Nature vs. nurture: They’re both big factors in getting to ‘Good Dog’

We’re all about having fun at Kindred Spirits Dog Training. Although we often deal with dogs (and owners) with problem behaviors, we also want to emphasize the dog and owner relationship, having fun with training, fun classes, and so on. But the trainers often have some fun and interesting discussions, too, and one of those occurred last night.

One of the  trainers, Melissa, is thinking of adding a new puppy to her home. The last dog to join her family was Goliath, who was rescued from a less than desirable situation at the age of 14. He’s doing well today at 15, even enjoying training, but Melissa would like a puppy this time. She was looking at a litter and a particular puppy in the litter, and said something along the lines that she couldn’t really tell a lot about his personality. The breeder was going to have someone come in and do temperament tests, and she’d wait until she found out how those turned out.

Several trainers told her not to think too much about the choice, to talk to the breeder, find out about the temperament tests, but also to listen to her heart and choose the puppy that caught her eye, for whatever reason. Choosing a puppy needs to be a logical yet also an emotional decision. This began a discussion that was really quite fascinating.

The first was definitions: Temperament is that which a being is born with (nature) while personality is that which is built upon that temperament and is shaped by experiences (nurture). An example given was that a litter of puppies can have the inherited tendencies to have stable temperaments, but if the mother  is nervous about having a litter, is stressed while caring for the puppies, or has a traumatic experience; she could affect the puppies enough to make them fearful or nervous.

Another example closer to home, Bashir and Logan (pictured) are litter brothers. When we saw the litter, there were differences between Logan and Bashir.  Bashir was calmer and more serious, but both were very nice puppies.  Bashir went home with me while Logan went home with my business partner and friend, Petra. There was some discord in Petra’s home while Logan was growing up, and then a divorce, and Logan reacted to that discord. He is much more reactive than Bashir and there was definitely a personality shift.

This discussion was centered around the idea that while the baby puppy’s temperament is important, puppies can also be shaped and guided as they grow and develop. Therefore a good part of who they grow up to be is also based on their experiences as they grow up.

So our discussion then asked, “How important is nature? How important is nurture? Are they equally important in shaping who our dogs grow up to be? Does nature have a stronger influence or does nurture?” Wow! What good questions.

I won’t tell you where our discussion continued but instead will ask, what do you all think?

Photo: Litter brothers Bashir (left) and Logan. Photo by Liz Palika

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