One of the most important aspects of the Coppinger model for dog domestication and, as a corollary, dog behavior is that physical appearance is intimately linked to behavior. The fox farm experiment on which he bases much of the model is that spots and floppy ears are hallmarks of domestication, and if we take a look at modern dogs, those that look the most like adult wolves will be more aggressive and wild and those that are most juvenilized in appearance will be more docile and trainable.
In a section in which he discusses aggressive behavior, he makes a rather interesting, though I think quite flawed, suggestion. The breed in question is the German shepherd dog, which is often used for protection. If we were to breed out the aggression in German shepherd dogs, how would we do it? Well, Coppinger has a solution.
So to breed aggression out German shepherds, we should just try to breed them to be like yellow Labs?
Well, not so fast.
I will provide two examples of two different sets of breeds to show you how this is not case.
Here are your first pair of dogs:
125-pound golden retriever from North American pet lines.
Blond hovawart.
These two dogs look like they could be litter mates.
However, let me ask you another question: Say that you’re a burglar, and you want to break into a house that has one of these dogs in it? Which do want to burgle?
You want to burgle the house with the 125-pound golden retriever. The hovawart will tear you up.
Hovawarts are a recreation of a German estate and farm guard dog that was common in the Black Forest. It was recreated with a lot of German shepherd blood, and the dogs behave more like German shepherds than the golden retriever that they superficially resemble. Hovawarts also come in black and tan and solid black colors, but the blonds really look like golden retrievers.
If Coppinger thinks the way one breeds aggression out of German shepherds is to breed them to look like Labradors, these particular breeds suggest otherwise. Here are two breeds that look very similar to each other, but they behave very differently. The recreated Hovawart is said to have some Newfoundland in it, which might account for some the superficial similarities. Golden retrievers and Newfoundlands do share a recent common ancestry.
( I should note that the golden retrievers in Germany rarely approach the size of the North American pet dogs, so it’s actually very easy to tell German golden retrievers from hovawarts, which are very common as pets.)
Now, someone did breed the aggression out of German shepherds.
This is a run of the mill German shepherd dog:
A typical German shepherd dog.
Here’s a strain of shepherd that has had most of the aggression bred out of it.
Shiloh shepherd. This breed is derived from German shepherd dogs that have been selected to be docile and gentle.
The Shiloh shepherd is derived from the German shepherd, but it has been selected to be very docile and gentle. The strain was founded in the 1970’s, and the breed is almost entirely German shepherd dog in ancestry. It has just been selected to be more gentle than the typical German shepherd, and unlike the more typical German shepherd, they are not generally considered suitable for schutzhund or protection dog work.
Notice something?
These dogs look nothing like yellow Labs, but they are closer to Labradors in temperament than the typical German shepherd dog.
Both of these pairs of dogs strongly suggest that one cannot tell the temperament of a dog by looking at it. Just because a fox has spots doesn’t mean that it’s genetically tame, just as the appearance of the dog doesn’t always indicate what the temperament should be.
Glad you caught out Coppinger. It is a given with GSD’s, for instance, that one has to breed for both temperament and type. As you say, they are not genetically co-determined and shepherd breeders have always understood that.
What is not so clearly understood is the relationship between innate temperament and trainability. I grew up with GSD’s, bred for “sound” temperament, that is, fearless, but good-natured. It was believed that a sound-tempered, well-socialized dog could be trained to do anything. That is because the attack trained dog does not experience aggression; he just does what he’s trained to do. It was believed that a congenitally aggressive dog would be undesirable for attack training because it might be hard to control. I met just one attack trained dog. She was also one of the silliest, most playful bitches I have ever seen. Had she not come with a letter (in German) attesting to her attack training, no one would have suspected. Just mentioned this last to suggest that dogs change in subtle ways as our beliefs and expectations change.
Some years ago I worked for a veterinary practice that treated the city’s police dogs. They (at that time, don’t know about now) used only large male GSDs. The working dogs they had were always very easy to handle, good natured and responsive. They would obey basic obedience commands from us in the absence of their handlers, and generally were a pleasure to work with. One of them I recall being particularly good at scamming treats out of me in the reception area, and his handler never minded me dispensing them.
