guaranteed to perform the same. If you have siblings, you understand none of you are exactly the same. Even identical twins may look similar, but are bound to have many differences in their personas. Differences in genetics are the basis of what create our personalities. Some puppies within the litter—if you’ve paired parental genetics well—will be great working dogs. They would be genetically confident, have great prey/hunt/food drive making them more biddable, lasting endurance, and have long-lasting health. Contrastingly, there would also be puppies born that weren’t necessarily working quality. Whether it be because they lacked the drive to want to work or they had genetically bad nerves (were nervous/anxious), they were born without the qualities that would enable them to perform the job they were bred for and therefore served no purpose. This is where culling—the action of sending inferior animals to be slaughtered—was created. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with culling puppies. However, like I mentioned earlier, there were no resources to go around for animals that served no purpose. Nowadays, the dogs that are of lesser quality are sent to pet homes with owners who don’t have any working expectations for the dog. They’re purchased to be companion animals instead.
That being said, not all breeders have the same standards. For example, there are the breeders—referenced in the last paragraph—that are breeding for temperament (ie: confidence, biddability, drive, health, etc.). There are conformation breeders that breed for looks; they choose which dogs to breed based on conformation and body condition standards rather than health and temperament. Then, there are breeders who are mainly looking to make money. For example, frenchie breeders who are breeding for color and other physical traits that are desirable and allow the breeder to charge more. However, most of these traits are mutations that make for undesirable health issues. Although this isn’t always the case, these mutations make it more likely for a dog to have some genetic health complication.
Most of the dogs that are adopted today weren’t created from responsible breeding nor have to experience natural selection. Most of the dogs you see in shelters were either backyard/poorly bred or strays that bred amongst themselves. A lot of dogs who were poorly bred end up in shelters because of the behavioral issues that stem from poor genetics in addition to lacking proper management in their daily lives. Strays that become pregnant and birth puppies are often times saved by an individual and/or a rescue. In this case, human intervention intervenes with the process of natural selection. In the wild, the puppies that survive are chosen by natural selection—meaning that the puppies who are healthier and more adapted to their environment have better chances at survival. However, because of modern medicine and humanity’s bleeding hearts, these puppies aren’t left to the whims of nature and those that would’ve succumbed to natural selection end up surviving and being adopted out. Human intervention and varying breeding standards are ultimately why there are so many dogs in desperate need of anxiety management and reactivity training. Ultimately, consistency, proper management, and training will help to manage genetic issues. However, genetics determine the potential of how much you’re able to build off of those genetics. At the end of the day, you cannot change genetics; it’s just the dog you have.
*Disclaimer: this is just a brief review of how genetics have changed over time as well as how they can play into training and your daily life. However, there is much more information available. Please do your own research (check credible sources) and form your own opinions!