Eugenics is the now-defunct (and creepy!)
practice of breeding supposedly superior humans to achieve genetic improvements while sterilizing undesirables.
Reprinted with permission from Beacon Press.
Does a dog need to have a certain look to behave in a certain way?
Terrible but true: who among us, at one time or another, hasnt been guilty of stereotyping?
And who among us has never let looks determine likability?
Old biases arent easy to shed.
Whats wrong with I have a dog or Two dogs are better than one?
Like so many attempts at improvement in the nineteenth century, eugenics dressed old habits in new garb.
The exhibit sought to prove that talents were inherited traits.
Wherever it caught on, eugenics seemed to make respectable society more respected and the powerful more powerful.
How did eugenics finally lose its mass appeal and cede its social standing?
Traditional terms for mixing racesmongrelization and debasementhave been applied to humans and dogs alike.
The division of dogs into easily identifiable types was far more calculated than human cataloging.
with similar functions and key in should be crossbred to produce fewer breeds with much greater genetic variation.
The modern fancy isnt entirely to blame for this unnatural drive to differentiate within strictly defined parameters.
[14]
Americans saw themselves as rightful inheritors of English-style eugenics.
But nonmembers have been bolder of late.
They do not hunt.
They are not shepherds.
They dont tend to be policemen or soldiers.
Traits traditionally along for the ride became essential.
They were selected much later, as adult individuals with observable skills and temperaments.
IndefinitelyWild editor Wess mutt, Wiley.
At worst, they say, eugenic breeding standards can overtake and ruin entire populations of traditional types.
Included was a series on Selection for Behavioral Traits.
[22] Animal rights extremism, or common sense?
But strict inbreeding for superficial uniformity?
I think exhibitions have only added bad things to dogs.
Current preferences in color-coding and shape in eyes, he feels, are unfounded.
Eye shape, too, is subject to dispute among hunters on the field and poseurs on the stage.
Success becomes all the more unlikely when its not even a priority.
[28] Unfortunately for the dogs, show ring performance doesnt stop at standing.
[29]
https://gizmodo.com/adventure-californias-lost-coast-1679173376
Animal rights extremists concur on this.
Those are also the marks of a dominant, hence aggressive dog.
[30] The reverse may also be true.
[34] That was 1982.
Noise phobia is said to affect at least 50 percent of pet border collies.
Many are prescribed Xanax.
[40]
Not all purebreds are overactive or brimming with enthusiasm.
Others, according to outside agitators and extremists, have swung to the opposite extreme.
Some breeds appear to be sort of stupid, leading critics to that political hot potato called intelligence.
Yes, we have gotten used to falling SAT scores.
But we must draw the line somewhere.
I say we draw it at dogs.
The Telegraph reported that the mental and physical agility of many breeds is being eroded.
Was this an example of form following function?
Perhaps the genes behind attractive looks could also be closely linked to those that cause fearfulness, said Svartberg.
Distinct differences between breeds and mutts were observed.
But it seems all that breeding may be for nothing.
For when it comes to intelligence, scientists say the crossbred wins, paws down.
Researchers found that mixes were far better on the ball than pedigree dogs.
Seven out of the ten best problem solvers at Aberdeen were crossbreeds.
Sufficient size is also important for bracing the disabled or pulling vehicles.
The dogs that make it through initial evaluation are very few also.
The minuscule number of high-profile individuals that even qualify to qualify are exceptional, perhaps negligible.
AKC registration is not important to us, Barlos continues.
They have a friendly public perception while having full access with their owners, Barlos remarks.
Perhaps its time for some affirmative action in the dog world.
At least one has become a search-and-rescue dog.
[46]
Karma has had success with purebreds and mutts of all varieties.
Its the unconditional attention and bond that kids make with the dog that matters.
Regardless of breed, only one out of ten dogs pass our test the first time, says Gould.
Pedigree and standardized appearance, it seems, have not been relevant, except perhaps in negative ways.
When his vest is on, he knowsits work time, says Gould.
Overbreeding for either form or function, it turns out, can result in losing both.
Many purebreds are getting too pure for their own good (and ours).
A tragic example is the German shepherd, one of the top working breeds throughout the twentieth century.
Not even the Queen of England calls her yellow Labs golden.
If people are going to be pretentious, they could at least get their facts straight.
As hybrids, they arent bred from eugenically pure bloodlines.
Top image by Jim Cooke.
Forced Sterilization, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN, May 31, 2012,http://www.allthingsandersoncooper.com/2012/05/anders…
2.
Freeman Lloyd, Many Dogs in Many Lands, AKC Gazette, July 31, 1924.
Welsh Springer Spaniel, Dog Breed Health,http://www.dogbreedhealth.com/welsh-springer…
4.
Charles Davenport, The Trait Book, Eugenics Record Office, Bulletin No.
6 (Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 1912).
Ian MacInnes, Mastiffs and Spaniels: Gender and Nation in the English Dog, Textual Practice17, no.
1 (2003): 2140, doi: 10.1080/0950236032000050726.
Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man (New York: W. W. Norton, 1981).
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (New York: S. Converse, 1828).
Shetland Sheepdog: Breed Standard, American Kennel Club,http://www.akc.org.
Patrick Burns, True Terriers, Terriermans Daily Dose, November 25, 2011,http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com.
David Hancock, The Heritage of the Dog (Boston: Nimrod, 1990), 253.
Kevin Stafford, The Welfare of Dogs (Netherlands: Springer, 2006), 64.
Hancock, The Heritage of the Dog, 185.
Freeman Lloyd, What Is Correct Conformation?, AKC Gazette, July 1943.
Stuart Brown, What Is a Breed Standard?, AKC Gazette, November 1947.
Lloyd, Many Dogs in Many Lands.
The expression nigger in the woodpile originated in the Deep South and referred to fugitive slaves in hiding.
James Serpell (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995), chap.
Per Arvelius, e-mail to author, June 21, 2012.
Erik Wilsson, e-mail to author, June 15, 2012.
Russell Hess, e-mail to author, June 25, 2013.
Hancock, The Heritage of the Dog, 142.
Kenth Svartberg, Breed-Typical Behaviour in DogsHistorical Remnants or Recent Constructs?, Applied Animal Behaviour Science96, no.
3 (February 2006): 293313, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appl…
32.
Stafford, The Welfare of Dogs.
Roger Caras, A Celebration of Dogs (New York: Times Books, 1982), 190.
United States Border Collie Club,http://www.bordercollie.org.
Willis, Genetic Aspects of Dog Behavior, 62.
Cyranoski, Genetics: Pet Project.
Jenny Barlos, e-mails to author, November 20December 2, 2010.
Kim Wolf et al., Animal Farm Foundation, interview by author, October 4, 2011.
Kelly Gould, e-mail to author, October 2, 2011.
Kelly Gould, interview by author, September 28, 2011.
Macrae, Why a Mongrel Will Always Trump the Pedigree Chump.
Guide Dogs,https://www.guidedogs.org.uk.
Chuck Jordan, e-mail to author, March 29, 2012.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
