Breeding Stupidity

Dog breeders who select physical traits such as color, body shape, fur, and facial characteristics to the exclusion of behavior and skill characteristics WILL, over a shorter time than one would guess, breed dogs that have emotional and behavioral problems and that may be stupid.

Here's how it works. Genes undergo mutations all the time. If a gene for producing a thinner face and head is preferred by breeders to the exclusion of other traits, dogs with that trait will reproduced without limitation. And then all the natural mutations that would normally cause a dog with inferior traits to have less chance of breeding, such as stupidity, will be passed on and on. Over time, a huge proportion, or all, of a breed will have those poor traits, and no or few dogs will have good, working copies of the gene for corresponding good traits.

This is why organizations such as the AKC which focus such attention on outward physical "conformation" in looks are bad for the animal's biological health.

Collies are a good example. I will quote here from this week's "Book of the Week" which I am now reading. This particular example of bad breeding is confirmed by a friend's experiences over 50 years owning collies.

"Breeders have made collie faces thinner and thinner, for example, leaving less and less space inside the skull for their brain. A dog needs a nice, wide skull to house its brain, and if you look at old paintings of collies from the beginning of the twentieth century that's what you see: Lassie with a broad, flat forehead.

"By the early 1980s collie heads had gotten so narrow that [a person] ... who grew up with a collie on a farm in the 1950s and 1960s ... couldn't recognize the collies in her neighborhood as belonging to the same breed as her childhood pet. ..."

"The problem isn't just the reduced space for the collie's brain; it's also the weird shape of the skull. I would expect to find that the progressive narrowing of their faces has distorted collie brains anatomically. But whatever the cause, their intelligence has gone down so far that I call collies brainless ice picks. It's a horrible thing to have done to a nice beautiful dog."

There no doubt are some smart collies now, probably produced by responsible breeders concerned with the health of the dogs. But many, many breeders care only about the money and use the AKC titles to charge more for their pups. And they are not tracking whatever health and behavioral problems of the pups as they move out to customers.

Another example: AKC standards and practices - mostly "physical traits" are producing border collies that cannot herd sheep. Incredible ! The raison d'etre for the breed is not being preferentially selected for further breeding. The AKC-focused breeders like a nice, fine coat, but many of the dogs are afraid of the sheep. It's a disgrace repeated all over the nation.

Not all AKC breeds might be being destroyed. For example, in some hunting dogs I suppose the breeders, while getting AKC designation, mostly sell the pups to hunters. And if they can't hunt, then the breeder finds out and has to stop that blood line or lose customers from poor "word of mouth" publicity.

However, when a breed becomes "popular" such as border collies, most buyers aren't sheep ranchers. That let's the AKC-induced poor trait multiply on and on and destroy skills.

By the way, both Sky and Krypto are Kelpies from Australia from http://www.noonbarra.com/ and that breeder IS still involved in raising sheep. Their principle customer base is huge sheep ranches. They breed for skill. Looks are irrelevant and kelpies can have many colors and body shapes can vary quite a bit. Sky is powerfully built, muscular make with a "red" coat; Krypto is much more delicate with a black coat with some brown markings. And Krypto is one of Sky's biological aunts. Both have much instinctive sheep herding skills and are very smart. The Kelpie is NOT an AKC recognized breed.

Book of the Week

"Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson. This book is superb - the principle author, Temple Grandin, is a widely published expert on animal husbandry and behavior. The book contains quite interesting information on animal behavior, feelings and communication, as well as a lot of fine insight in first level management of operations. She has both remarkable person insight into animals and an extensive background in animal science that she draws on for the book. The book has considerable notes and a large bibliography to support her writings.

I am about 1/3 through it, but have leafed through and read a number of later sections. I recommend it highly.

Word of the Day

"Prehensile" - adjective [$10] an old, old one from the card file - my hand writing must be from when I was 17 in high school.
Prehensile means 1. adapted for seizing or grasping especially by wrapping around (e. g., a prehensile tail); 2. gifted with mental grasp or moral or aesthetic perception.
Sentence: The prehensile tail of monkeys evolved by natural selection over millenia, likely to improve survivability in forests.