Queensland authorities want to get tough on owners of dangerous dogs with new laws that could see them jailed. The state could also become the first to completely ban some breeds.
admittedly that’s an issue with the study and I’m glad you brought it up. This runs into the issue of how else could you collect the data? If you just go off reports or surrendered dogs you will miss out on smaller breeds like chihuahuas whose aggressive behaviour isn’t seen as serious enough to do anything about, as well as bias in the form of being more likely to label an aggressive dog a pit.
I think the more important thing to put forward here is that many of the participants didn’t actually know their dogs genetics. Like pointed out in the video if you have a mutt you really have no idea of it’s dna without testing. If aggression was a genetic issue you might expect the owners of smaller dogs like chihuahuas to admit to aggression, since doing so would not put their pet at risk, then the dna testing could show a commonality between their genes and the genes of more maligned breeds. Unless aggression if specifically linked to traits like a big muscular head, this seems like the smoking gun that this is a cultural issue.
I also haven’t seen any studies with different methodology find a link between aggression in certain breeds with genetics in any statistically significant way. This was just the largest study I’ve seen.
If you just go off reports or surrendered dogs you will miss out on smaller breeds like chihuahuas whose aggressive behaviour isn’t seen as serious enough to do anything about
I’m not sure what the best methodology is, but I’m not sure this objection really holds much weight.
Because if a dog is “aggressive” but unable to actually cause any real harm…what does it matter? I’m most interested in taking an approach that actually reduces harm. That’s naturally going to mean that larger dogs are more likely to be affected than smaller ones, and I see no problem with that.
because then if it is genetic and someone’s chihuahua or other small dog runs off and sires pups with a larger dog you’ve got the same issue all over again.
admittedly that’s an issue with the study and I’m glad you brought it up. This runs into the issue of how else could you collect the data? If you just go off reports or surrendered dogs you will miss out on smaller breeds like chihuahuas whose aggressive behaviour isn’t seen as serious enough to do anything about, as well as bias in the form of being more likely to label an aggressive dog a pit.
I think the more important thing to put forward here is that many of the participants didn’t actually know their dogs genetics. Like pointed out in the video if you have a mutt you really have no idea of it’s dna without testing. If aggression was a genetic issue you might expect the owners of smaller dogs like chihuahuas to admit to aggression, since doing so would not put their pet at risk, then the dna testing could show a commonality between their genes and the genes of more maligned breeds. Unless aggression if specifically linked to traits like a big muscular head, this seems like the smoking gun that this is a cultural issue.
I also haven’t seen any studies with different methodology find a link between aggression in certain breeds with genetics in any statistically significant way. This was just the largest study I’ve seen.
I’m not sure what the best methodology is, but I’m not sure this objection really holds much weight.
Because if a dog is “aggressive” but unable to actually cause any real harm…what does it matter? I’m most interested in taking an approach that actually reduces harm. That’s naturally going to mean that larger dogs are more likely to be affected than smaller ones, and I see no problem with that.
because then if it is genetic and someone’s chihuahua or other small dog runs off and sires pups with a larger dog you’ve got the same issue all over again.