#iaabc

A few weeks ago, my friend received her rescue dog’s DNA test results. Her dog Dexter is a medium-sized very floofy Border Collie-looking dog so when we both saw the results, our first reaction was: “They must’ve made a mistake. This can’t be right”. Rat Terriers are tiny dogs! And Basenji? How is this possible?

After talking to a few dog scientists, everything now makes sense. 

25% of “unknown mixed breeds” is a huge percentage in terms what we don’t know about Dexter’s breed ancestry. All we know for sure is that he is a Rat Terrier mix.

There is a famous study by scientists Scott and Fuller from the 1960′s that I first read about in Bronwen Dickey’s book, Pit Bull. The scientists bred a 100% Cocker Spaniel and a 100% Basenji and found that the 1st and 2nd generation Cocker-Basenji pups looked nothing like the parents - they looked more like pit bulls, labs, hounds, and other mutts. The study showed very clearly that we can never know for sure what breed a dog is by visual appearance only. 

Regardless, we predict so much about a dog’s behavior based on the “breed” we think they are, which we usually guess based on how they look. 

A dog that looks like a pit bull will be instantly discriminated against in today’s society. Many people who don’t know any better will expect him to be dangerous. Should a pit bull-looking dog get upset and growl or something, he might get dumped in a shelter or killed. (A small growling fluffy dog will probably become an internet meme)

A dog that looks like a lab will be expected to be a good family dog - relaxed and good-natured with kids even if the kids do shitty things to the dog. The stereotypical labrador retriever is supposed to be more tolerant than other breeds.

#GUESSTHEMUTT

A really cool new canine science survey launched yesterday - The Mutt Mix Project. This is put together by Darwin’s Dogs, a team of scientists who want to know how good people are at guessing breed mixes by looking at photos and videos of selected dogs.

“we need your help in finding out how well people are able to guess these breed mixes based on appearance. For each image, you will be asked to guess the top 3 breeds contributing to the mix. For the first few examples, we’ll show you the results right away, so you can see how everything works. Following that, we’ll hold off on giving you results until the study is over, at which point you’ll be able to see all of the dogs’ genetic results.“( from this page.)

I did the survey yesterday and it was fun but hard! I think I got almost all of them wrong. :)

You can participate in the survey here: www.muttmix.org

Do it for science!

- Lili x

New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/science/dogs-mutts-genes.html

Updated to add that we cannot know that these dogs are PIT BULLS based on appearance alone.

If you’ve been following this blog for a long time, you’ll notice that I’ve pretty much stopped responding to asks about ‘what is my dog doing when she does x’ that don’t have video submissions attached. We’ve talked a lot as this space has evolved about how hard it is to accurately call behavior from still photographs, especially without context. Similarly, a lot of people feel bad because it looks like their pup is stressed in a snapshot they took. 

This photo and the following commentary came across my facebook feed today, and I wanted to share it with you guys to show you that this difficulty in interpreting behavior in photos accurately is not something that changes as you become more experienced in the field. No matter what your experience level, it’s still possible to catch a photo that looks “bad” or to misinterpret one that’s fine. 

The text that accompanies this photo in it’s original post is written by Marjie Alonso, the executive director of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. The beagle is her current adorable (and endlessly mischievous) foster pup. 

“Yesterday my colleague posted this picture on her wall (from our BOD retreat). As an exercise she queried, "Problem or no problem?" Overwhelmingly those responding declared BIG problem: the leashes were too long, too tight, the tails were too high, "aggressive stances" were mentioned.

Here's the thing: in reality, these dogs (my foster Beagle and her goofy adolescent Golden) were playing wonderfully; the Beagle was pretty sure the Golden was nuts for going in the water, the Golden was fetching a rope toy and zooming past the Beagle in gentle, easy play.

This was a moment just before another play bow / zooming arc (Golden into the water, Beagle along the sand) then broken up by calm walking and exploring together or separately.It was amazing to see the experts declaring with such conviction what was going on - and to know that they were completely incorrect in their assumptions. I'm sure I do the same thing all the time.

A series of illustrations for IAABC (International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants). 

“DOG PARK PROJECT: The IAABC has collaborated with Dr. Jessica Hekman and artist Lili Chin to create a series of posters for use by trainers, dog parks and community dog organizations to promote safety in dog parks and dog play.

The posters, four so far as we begin the collection, are available as PDFs, intended for 11 x 17 printing, and in jpeg form.To download a jpeg to your desktop on a Mac, control+click on the image when the jpeg web page opens.

To download a jpeg to your desktop on a PC, right or shift + click on the image when the jpeg web page opens. IAABC members have free access to these posters, which can be found under “resources” in their user accounts. 

Members are encouraged to distribute these as they see fit to their local dog owner’s groups, dog parks, training centers, veterinary offices, and anywhere else they might be useful.The jpegs are suitable for distribution on Facebook and other social media outlets as well as for placement within other promotional materials.Through this campaign we hope to educate owners in a simple, friendly way, improve safety for the dogs playing in dog parks, and to help make the IAABC a household name for people looking for further help!”

LINKS: 

www.iaabc.org

Or CCPDT (Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers)?

I want to find somewhere to learn and get certified to be a dog trainer. I'm liking IAABC the best so far, because it's cheaper for one :) and it has a lot more information (books to read, seminars to online courses to take in your area, etc). I'm really liking it, but I want to make sure it'll be good for me (or if CCPDT will be better) before I spend money on it.