Maralynn Posted March 11, 2016 Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 http://www.nature.com/articles/srep22162 Apparently working Labs and working Border Collies share more in common with each other than they do with the show variety of their own breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippin's person Posted March 11, 2016 Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 I read the findings a little differently. The working Labs and Collies differed from one another more than was the case for the show lines of the two breeds (on the trait of impulsivity). The take-away seems to be: "These results are therefore consistent with the hypothesis that the creation of a show line results in a significant loss in behavioural diversity traditionally associated with a particular breed with regards to work related behaviour." So, breeding for form reduces functional distinctiveness, making show line dogs from different breeds more alike overall (and lowering breed specific variation relative to individual variation) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donald McCaig Posted March 11, 2016 Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 Dear Fellow Students, I'd like to know How did they determine if a Border Collie was a working border collie or a show Border Collie? Registry would be a pretty good guess, owner's input less good. Somewhere it says: "The 1161 samples included: 716 Border Collies (225 neutered males, 152 entire males, 236 neutered females, 103 entire females) and 445 Labrador Retrievers (136 neutered males, 96 entire males, 125 neutered females, 88 entire females)." which would be typical of a pet/working population sample but a relatively small percentage of working males are castrated here or in the UK. Donald McCaig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbridges Posted May 23, 2016 Report Share Posted May 23, 2016 Well, in that you can't show a neutered or spayed dog, that would make the distinction a bit easier, would it not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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