Pawz4me wrote:
Crowe wrote:
I crate-trained a 9 year old bluetick coonhound. I also trained him to break from scent. It's difficult but you CAN break inbred habits and traits.
Sure you can. But IME the overwhelming majority of people who are just looking for a good family dog don't want to make the job any more difficult than it has to be. Especially people who have young kids -- they generally simply do not have time to do a ton of training. They're doing good if they teach a dog a few basic commands, maybe get to a beginner obedience class. And that's why I'll always advise people to consider things like a herding breed's desire to herd (including a tendency to nip), a beagle's tendency to bay and raid trash cans, many terriers' instinct to dig, etc. Having spent years working in rescue, I want to stack the odds as much as possible in favor of the person getting a dog they're going to be willing and able to keep.
I agree with that. HOWEVER, where it gets muddy is when your sole basis for that "instinct" is simply based on a dog's appearance with no knowledge of its actual heritage (breeds).
For example, as a rescue, I might have a very nice long haired large black dog show up. Do I base my conversations with potential homes on the herding instinct of a Belgian sheepdog? Or do I base my conversations on the protectiveness of a shepherd? Or excessive barking of a collie?
There is no substitution for direct observation of an individual dog versus a generalization based on a breed (that may or may not even be part of the dog's genetic makeup).
