Small but mighty best describes this breed well. Being part of a hunting pack comes naturally to them and they succeed, thanks to their excellent sense of smell. Living between 10-15 years, beagles make loyal companions.
Aside from licking their fur clean like cats, this independent dog is also known for not barking. Instead, they yodel to express themselves, especially against intruders.
The Manchester Terrier is equals parts goofy and clever. This breed loves companionship, bonding with owners doing sports. Both varieties (standard and toy) have a lifespan of 15 years.
Often described as elegant, the German Pinscher is always poised and ready for any adventure. This muscular breed has a lifespan of 12-15 years.
Cuteness alert! This dogs white hypoallergenic coat makes their dark eyes and big smile standout. Bichons love spending time with their owners and enjoy making new friends.
Why dogs may not behave like others of the same breed
Across individual dogs of the same breed, the researchers found huge variations in behavior.
For instance, although golden retrievers are, on the whole, more likely to fetch than many other dogs, there are plenty of lazy goldens that sit and watch as their owners fruitlessly toss tennis balls.
And no behavior is unique to any single breed, the researchers said. German shorthaired pointers are not the only dogs that point.
“Genetics matter, but genetics are a nudge in a given direction. Theyre 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. “Weve known that for a long time in human studies, and this paper really suggests that the same is true for dogs.”
The most likely explanation for the relatively low correlation between behavior and breed, the authors of the paper said, is that many modern dog breeds are relatively new, in the evolutionary scope of things.
Organized dog breeding, with kennel clubs and other groups that regulate physical traits and track lineage, has existed in its current form only since the mid-19th century.
By contrast, humans have been helping to shape dog behaviors for thousands of years, the researchers said — first by giving helpful dogs food and shelter, thus allowing them to more easily have puppies, and then later by intentionally breeding.
“The thing about complex traits is that selecting on them takes time,” Karlsson says. “And so the idea that theyve been created in the last 160 years when these breeds came up didnt make any sense.”
Looking ahead at the future of purebreds, Serpell emphasizes that the goal is not to get rid of them but rather to put the health of the animals first. “I don’t think anyone wants the breeds to disappear,” Serpell says. “I don’t want the bulldog to disappear, I just want the bulldog to be transformed back into an animal that can function properly and is reasonably healthy.”
Meanwhile many organizations breeding dogs for police work or to aid the disabled routinely do use data registries to maintain health information and make smart pairing decisions that reduce the prevalence of inherited ailments. The Seeing Eye, a guide dog school in Morristown, N.J., for example, uses genetic testing and keeps a database that tracks all dogs’ potential problems. “We have a geneticist on staff who evaluates each dog as a potential breeder, and we occasionally bring in dogs from other guide schools to ensure our gene pool doesn’t get too restricted,” says Michelle Barlak, senior public relations associate at The Seeing Eye.
Despite the negative effects of controlled breeding, animal science experts point to the value of selecting for consistency. “A breed standard is the template providing information about the appearance and temperament and reflects the original function and purpose of the breed,” says Milan Hess, a Colorado-based veterinarian who works with the AKC. When choosing a dog as a pet, consumers look to the breed standard for certainty. “They know what it will look like and how it will act,” says Thomas Famula, an animal-breeding specialist at the University of California, Davis.
Large head size and short legs are part of the written standard, so Serpell believes these standards would have forced the bulldog into extinction if breeders did not rely on artificial insemination. “By essentially requiring judges to select animals that are the written standard, the club, in a way, signed the bulldog’s death warrant,” Serpell says.
Consequences of breeding For almost 4,000 years people have been breeding dogs for certain traits—whether it be a physique ideal for hunting pests like badgers or a temperament suitable for companionship. But the vast number of modern breeds—and the roots of their genetically caused problems—came about over the past two centuries, as dog shows became popular and people began selectively inbreeding the animals to have specific physical features. Over time the American Kennel Club (AKC) and other such organizations have set standards defining what each variety should look like. To foster the desired appearance, breeders often turn to line breeding—a type of inbreeding that mates direct relatives, such as grandmother and grandson. When a male dog wins numerous championships, for instance, he is often bred widely—a practice known as popular sire syndrome (pdf)—and his genes, healthy or not, then are spread like wildfire throughout the breed. As a result, purebred dogs not only have increased incidences of inherited diseases but also heightened health issues due to their bodily frames and shapes, such as hip dysplasia in large breeds like the German shepherd and the Saint Bernard, and patellar luxation, or persistent dislocation of the kneecap, in toy and miniature breeds.
breeding rights vs non breeding rights
Labrador retrievers fetch, border collies herd, huskies howl: Its conventional wisdom that many dog breeds act in certain ways because theyve been bred to do so over the course of many generations.
But a new study to be published Friday in the journal Science finds that though some dog behaviors are indeed associated with particular breeds, breed plays less of a role overall than that conventional wisdom holds.
“We found things like German shorthaired pointers were slightly more likely to point, or golden retrievers were slightly more likely to retrieve, or huskies more likely to howl, than the general dog population,” says Kathryn Lord, a researcher at the UMass Chan Medical School and an author of the study.
Researchers surveyed the owners of more than 18,000 dogs and analyzed the DNA of about 2,100 animals to see if physical traits and behaviors can be correlated with dog breeds.
Overall, the study found that about 9% of the variation in an individual dogs behavior can be explained by its breed.
Border collies, for instance, were more likely to be responsive to human direction, a trait called “biddability.” Owners of beagles, bloodhounds, coonhounds and Siberian huskies will not be surprised to learn that those breeds had a tendency to howl.
The same was true of mixed-breed dogs, the researchers found — the higher the percentage of border collie in a mutt, the more responsive it was to human commands.
“From a genetic standpoint, thats fantastic. That means there are real behavioral differences that are connected to breeds that we can go and study,” says Elinor Karlsson, a professor at UMass Chan Medical School and another author of the study.