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How Much of Your Dog’s Behaviour Is Genetic?

Modern studies show that behaviour, as well as intelligence, aggression, and fearfulness, are, to a significant degree, inherited. So how much does breeding affect your dog’s personality? Here’s advice from your local dog trainer in Peakhurst.

We have a lot of cientists who study how dogs think and they are trying to figure out just how much of a dog’s behaviour is coded in their DNA. According to the recent findings of a research team headed by Evan McLean of the University of Arizona, it seems that the answer is quite a lot.

What we need to undertand is that we have been breeding dogs to have certain qualities for different puposes for centuries. So whether we had the scientific knowledge we have today or not, we have always known that we can pass on certain traits and qualities by breeding. We have been tinkering with the genetics of dogs for close to 300 years now, which was when we first began to see the emergence of defined dog breeds. The whole idea of breeding was to generate lines of dogs which would excel in the performance of specific tasks, such as herding, hunting, and guarding for example. However, though dog experts usually agree that these breed-specific behaviours are inherited patterns of specific skills, they are often more hesitant to conclude that basic psychological characteristics, such as intelligence, aggression or fearfulness, are also inherited.

This newest research from Arizona took advantage of three large, specialized, databases.

Two of these map the genetic codes of dogs, while the third contains information about behaviour propensities in a large sample of dogs. All of these databases also contain information which allows the researchers to identify the purebred dogs in the sample by breed.

The information about dog behaviour came from the C-BARQ database, which includes information from over 14,000 dogs. C-BARQ is a 100-item questionnaire in which dog owners describe typical behaviours that they observe in their dogs. It has been validated as a good predictor of canine behaviour.

The results of this test break down to 14 different behaviour dimensions, which include:

trainability, several varieties of aggression, several types of fearfulness, attachment (attention seeking/affection seeking), energy, and chasing behaviours.

From this data collection a score could be computed for each of the 101 dog breeds in the database in each of the 14 C-BARQ behaviour dimensions. With this in hand, the researchers then searched the genotype databases for overall similarities in the DNA for breeds that had comparable behaviour scores. Despite thousands of genetic variants, 131 stuck out as significantly associated with breed behaviour. Not surprisingly, most of these were associated with brain function and development.

The results indicate that, for some behaviour traits, genes seem to account for an amazing 60 to 70 per cent of the behavioural variation among breeds.

Included in these highly heritable behaviour dimensions was trainability, where Golden Retrievers, Border Collies, and Poodles were found to excel while Basset Hounds and Beagles seem to be genetically programmed to be less trainable. Interesting, isn’t it? I have personally met a lot of Beagles for example that were giving their owners a hard time.

Another highly heritable trait was aggression towards strangers, where German Shepherds and Chow Chows were genetically disposed toward high levels of aggression, while Greyhounds and Labrador Retrievers appear to inherit a much more placid temperament, which ones again is something I have noticed as a professional dog trainer in Peakhurst.

Attachment and attention-seeking also appear encoded in canine DNA with breeds like the Cocker Spaniel and the Flat-Coated Retriever being extremely affectionate, while Great Pyrenees and Akitas inherit a much more aloof and antisocial propensity.

Chasing behaviours also are strongly inherited, with Siberian Huskies (I’ve seen many Huskies chasing other dogs at the park, instead of mutual play) and Airedales having the highest likelihood to show these behaviours while Newfoundlands and Chihuahuas are the least likely to.

Looking at the remaining ten behaviour dimensions (including energy level and various forms of fearfulness), the researchers found that the genetic contribution hovered around 50 per cent. While some scientists will be quick to point out that this means that differences in environment, individual history, and training are equally as important as the genetic contribution in shaping these behaviours, having 50 per cent of behaviour coming from a dog’s DNA will provide a significant aid or detriment in our ability to control any specific behaviour. Fighting an inherited impediment is difficult while taking advantage of an inherited predisposition can make life easy.

Backed by this new data set, we can conclude that the original goal of breeding —producing different dog breeds with particular inherited skills and psychological characteristics—has been highly successful.