Why do we even have breeds

[Fran101]

Sounds like a self-proclaimed dog trainer on another forum I'm on. "That behavior can't exist because it goes against nature and survival." The funny part is, the person owns a Siberian Husky; I don't recall hearing about any packs of wild dogs willingly tethering themselves to heavy objects, with or without other animals, and freighting them around. And yet, humans have somehow managed to breed dogs that not only do it, but enjoy every moment of it, and some will even overexert themselves to death if given half a chance. For the same reason some dogs genuinely enjoy fighting: we bred them to essentially be adrenaline junkies, and it's self-rewarding.

I really love the argument "think about it.. it's natural for animals to avoid pain. Do you know anyone that enjoys getting hurt?"

Erm.. nearly all athletes, wrestlers, cage fighters, drunk idiots at the bar..
not to mention S&M :rofl1:

 

[spottyspaniel]

Breeds are watered-down the breeding of some type of dog for a specific purpose. Through breeding successful dogs in their desired type of work (and now incorporating science) we create a type of natural selection. In which the dog that excels at the work gets bred, and the ones that don't aren't bred by the farmer in the ancient times that can't do what farmer Joe needs him to do. The irony of this is that eventual dog breed we see today-- say a herder (say a Border Collie) when given a herding instinct test can't pass. Now that IS sad.

Following some people's methods of training through nurture and reinforcement, I should theoretically be able to teach my Springer to do bite and protection work (they were specifically bred for their soft mouth, mine can carry around an egg an not break the shell exposing the yoke.) No, I think I probably couldn't-- and if I could it would be no where near a GSD, Belgain Malinois, or any other dog breed intended for bite and protection work.

Breeds have purposes.

 

[lizzybeth727]

I think this is what I'm running my head up against- people who very strongly feel that it's "mean" and "discriminatory" to expect a pit bull to be dog aggressive.

I worked at a pit bull event once with Luna - a chihuahua - and I'm not ashamed to say that I was VERY nervous walking her through the crowds of pit bulls. She walks through crowds of dogs all the time, but for this event, I mostly carried her. But I did feel like I had to hide my nervousness, because it was a "LOVE THE PIBBLES!" type of event.

Incidently the only dog at the event that I was seriously afraid would attack Luna was an akita, LOL.

 

[Dekka]

Breeds are watered-down the breeding of some type of dog for a specific purpose. Through breeding successful dogs in their desired type of work (and now incorporating science) we create a type of natural selection. In which the dog that excels at the work gets bred, and the ones that don't aren't bred by the farmer in the ancient times that can't do what farmer Joe needs him to do. The irony of this is that eventual dog breed we see today-- say a herder (say a Border Collie) when given a herding instinct test can't pass. Now that IS sad.

Following some people's methods of training through nurture and reinforcement, I should theoretically be able to teach my Springer to do bite and protection work (they were specifically bred for their soft mouth, mine can carry around an egg an not break the shell exposing the yoke.) No, I think I probably couldn't-- and if I could it would be no where near a GSD, Belgain Malinois, or any other dog breed intended for bite and protection work.

Breeds have purposes.

Good post. Except not all breeds are watered down. Some still are tested through work. Not nearly enough, but some. As well some have gotten sharper over time, not watered down.

 

[spottyspaniel]

Good post. Except not all breeds are watered down. Some still are tested through work. Not nearly enough, but some. As well some have gotten sharper over time, not watered down.

I agree that some dogs are still tested and used for their original purpose. But not nearly enough happen to pass. The fail rate seems to get larger as time goes by.(in a perfect world no dog would fail) I understand needs change, but a dog is meant to do something right? Or at least have some of that natural instinct they were bred for.

As much as we wish we can't train for everything.

Some breed have improved, and then there are some that make you sigh heavily and wonder why they are still around with any introduction of new genes, or limiting the undesirable ones.