Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
on hot days, suggest that size and heat storage capacities are relevant sub-
jects for herding and hunting dog handlers. The careful observer notes that
water retrievers in colder climates tend to be bigger-volumed animals than
the upland field dogs, suggesting that the sportsman also understands that
morphology limits performance. Larger dogs have a better ability to retain
body heat when they swim in cold water. Herding dogs have to be big
enough to frighten livestock and retrievers have to be big enough to carry
the game.
Breed markers are prevalent among gun dogs and herding dogs. There
are no studies that compare animals with different variations in phenotype,
but these are claimed anecdotally. “Sheep move away from a black collie
better than a white one.” “Livestock-guarding dogs should be white so they
blend in with sheep or can be distinguished from attacking wolves.” These
are examples of a posteriori rationalizations, and it is not clear even that the
observations are correct.
Behavior
Foraging
Herding and gun dogs are confined so they will not perform without supervi-
sion, requiring them to be fed by their keepers. Like the sled dogs, perfor-
mance is exhausting and the handler's great fear is that overworked dogs, or
dogs in poor condition, will quit. Thus every effort is made to keep the dog
in good physical condition.
Feeding these dogs, valuable because of their specialized motor patterns,
is thought of as increasing the bond with the dog, and becomes part of a
daily ritual, with anticipatory reaction on the part of the dog.
Unlike working sled dogs, which tend to be continuously constrained,
herding dogs and gun dogs are free-ranging during performance. Most excit-
ing in this regard is that although their working behavior is thought to be
based on predatory motor patterns, the actual working performance is not
motivated by food. They do not hunt food on their own, nor does satiation
inhibit performance.
Reproduction
Herding dogs and gun dogs which display the proper innate stereotyped
motor patterns are field-tested and judged on their abilities to take directions
and produce a desired result. Breed creation is a modern affair. The original
creation of retrievers, pointers, and herding dogs, as with the sled dogs, was
achieved by hybridization. Selection was for the behavioral phenotype.
Almost unlike the racing sled dogs, herding dog and gun dog breed defini-
tion changed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from a phenotypic
description to genealogy. Thus all border collies can be traced to a single
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