Differences in the Behavior of Landraces and Breeds of Dogs - Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals - page 220

Many household dogs have breed-specific diseases ( Asher et al., 2009;
Willis, 1992 ). Culling animals that have symptoms of these diseases increases
the rate at which homozygosity occurs within a breed. It is doubtful, with
what we know about inbreeding (isolating a small population of animals for
the purpose of decreasing heterozygosity), that the genetic health of a breed
can be maintained for very long. Breed-specific diseases are symptomatic
of loss of genetic health, which cannot be restored with continued genetic
isolation ( APGAW, 2009; Bateson, 2010; Rooney and Sargan, 2009 ).

Hazard Avoidance
The most severe hazard these animals face is culling by humans. Shelters take
in 3 4 million dogs each year in the U.S. alone ( Luescher and Medlock,

2009 ). It is estimated that 60% of these animals are euthanized ( Clevenger
and Kass, 2003 ). Some of the remaining 40% that are adopted are returned to
the shelter due to behavioral problems ( Mondelli et al., 2004; Wells and
Hepper, 2000 ) and must go through the whole process again. Many dogs are
relinquished for behavioral reasons in the first place—behaviors that are often
worsened by the kennel environment ( New et al, 2000; Tuber et al., 1999 ). If
dogs do not have behavioral problems upon relinquishment, they will often
develop problems in the shelter ( Tuber et al., 1999 ). If they can be housebro-
ken and are reasonably quiet, submissive, and nondestructive, their survival
opportunities increase.
The nuisance costs of household dogs are high. Culling of unwanted ani-
mals is only partly reported by agencies that provide this service.
Charitable humane societies and municipalities throughout the U.S. maintain
dog officers and kennels to collect lost, stray, and behaviorally obnoxious
dogs.
An ancestral uniqueness in working behavior is often unacceptable in
pets ( Houpt et al., 2007 ). For example, the displays of specialized motor
patterns such as eye-stalk, chase, grab-bite, and kill-bite are essential in
some working dogs, but not when directed at joggers, cars, or bicycle riders.
Also anathema to the household environment are dogs showing dominance
or aggressiveness, or simply scavenging trash barrels, wandering and hunting
widely, and emitting rally calls continuously.
Many household dogs are abandoned daily when their owners leave for
work. Neurotic separation anxieties are clinically common ( Sherman and
Mills, 2008 ). Owners seek psychiatric care for them. The fatal flaw for many
household dogs is that the human companion has little understanding of dog
behavior and welfare needs ( Hubrecht, 1995; Sherman and Mills, 2008 ).
Animal behavior therapists try to educate owners about the nature of dogs
( Voith, 2009 ). But too often, one finds an animal genetically unfit to be a
pet, in an environment not fit for a pet, and exhibiting behaviors that the
human companion does not understand or desire.