They did have more and more trouble getting dogs for the program, they typically received them as donations (people who got a dog that was more than they could handle). It seemed that it got harder for them to find dogs that were both physically sound, and had the right temperament for the job. I remember one time an officer telling us about the new young dog they had just started working, sent to take down a fleeing suspect, and happily running back and forth between the suspect and the officer. Think that dog may have washed out. The dogs do have to have enough aggression to attack when given the command.
I would love to see Hovawarts to be a recognized breed in AKC and CKC. What is taking them so long? Come to think of it, they accorded full registration to equally popular and well-known breeds Leonberger and Cane Corso just last year.
Suhail – I sincerely hope the Hovawarts are not fully recognized by the AKC. Right now, the handful of breeders in the US maintain very strict breeding standards. Once they receive recognition and their popularity increases, the backyard breeders will ruin the breed. Not only will the health and temperament of the lines become jeopardized, but they will get into the hands of many people who might not know what they’re getting into with a Hovi! I’d much prefer to see them remain little-known and better-loved!
Point taken, but my only argument would be that it is almost impossible for Hovawarts to become that popular where the breeding would out of control. That could be true about small and medium-sized dogs. Hovi is too big a dog to be kept by an average American or Canadian household just for making a fashion statement or as a fad.
Not only that, but AKC- and CKC-registered dogs are a small minority. Yes, they are the biggest registry; but it’s earth-shattering how many purebreds there are despite what the official numbers tell us.
“Backyard breeders”? Who? Everyone is a freaking backyard breeder. They are an invisible enemy no one can defines; yet the definition is broad enough to use it as a slur or slam against another coming-of-age breeder or a reputable breeder facing scrutiny.
I wouldn’t worry about what a registry will do to the reputation of a breed. I would be more concerned about the severe genetic bottlenecks as a result of not being able to find enough homes to continue the projects in order to keep the bloodlines diverse.
I appreciate your posting the picture of the 125 lbs Golden. My family has had 2 golden’s that were about 125 lbs each, easily dwarfing the standard goldens (both stood around 28″ at the withers). A third golden we had was about 115 lbs. While he wasn’t as tall as the other two, he was much taller than the standards. Regardless, we fell in love with these “giant goldens,” (that’s what local vets referred to them as), and many others who met them have started searching for their own. Over and over we have had people inquire as to where they can get one as big as ours (we don’t know, in all honesty. We got ours through good luck rather than good management – although my father IS really good at picking them haha).
The older veterinarians in my area were all familiar with golden retrievers of this size, but younger vets were astounded and amazed. When Saxon, the largest of the three, passed away last August he had spent some time “working” as a “therapy dog” (that is to say, he was too nosy to not insert himself into the therapy sessions at a psychological practice, and the patients loved him for it). After he died, I stupidly asked some breeders if they had any information about the “giants” and whether they knew where we could obtain another one. My request was met with disgust and outrage, and I was even told that I was lying about the size, good health, and other attributes of my dogs. I was told that my dogs were inferior and that they didn’t deserve to be called golden retrievers. I was also told that golden retrievers of that size had never and rightly should never have existed. Despite some people coming to my defense, and even showing pictures of their own “giants,” the chances of finding another seemed slim. But by some miracle, it appears my father has done it again. My family got two golden puppies (brothers) in January. They turned 1 year old on 11/16, and both are over 90 lbs, and still growing steadily. Needless to say, my family loves them, and although they aren’t allowed to go into therapy sessions until they are older, the patients are absolutely smitten. And once again, the requests for information about these gentle giants are rolling in.
Until you posted this, I thought that maybe we actually do have “fluke” dogs or maybe it’s something in our water. But now I know that other people have seen/heard of/encountered golden retrievers of this size, and they aren’t condemned. They aren’t really different than other goldens in my experience, and I love all golden retrievers, standard or giant, first for their personality and demeanor, and also because I think they are genuinely attractive dogs. I’ve also always had a preference for big dogs, and with these guys I’m able to have a “bear” with all the companionship of a golden retriever!
I think they are actually throwback to large Newfoundland dogs that may have been hidden the foundational pedigrees of goldens and other retrievers.
[…] These animals are also a major affront to some of Coppinger’s theories about the correlations between phenotype and behavior in domestic dogs. […]