Quote:
Originally Posted by speeder
What I'm a little surprised by is that you don't put much stock in genetics. I'm a firm believer that in dogs, (and people for that matter), personality and temperament are installed at birth and of course can be altered by environmental factors and experiences.
I think that it's about 50/50, slightly more or less. The problem w pit bulls, besides terrible owners sometimes, is that many are extremely poorly bred. Unfortunately, most dog breeding decisions are made by dogs. We all know how that goes in the alleys and parks of America. In a perfect world, dogs with personality or temperament issues would be prevented from breeding and in a perfect world, dogs would not be abused and would be trained by humans such as yourself who know dogs. (
|
Genetics play a significant role in dog behavior. It's what makes a dog act like a dog. Their instinct to hunt, or chase, is rooted in their genetics. I do place a limit on how quickly you can alter their "instinctual" behavior through breeding. Can it be done in even one or two generations? I don't think so.
Dogs are born with certain behaviors in them but they are pack animals and learn most of their behavior from other dogs. Look up "allelomimetic behavior" for a detailed dive into this type of learning. They are not unique in this, most animals learn this way but they are different from most in that they are capable of learning from other species, namely us. They learn in the same way that they learn from dogs, by observing and mimicking our behaviors. They can be selective in what they learn (is this something useful to me to get what I want?) and they can learn both good and bad behaviors. This last point is where I think things go south for some dogs.
Dogs really begin this learning process at about 5 weeks. They are often pulled from their mothers at about 8 weeks and frequently put into households without another dog. That's not a lot of time to learn everything they need to know and we are poor teachers for dogs, as we are largely ignorant of how they think. We try to turn them into 4-legged humans. Not going to happen... We also teach with all sorts of useless methods. We want them to respond to verbal commands. They'd rather be taught with a movement, or a gesture. That's "normal" to them.
The other thing is that, if they are born into a bad household, where their mother has been trained to be antisocial, or is abused (chained up, segregated from other dogs, encouraged to be aggressive, not cared for or fed properly, etc.) they will learn these bad behaviors. It's difficult for most people to take a dog raised in such an environment and turn it around. It can be done, but it's beyond the skill set of most owners.
In the end, I think dogs need to be around other dogs, so I have always had at least two at a time, if not three. I also don't over train them; I'm happy to let them be dogs. I provide a somewhat structured environment where they can do what they were born to do, without getting themselves, or others, in trouble. I recognize that they will always be dogs, so I have to not put them into positions where they would do something bad, and I'm always aware of their energy levels and moods. I interact with them as needed, so maintain the peace. I don't simply wear them out with dogs walks, so that they are too tired to get into trouble. I do fill their need for exercise and play, but I also let them know when they need to change their behavior. It's simple and quick.
Dogs want consistency and order. They seldom get that, in the average household. It is what it is and I'm not going to be able to do much to fix that. i also can't fix the other thousand problems in the world, so I just need to do my thing and learn to live with, or ignore, the rampant stupidity of human existence.