The Habits of Dog Breeds

  Mendel's experiments with the garden peas showed the way in which the laws of inheritance work, and brought out the truth of the conclusion that the chance of breeding good dogs increases in direct ratio with the quality not only of the parents, but of every dog in all the generations behind them.

  So it can be seen that with all the inheritable characteristics which take part in any mating, no two puppies will ever be exactly alike. This fact works both favorably and adversely for the breeder, for there is always the chance that one or more of the litter will inherit most of the best characteristics of the parents. When both parents are good in body formation and are of closely related blood lines, the inheritable qualities from which they have to draw will be closely approximated, and the possible variations are thus narrowed down. The puppies will also be of much more uniform quality where such methods are used.

  Mendel showed that certain characteristics are dominant and others recessive. In some dogs certain characteristics appear in their puppies with much greater frequency than might be expected, and when these characteristics happen to be desirable, the value of this dog to the breeder is greatly increased. A bitch or stud dominant in the desired characteristics increases in value with the number of characteristics possessed, and when mated to a suitable partner will give invaluable help toward the improvement of the breed.

  Now let us turn our attention to the origin of some of the habits which our dogs possess. For instance, when a dog starts to lie down in front of the fire, he will turn around several times. This is not because he is looking for a more comfortable spot on which to recline. He does this from instinct, and it goes back to the days when the dog was a wild creature and slept in the open. He would naturally choose a spot which was well hidden, and this often was in the long grass. Before he could lie down comfortably it was necessary to flatten enough of the grass to make a nest for himself—and what better way to do this than by turning around several times in a small circle?

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