Nature vs. Nurture

corbinam said:
I think it matters. If you own a dog from a line of dogs with fears, the nature of the fears may affect how you address it. Also, should you get your next dog from that breeder?

As an informed sheltie owner, I think it's important for me to know the strengths and weaknesses of my dogs and their pedigrees.
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Absolutely agree! I'd also like to add that knowing it could be hereditary could reduce your frustrations with your dog. You can train and train and train your heart out, but if your dog is genetically fearful, shy or aggressive, training can only take you so far.

My dog has been through numerous classes, constant training, been to a behavioral veterinarian, been on both natural and prescription medicine and none have made a significant difference. Does that mean I'll stop training her and trying to condition and counter-condition behaviors? Absolutely not! I will work with her until the day she dies, but at least I know that this is who she, it's most likely in her genetics, and she will probably never fully get over her shyness and reactive behavior.
 
just an observation: i recently had a chance to see some of the (now grown up) siblings of my own sheltie. same litter, bred and raised and owned by the same person. so the genetics and environment were the same. the dogs are *very* different. one (my dog's sister) was very friendly and playful, ran right up to me and wanted to play with my dog. the other one (the brother) was super shy and nervous.

anyway i guess the individual personalities and issues still vary a lot, even within the same genetic line. i wouldn't necessarily write off a breeder because they produced a dog with behavior issues. (i guess if they were knowingly breeding dogs with behavior issues that'd be different...)
 
sarasomething said:
anyway i guess the individual personalities and issues still vary a lot, even within the same genetic line. i wouldn't necessarily write off a breeder because they produced a dog with behavior issues. (i guess if they were knowingly breeding dogs with behavior issues that'd be different...)
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Definitely true--there are always outliers one way or the other. Before making a blanket generalization, you'd want a lot of examples. One shy dog doesn't mean the line is shy, nor does two...you need a pattern.
 
It's interesting too in light of what we say about the 'personalities' of certain breeds. We expect some breeds to be out-going and some to be reserved, so we assume these as genetic traits. I suppose it's like the difference between pig-headed and determined, it's how the trait is manifest and used. Maybe rather than focusing solely on getting a shy dog to be confident we should focus on channelling the personality trait into something constructive.

I can think of my Tully - who was (and probably still is) a shy dog. But get her running, or put her around animals and she is a different dog, her adrenalin pumps and she's in her element. At other times she is a gentle and sensitive soul and I wouldn't want that to change. I don't expect her to love other dogs (it would just be nice if she didn't bark at them) but she is very gentle around people and would make a good therapy dog, something I wouldn't expect a bold, in your face type of dog.
 
take4roll10 said:
Absolutely agree! I'd also like to add that knowing it could be hereditary could reduce your frustrations with your dog. You can train and train and train your heart out, but if your dog is genetically fearful, shy or aggressive, training can only take you so far.

My dog has been through numerous classes, constant training, been to a behavioral veterinarian, been on both natural and prescription medicine and none have made a significant difference. Does that mean I'll stop training her and trying to condition and counter-condition behaviors? Absolutely not! I will work with her until the day she dies, but at least I know that this is who she, it's most likely in her genetics, and she will probably never fully get over her shyness and reactive behavior.
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you can only get frustrated if you give yourself permission to do so:smile2:
 
corbinam said:
I think it matters. If you own a dog from a line of dogs with fears, the nature of the fears may affect how you address it. Also, should you get your next dog from that breeder?

As an informed sheltie owner, I think it's important for me to know the strengths and weaknesses of my dogs and their pedigrees.
Click to expand...

it is important if you are looking at breeders and lines, specifically if you compete you want qualities of the parents you love and respect. But in the end you get dog you were suppose to get:wink2: some dogs are in our life because they make us better people...
 
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