7.7. Can Canine Aggression Be Bred Out?
Semyonova states,
“The Russian researcher Dmitry Kontanovich Beljaev reported that he had bred fear out of foxes in only eighteen generations, but impulsive aggression is a more complex response and much more dangerous to live with while you try to breed it out. Further, Belyaev’s foxes were bred under laboratory conditions, where there was absolute control over not having the wrong genes creep back in again.
As Belyaev bred his foxes into the pettable creatures he wanted, they began to have an increasingly floppy-eared mutt exterior. Belyaev’s discoveries suggest that the interface of physical and behavioral conformation mean it is not possible to breed out the impulsive aggressive behavior of fighting dogs while retaining their shape and appearance.
Form follows function: one cannot have a dog whose entire body and brain are adapted to executing the killing bite, without having a dog who will execute the killing bite.”
Which are the “wrong genes”?
How do the “wrong genes creep back in”?
Where are the citations for studies and/or objective data that support these statements?
Can aggression be bred out?
On Page 11 of van den Berg’s paper, it is stated,
“In addition to its fundamental scientific importance, studying canine aggression has an obvious applied function….Treatment of aggression problems usually involves changing environmental factors through behavioural therapy and sometimes medication is added (e.g. Landsberg 2004; O’Farrell 1991; Overall 1997; Reisner 2003; Voith 1984). However, this has limited success and aggression is therefore a common reason for euthanatizing dogs (Mikkelsen and Lund 2000). Understanding the genetic factors underlying aggression leads directly to the relevant pathophysiological mechanisms of aggression. This can guide pharmacological intervention for which scientific evidence is sparse to date. In addition, aggression problems could be reduced through breeding programs.”
On Page 8 of “Behaviour Genetics in the Domestic Dog” by Mia Persson at https://www.ifm.liu.se/biology/zoology/avian/phd-literature-essays/Introuppsats-Mia-Persson.pdf, it is stated,
“Even though behavioural differences between dog breeds are often considered as historical remnants from past selection, in many breeds, selection has changed during the last decades (Svartberg, 2006). Personality traits such as aggressiveness, curiosity/fearfulness, playfulness and sociability were used to study breed differences between 31 breeds. Here, data from a standardized behavioural test performed on 13,000 dogs was used. No relationships were found between the historical function of the breed and the breed-characteristic behaviour…. Also, more popular breeds have higher scores in playfulness and sociability than less popular breeds…. These results imply that dog behaviour can change with changes in selection pressure and that the current use of the dogs can have a greater impact on their behaviour than their historical use.”
Semyonova states,
“Speculating in favor of the aggressive breeds, suppose that human artificial selection will fail as infrequently in the aggressive breeds as it does in the golden retriever. van den Berg found impulsive aggression in approximately one out of a hundred golden retrievers. If behavioral selection fails comparably often in fighting breeds, there is only a 1% chance that their keepers will not endanger others in their surroundings.”
This statement is interesting and misleading since on Page 40 of van den Berg’s thesis it is stated,
“The study group consisted of 83 Golden Retrievers, 55 of which were purebred with a pedigree. All Goldens were privately owned dogs, and the majority (82%) still lived with their first owners. There were 49 males (18 castrated) and 34 females (16 castrated) in the study group. The mean age of the dogs at the time of testing was 3.3 years; three were juveniles (8 or 9 months), 8 dogs were sub-adults (9-18 months), 67 dogs were adults (18 months-7 years), and 5 were old dogs (7 years or older). Fifty-three of the 83 dogs were referred to behaviour experts at the Utrecht University Companion Animal Clinic because of their aggressiveness. We consequently traced 30 family members (mainly siblings) of a number of these Goldens. Although none of these relatives had ever bitten people or another dog, 6 of them showed a problematic level of aggressiveness according to their owner. In none of the dogs was a medical problem likely to be the origin of the aggressive behaviour and none of the dogs received medication.”
On Page 46 of van den Berg’s thesis it is stated,
“The two most intense aggressive behaviours, attacking and snapping, were observed in 29 Golden Retrievers (35%).”
This seems to be saying that aggressive behavior was observed in 29 of the 83 Golden Retrievers in the van den Berg study or 35% of the dogs: not 1 out of 100 or 1% as claimed in the preceding Semyonova statement. Nevertheless, what relevance does this have to any breed of dogs other than Golden Retrievers? Actually, it has no relevance to the entire Golden Retriever population! Its relevance is limited to the dogs used in the study because the selected dogs were NOT randomly selected from the entire Golden Retriever universe. They were selected because of previously exhibited behavior!
Is Semyonova saying and/or implying that the results in the van den Berg study are applicable to “fighting breeds”, whatever they are, and not just to the Golden Retrievers in the study? If she is, then she is wrong.
Where are the citations for studies and/or objective data that support Semyonova’s statements?
