Sunny smiling a greeting
It is not difficult for anyone who has raised a puppy to believe that there are behavioral traits that animals seem born with. While a ’shy gene’ has not been isolated, scientists continue to discover more about how our DNA affects not only our personality, but also our friends!
A recent article in the online publication Health Day News for a Healthier Living looked at genetic links to sociability and shyness. While the study was done on humans, it’s not a stretch to assume that similar results could be found in dogs. You can read the article here:
http://tinyurl.com/c75uq8
The information provided in the article should confirm to dog owners, if we are extrapolating the results of the research to be similar to what we are likely to find in dogs, that early training and intervention is key when it comes to shy or fearful behavior in our pets. Since the interplay between genes and experience is creating the dog, and if by looking at the dog we believe that the genes hint at promoting shyness, experience and training are that much more important to ensure that whatever hard wiring eventually occurs in the brain, it’s to the dog’s best advantage.
Run don’t walk to your nearest positive reinforcement trainer to learn how you can help your dog not just learn how to behave appropriately around the things that scare him, but how you can make the change where it counts, in his brain.
