Does Genetics Determine Personality In Dogs?
As with human beings, genetics is key to determining a dog’s personality, although we cannot ignore the environment, lived experiences and education.
First steps towards understanding canine behavior
Personality in dogs according to their breed
- Excitability
- General activity
- Aggression towards children
- Demand for affection
- Territorial defense
- Watchdog attitude
- Aggression towards other dogs
- Dominion over the owner
- Fitness for obedience training
- Home protection
- Destructiveness
- Joy
Another example of the relationship between genetics and a dog’s personality
erranova, two extremely different races with respect to personality. He called the parents group “P”, and the first generation born from them, “F1”.
- When they analyzed the personality of the F1 puppies, they saw that they showed a mixture of parents. They were all more affectionate than border collies tend to be and easy to get along with. However, they were more excitable and active than the Newfoundlands .
- Subsequently, the F1 dogs were crossed with each other, resulting in more than 20 puppies named “F2”. To the surprise of the researcher, the rule enforced in for F1 did not fit here.
- Each dog had a different personality , some more similar to the border and others more to the Newfoundland . Most likely, this is because certain genes were silenced in F1 but were shown in F2.
