Julie Wall March 15 at 8:04am · Edited Insightful article: "Most dog owners absolutely refuse to believe this. If I only had a dollar for every time someone has told me "It's all in how they're raised!"

Julie Wall

March 15 at 8:04am · Edited

Insightful article: "Most dog owners absolutely refuse to believe this. If I only had a dollar for every time someone has told me "It's all in how they're raised!" ... No, it's not. It's all in how their DNA came together. A dog with foul temperament will always be a dog with foul temperament, no matter how wonderful the environment. A dog with sound, stable temperament will always be a sound stable dog, even in a lousy environment."

"There is no perfect test, some are more h...

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  Julia Dolan Green Good to know there are some breeders who understand the importance of genetics.

  March 15 at 8:38am · Like · 6
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  Julia Lewis What I've found is that some dogs are just born with stable, friendly temperaments, while others are not. But it's not so black and white as "good" versus "bad", it's more "good" versus nervy and fear aggressive. So while you can be very relaxed with the "good" ones, you have to put a lot of work into the "bad" ones, but you can improve the bad ones no end, by constant handling, socialisation and play. It's a question of whether people can be bothered.

  March 15 at 4:09pm · Like
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  Julia Lewis However, having said that, with pits it's not a matter of temperament. Most of them seem fairly outgoing and confident. With them, it's that instinctive attack and grab response that has been bred into them. The ones that attack and even kill, can be happy dogs a few minutes later, not knowing they have done wrong.

  March 15 at 4:11pm · Like · 3
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  Julia Lewis It's definitely true that some breeds have better, more stable, temperaments than others.

  March 15 at 4:12pm · Like · 2
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  Julia Lewis Pit bulls are so deceptive because they can be so affectionate and obviously love being cuddled. Then the genetics kick in ...

  March 15 at 4:13pm · Like · 2
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  Lynne Smith Pits are supposed to be outgoing and confident, and this is certainly part of their charm. But they are also supposed to be unpredictable, and not too many owners understand that.

  March 15 at 8:09pm · Like · 3
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  Jan Smith I agree with Julia that it's not a temperament issue. A pointer will point, regardless of if it's mostly nervous or calm, well treated or abused, well fed or starving, socialized or not. It's a question of innate motor patterns and behavior chains.

  Yesterday at 2:34pm · Like · 4
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  Julie Wall Why I like this article from the dog breeder, it counters the myth it is 'all how you raise them'. Temperament is inherited. The best predictor of temperament is history. We all know the shelters do not have the breeding history of the pit bull that they adopt out, so bascially they are asking people to play Russian Roulette.

  15 hrs · Edited · Like · 3
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  Julia Lewis It's mad and putting people in mortal danger.

  16 hrs · Like · 1