Campaigners have welcomed the move to outlaw the breed they argue is "a clear and present threat to public health", but concerns have been raised it may not be practical and lead to other kinds of dogs being prohibited.
“Genetics matter, but genetics are a nudge in a given direction. They’re not a destiny,” Evan MacLean, the director of the Arizona Canine Cognition Center at the University of Arizona, who was not involved in the research, tells NPR. “We’ve known that for a long time in human studies, and this paper really suggests that the same is true for dogs.”
I’ve noticed once someone starts talking about “breed determines behavior, it’s in their genes!!!”. It doesn’t take much more for them to start saying the same about other animals, like humans.
Interestingly, the same people who pushed the whole dog breed thing were pushing the white supremacy thing last century. Now, they are just idiots pushing an easy issue when all they need to do is look at actual studies.
RESULTS
We surveyed owners of 18,385 dogs (49% purebred) and sequenced the DNA of 2155 dogs. Most behavioral traits are heritable [heritability (h2) > 25%], but behavior only subtly differentiates breeds. Breed offers little predictive value for individuals, explaining just 9% of variation in behavior. For more heritable, more breed-differentiated traits, like biddability (responsiveness to direction and commands), knowing breed ancestry can make behavioral predictions somewhat more accurate (see the figure). For less heritable, less breed-differentiated traits, like agonistic threshold (how easily a dog is provoked by frightening or uncomfortable stimuli), breed is almost uninformative.
We used dogs of mixed breed ancestry to test the genetic effect of breed ancestry on behavior and compared that to survey responses from purebred dog owners. For some traits, like biddability and border collie ancestry, we confirm a genetic effect of breed that aligns with survey responses. For others, like human sociability and Labrador retriever ancestry, we found no significant effect.
Through genome-wide association, we found 11 regions that are significantly associated with behavior, including howling frequency and human sociability, and 136 suggestive regions. Regions associated with aesthetic traits are unusually differentiated in breeds, consistent with a history of selection, but those associated with behavior are not.
What alternative kind of study do you think would be better?
And if one exists that comes to a different conclusion, can you link it?
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/28/1095390872/dog-breeds-behavior-study
I’ve noticed once someone starts talking about “breed determines behavior, it’s in their genes!!!”. It doesn’t take much more for them to start saying the same about other animals, like humans.
“Banning pitbull? Just a step away from banning races!”
Interestingly, the same people who pushed the whole dog breed thing were pushing the white supremacy thing last century. Now, they are just idiots pushing an easy issue when all they need to do is look at actual studies.
The whole human population has less genetic diversity than a random troupe of chimps, much less domestic dogs as a whole. We’re absurdly uniform.
*For anyone else, breed was tested genetically, behavior was an owner survey. GIGO.
What alternative kind of study do you think would be better?
And if one exists that comes to a different conclusion, can you link it?