Dog behavior and genetics

[Strigix]

Genetics goes to the dogs, finds there’s not much to breed behavior

One of the strongest genetic associations is “gets stuck behind objects.”…

arstechnica.com

It seems that, despite what a lot of 'breed experts' say about dog behavior correlating with breeds and genetics, there's not really any clear link to be seen between genetic and behavioral factors. Some of the strongest influences only account for 25% or so of the deviation in a behavior, and most are far weaker.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[GeneralSecretaryGrog]

Genetics being a massively overstated factor for behaviour, how abnormal. This has never occured before in society.

In all seriousness, this makes a lot of sense. Dogs are very new, and many specific dog breeds are even newer. Differences in behaviour between breeds would definitely not be due to just genetics, but various aspects of thier environment (and of course individual variation within the breed itself, but that's likely not a unique thing). As mentioned in the article for some breeds genetics are a factor, but it's massively overstated. This makes sense since dog breeders have an interest in claiming that specific behaviours are inherent to certain breeds, which would attract people to buy them if they want a dog that would act a certain way. If it's due to factors outside the control of the breeder, or environmental factors that can be controlled by the "owner", then there wouldn't be as much of a reason to go to breeders for "pure" dogs.