Dog breed selector
.[1]
A dog breed selector is computer software that helps a person find a dog breed that is a good match for their home environment, lifestyle, and personal preferences.
As of 2024, the American Kennel Club (AKC) recognizes more than 200 dog breeds[2]. The United Kennel Club (UKC) recognizes over 300 breeds[3], and the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) recognizes over 360[4]. It is estimated that there are over 400 distinct dog breeds in the world today.
It can be impossible for anyone but an expert to become familiar with more than a relative handful of dog breeds. A dog breed selector program narrows the choices to breeds that meet the user's criteria. The program accomplishes this by asking the user a series of questions, and then searching a database for the breeds that best match the responses.
Many of the questions deal with physical characteristics, including things like size, type of coat, athletic ability, and even color. Other questions deal with dog behaviors and personality traits, including friendliness, aggression, trainability, and specific aptitudes such as herding.
There is some dispute as to whether different breeds actually have distinct personality traits. A widely-circulated study published in April 2022 claimed that genetics account for just 9% of a dog's behavior, making the dog's breed a very poor predictor of its personality[5]
Other studies refute this conclusion. A study published in December 2022[6] found that "Humans selectively bred dogs for specific occupations for thousands of years, producing a powerful system for understanding how behavior is encoded in genomes."
Another study[7] published in 2019 found that "Breed differences in behavior covary strongly with relatedness between breeds, and for several traits, genotype accounts for more than 50% of behavioral variation across breeds."
A 2023 study[8] concluded that a dog’s personality traits are highly genetic, with heredity contributing 40% to 50%. But, as with humans, environmental factors also play an important role, especially in the dog’s early life.
Dog experts agree that behaviors are heavily influenced by breed.
“Purebred dog breeds have been developed, some for hundreds of years, for a purpose, whether that be cuddling on laps, hunting birds, herding livestock, or pulling sleds,” says Penny Leigh, the Director of Registration Development at the AKC[9]. “They were selected for traits that would produce the best dogs for their intended job, and those traits still define their personalities today even if they are not being used in their intended roles.”
Dr. Jerold Bell, Adjunct Professor of Genetics at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, says "There is no question that ‘instinct’ is a strong factor in purebred dog behavior when you see a weeks-old puppy frozen on-point, or a herding dog circling the family children, or all other stereotypical breed behaviors."
Clearly, environment, training, and other factors will influence the behavior of individual dogs. Dog breed selector programs simply help to identify breeds that have a predisposition for certain behaviors or personality traits.
There are many dog breed selectors available for free on the Internet. They vary widely in their comprehensiveness. Most of the selectors also provide descriptions and photos of the breeds they recommend.
Dog Breed Selectors
| Selector | Number of Questions | Breeds Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| AKC | 7 | 3-10 |
| Dog Breed Info | 12 | 1-50 |
| Dogtime | 20 | 15 |
| Georgia Puppies | 34 | 30 |
| IAMs | 14 | 4 |
| Orvis | 13 | 15 |
| Pedigree | 14 | 4 |
| Purina | 10 | 1-3 |
| Rover | 11 | 3 |
| Select a Dog Breed | 18 | 6 |
References
- ↑ "Breed Standards". United Kennel Club. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- ↑ "Becoming Recognized by the AKC". American Kennel Club. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- ↑ "Breed Standards". United Kennel Club. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- ↑ "Presentation of Our Organization". Fédération Cynologique Internationale. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- ↑ Morrill, Kathleen (29 April 2022). "Ancestry-inclusive dog genomics challenges popular breed stereotypes". Science. 376 (6592): eabk0639. doi:10.1126/science.abk0639. PMC 9675396 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 35482869 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ Dutrow, Emily V.; Serpell, James A.; Ostrander, Elaine A. (December 2022). "Domestic dog lineages reveal genetic drivers of behavioral diversification". Cell. 185 (25): 4737–4755.e18. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.003. PMC 10478034 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 36493753 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ Maclean, Even L; Snyder-Mackler, Noah; vonHoldt, Bridgett M; Serpell, James A (1 January 2019). "Highly Heritable and Functionally Relevant Breed Differences in Dog Behavior". bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/509315. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- ↑ Salonen, Milla; Mikkola, Salla; Niskanen, Julia E; Hakkanen, Emma; Sulkama, Sini; Puurunen, Jenni; Lohi, Hannes (19 May 2023). "Breed, age, and social environment are associated with personality traits in dogs". iScience. 26 (5). Bibcode:2023iSci...26j6691S. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106691. PMC 10165416 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 37168553 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ Leigh, Penny. "Does Dog Breed Affect Behavior? In a Word, Yes". American Kennel Club. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
External links
- AKC Dog Breed Selector
- Dog Breed Info Dog Breed Selector
- DogTime Dog Breed Selector
- Georgia Puppies Dog Breed Selector
- IAMS Dog Breed Selector
- Orvis Dog Breed Selector
- Pedigree Dog Breed Selector
- AKC Dog Breed Selector
- Rover Dog Breed Selector
- Select a Dog Breed Breed Selector
Disclosure
The author of this page co-developed a dog breed selector in 1998. The selector was published as part of the "Telemark's Guide to Dogs" CD-ROM, which is no longer available.
This article "Dog breed selector" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Dog breed selector. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
