Breed and Behavior
BREED
Humans all belonging to the same Species. Any human, from any race, or group, regardless of skin color, height, muscular mass, hair form can mate with any other variant and produce fertile children. Brazil is a good example.
That is how a Species is defined. The male and female of which can mate and produce fertile offspring.
Horses and Donkeys produce Mules. Mules are sterile. They are hybrids. There are no known human hybrids. But, most horses generally look the same. Is there a species that is similar to humans?
Yes.
Dogs. Any dog, of any breed can mate with any other dog of any breed and produce a fertile dog.
What can we learn from this comparison?
What if we decided to bunch all red dogs into one breed, all white ones into another and all black ones into another? We would have chaos. French Poodles have all three colors of their coat and yet they retain the temperament, behavior and shape of French Poodles. Imagine the Irish Setter, all beautiful red, classed with the red Poodles, or the Black Labs with the Black Poodles.
I think the point is made. Coat color fails.
A good look at all dogs raises some serious questions as to similarity when we look at St. Bernard’s (I once had 22 of these gentle giants) and virtually any of the very small dogs such as the Mexican hairless (I heard this breed may have disappeared). If there two breeds were to mate, if mechanical obstacles were overcome, what would result would be a dog that would be fertile.
Humans all belonging to the same Species. Any human, from any race, or group, regardless of skin color, height, muscular mass, hair form can mate with any other variant and produce fertile children. Brazil is a good example.
That is how a Species is defined. The male and female of which can mate and produce fertile offspring.
Horses and Donkeys produce Mules. Mules are sterile. They are hybrids. There are no known human hybrids. But, most horses generally look the same. Is there a species that is similar to humans?
Yes.
Dogs. Any dog, of any breed can mate with any other dog of any breed and produce a fertile dog.
What can we learn from this comparison?
What if we decided to bunch all red dogs into one breed, all white ones into another and all black ones into another? We would have chaos. French Poodles have all three colors of their coat and yet they retain the temperament, behavior and shape of French Poodles. Imagine the Irish Setter, all beautiful red, classed with the red Poodles, or the Black Labs with the Black Poodles.
I think the point is made. Coat color fails.
A good look at all dogs raises some serious questions as to similarity when we look at St. Bernard’s (I once had 22 of these gentle giants) and virtually any of the very small dogs such as the Mexican hairless (I heard this breed may have disappeared). If there two breeds were to mate, if mechanical obstacles were overcome, what would result would be a dog that would be fertile.
BEHAVIOR
Of course all dogs behave in a very similar manner. They all reflect their origin in the Wolf as they circle about before they lie down. They, with the exception of dogs bred to not make noise or to Yodel, all bark.
But, certain breeds exhibit behavioral characteristics that are transmitted genetically. There are Sporting Breeds such as Pointers and Setters. There are Hound breeds. There are working dogs such as Mastiffs who guard and Siberian Husky dogs who pull sleds. There are Terrier breeds such as the Fox Terrier, Hound Dogs like the Basset Hound, Herding Breeds including the Collie, Toy Breeds with Pug and Pomeranian and Non Sporting Dogs such as the Chow Chow and the Poodle.
Those are the large classifications as decided upon by the American Kennel Club.
However, some specific breeds exhibit some characteristics demonstrated when they are puppies. There are dogs that are so aggressive, as a breed, that insurance companies will no longer insure them amongst such are the Rottweilers and others. Their behavior is built into their genetic makeup.
Put a Cocker Spaniel puppy into a bunch of Rottweiler puppies right after birth of all of them and if the Cocker Spaniel puppy survives it will still be a pleasant lap dog and not prone to attacking people or other dogs. I doubt if the Rottweiler pups will grow up to be laid back.
So, what about human breeds?
Just ask the Greeks if the Turks are the same as the Greeks. They do look alike. There are subtle differences in behavior usually only noticed by Turks or Greeks. But, the Turks and Greeks know those differences and there is almost perpetual animosity between them.
Try the Russians and the Poles. Once again they appear, to outsiders, to be very similar. However, just ask the Russians or the poles. They do see those differences. Over the course of history they have attacked and hated each other.
But, do Turks and Greeks and poles and Russians agree that they are both human? Yes, as long as they are not at war with each other. Then the other becomes demonized. And not at all human.
We may ask the same questions about the Koreans and the Japanese or the Japanese and the Chinese or the Hutu and the Tutsi or the Shiite and Sunni.
They see them selves as different and cling to those differences. Are those differences real? Or are they just due to environmental, meaning cultural differences?
Well, take a good look at Korean children adopted at birth and raised by WASP American parents. They beat out the other kids in academics raised by biologic parents in the same socio economic group.
There is a great deal of evidence to support the importance of genetic transmission of behavior. It appears in medical diseases such a Schizophrenia and in the studies of criminals.
So. What Breed are you?
Of course all dogs behave in a very similar manner. They all reflect their origin in the Wolf as they circle about before they lie down. They, with the exception of dogs bred to not make noise or to Yodel, all bark.
But, certain breeds exhibit behavioral characteristics that are transmitted genetically. There are Sporting Breeds such as Pointers and Setters. There are Hound breeds. There are working dogs such as Mastiffs who guard and Siberian Husky dogs who pull sleds. There are Terrier breeds such as the Fox Terrier, Hound Dogs like the Basset Hound, Herding Breeds including the Collie, Toy Breeds with Pug and Pomeranian and Non Sporting Dogs such as the Chow Chow and the Poodle.
Those are the large classifications as decided upon by the American Kennel Club.
However, some specific breeds exhibit some characteristics demonstrated when they are puppies. There are dogs that are so aggressive, as a breed, that insurance companies will no longer insure them amongst such are the Rottweilers and others. Their behavior is built into their genetic makeup.
Put a Cocker Spaniel puppy into a bunch of Rottweiler puppies right after birth of all of them and if the Cocker Spaniel puppy survives it will still be a pleasant lap dog and not prone to attacking people or other dogs. I doubt if the Rottweiler pups will grow up to be laid back.
So, what about human breeds?
Just ask the Greeks if the Turks are the same as the Greeks. They do look alike. There are subtle differences in behavior usually only noticed by Turks or Greeks. But, the Turks and Greeks know those differences and there is almost perpetual animosity between them.
Try the Russians and the Poles. Once again they appear, to outsiders, to be very similar. However, just ask the Russians or the poles. They do see those differences. Over the course of history they have attacked and hated each other.
But, do Turks and Greeks and poles and Russians agree that they are both human? Yes, as long as they are not at war with each other. Then the other becomes demonized. And not at all human.
We may ask the same questions about the Koreans and the Japanese or the Japanese and the Chinese or the Hutu and the Tutsi or the Shiite and Sunni.
They see them selves as different and cling to those differences. Are those differences real? Or are they just due to environmental, meaning cultural differences?
Well, take a good look at Korean children adopted at birth and raised by WASP American parents. They beat out the other kids in academics raised by biologic parents in the same socio economic group.
There is a great deal of evidence to support the importance of genetic transmission of behavior. It appears in medical diseases such a Schizophrenia and in the studies of criminals.
So. What Breed are you?