Recent research shows that dogs are getting dumber, what do you think?
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...-13762,00.html

In article ,
adkins235 wrote:
Recent research shows that dogs are getting dumber, what do you think?

Recent evidence suggests that it's actually the owners
shedding brain cells at an accelerating rate.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

adkins235 wrote:
Recent research shows that dogs are getting dumber, what do you think?
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...-13762,00.html

I remember hearing the argument that standardization would ruin
the Border Collie breed a few years ago, when they were accepted
into the AKC, because the focus of breeding would shift from
performance (herding, etc.) to conformation.

I wonder if there's any evidence that that is happening.

(Welcome to RPDB. Tell us about your puppy, and we want pictures!)

FurPaw

--
Don't believe everything that you think.

To reply, unleash the dog.

Melinda Shore wrote:
In article ,
adkins235 wrote:
Recent research shows that dogs are getting dumber, what do you think?

Recent evidence suggests that it's actually the owners
shedding brain cells at an accelerating rate.

:-)

FurPaw

--
Don't believe everything that you think.

To reply, unleash the dog.

FurPaw wrote:
adkins235 wrote:

Recent research shows that dogs are getting dumber, what do you think?
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...-13762,00.html


I remember hearing the argument that standardization would ruin the
Border Collie breed a few years ago, when they were accepted into the
AKC, because the focus of breeding would shift from performance
(herding, etc.) to conformation.

And I didn't buy it then and I don't now, since the number of BCs being
shown in conformation is a pin dot to the number being shown in
performance sport.

On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:20:31 GMT, Robin Nuttall
wrote:

FurPaw wrote:
adkins235 wrote:

Recent research shows that dogs are getting dumber, what do you think?
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...-13762,00.html


I remember hearing the argument that standardization would ruin the
Border Collie breed a few years ago, when they were accepted into the
AKC, because the focus of breeding would shift from performance
(herding, etc.) to conformation.

And I didn't buy it then and I don't now, since the number of BCs being
shown in conformation is a pin dot to the number being shown in
performance sport.

That's currently true, but breeding to the AKC conformation standard
will, over time, change ("ruin" is the wrong word to use here) the
breed, just as it has changed so many other breeds. Whenever a breed's
selection criteria is changed, the breed changes (that's how we get
"working" lines, "performance" lines, "field" lines, "show" lines,
etc.). Over time, BCs, too, will split into separate strains. It's
unavoidable.

wrote:
On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:20:31 GMT, Robin Nuttall
wrote:


FurPaw wrote:

adkins235 wrote:


Recent research shows that dogs are getting dumber, what do you think?
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...-13762,00.html


I remember hearing the argument that standardization would ruin the
Border Collie breed a few years ago, when they were accepted into the
AKC, because the focus of breeding would shift from performance
(herding, etc.) to conformation.

And I didn't buy it then and I don't now, since the number of BCs being
shown in conformation is a pin dot to the number being shown in
performance sport.


That's currently true, but breeding to the AKC conformation standard
will, over time, change ("ruin" is the wrong word to use here) the
breed, just as it has changed so many other breeds. Whenever a breed's
selection criteria is changed, the breed changes (that's how we get
"working" lines, "performance" lines, "field" lines, "show" lines,
etc.). Over time, BCs, too, will split into separate strains. It's
unavoidable.

Um, no, it won't. The only way the breed will be "ruined" is if the
people who use BCs for work completely quit breeding them. That's hardly
likely. And the selection criteria itself hasn't changed, though some
people breeding them are emphasizing the wrong traits.

The AKC Standard has nothing against working-type BCs, in fact it's a
pretty wide open standard, one of the broadest out there. Are there
people who brought dogs in from Australia and even the UK that are
hugely fluffy and have no herding sense? Yes. Does that mean that no
herding dogs exist in Australia or the UK? Of course not.

Even breeds that have been so-called "ruined" really aren't. Sure, the
American Show Shepherd is almost always overangulated with very poor
pasterns and even worse temperament. But there are still thousands of
GSDs out there with multiple schutzhund titles.

Will the BC split into lines? It already has, and it happened long
before the AKC accepted them for registration. But ruined? No. Not even
close. And not ever.

In article kjoem.217947$DP1.15821@attbi_s22,
Robin Nuttall wrote:
Um, no, it won't. The only way the breed will be "ruined" is if the
people who use BCs for work completely quit breeding them.

Right. People in Siberian Huskies have made a similar
argument and that led to people with dogs from one
particular line signing up as a "new" breed with the ConKC.
They seem to think that it's the registry that's the
problem, rather than the judging. If you asked an
individual (and I did) if the fact that their dogs were
registered with the AKC led them to change how they make
their breeding decisions and the response was pretty
universally "Not me, but somebody else" without naming
who that somebody else actually is.

So, I figure that unless they can be specific about who's
doing what and why I should give a crap, screw 'em.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

elegy wrote:

though i have to say the one bench bred bc i am in contact with
regularly looks nothing like steve for all that they're colored very
similarly. he doesn't move the same, either.

What does "bench bred" mean? I haven't run into that term.

FurPaw

--
Don't believe everything that you think.

To reply, unleash the dog.

elegy said in
rec.pets.dogs.health:

steve is a sporter collie

Merle and red BCs are all sporter collies. Never mind that
Maybe is a natural on sheep and that I need to find an extra day
in the week to accommodate her.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.