How a Dog’s Breed Informs Their Personality Traits

In aTED-Edlesson written byKathleen Morrill Pirovich,and animated byAnastasiia Falileieva of Studio Plastic Bag, narrator Bethany Cutmore Scott explains the long history of dogs as human's best friend. She also talks about how each dog's breed informs their personality, as many of them were bred to do specific jobs or bred to have certain traits.

The immense physical variety of dogs makes them among the world's most diverse species and likely the one with the greatest range in size. A Pomeranian, for example, might weigh 2 kilograms, while a Mastiff could tip the scale to 100. So, why is this? And what does a dog's breed actually say about them?

It turns out that different breeds have inherited specific genetic traits from their wolf forebears that create different personalities.

When researchers in one study compared the genetic data rom many different dogs, they found about 9% of a dog's personality traits were attributed specifically to its breed. Some of the traits in the study that were most heritable seemed to be derived from long-standing predatory behaviors also exhibited in wolves. This is seen in how border collies stalk with their eyes, and how golden retrievers chase and grab-bite.

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