Border Collies are the jack offs of the dog world. This chart is wrong.
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Yeah hi, I’ve got morphology on the phone, wants a word
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They’re still good dogs, Bront!
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No weimaraner listed? They’re very intelligent and great family dogs.
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I consent to be bred! All takers considered! LOL.
Glad to see the Pharaoh Hound on there – a breed I really didn’t know until my barber got one. Sweet, smart dog. They sent him to a really good trainer, so he’s maybe particularly well behaved, but everything I could want in a dog (although I guess they bark a lot of not well trained)
“inexplicably overrated” are the dogs that are both popular and have severe congenital health problems, are expensive to look after and/or are difficult to train.
There are quite a few working dogs (using the wider definition that includes herding and hunting dogs) in the “Hot Dogs” and "overlooked treasures too, the top seven ranking dogs by their data score (Border Collie, Border Terrier, Brittany, Cairn Terrier, Welsh Springer Spaniel, Cocker Spaniels (Both English and American)) are also herding or hunting dogs.
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I know people want predictors of what a dog will look like and be like, but there are of course no guarantees, and you have to take the good with the bad with all companion animals.
Though I’d be happy if there were some other way for people to make their living than doing what are basically long-term experiments on animals to get interesting effects, rather than primarily breeding to promote the health of the dog.
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according to the spreadsheet the Pharaoh hound
is above average intelligence, and no health problems, though the sample size may be too small.
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I knew Darwin studied pigeons, and it’s very interesting to learn they’re a continuing source of interest to science. But how is it possible that people are allowed to breed these birds to be useless to themselves? Is this tolerated because pigeons are common, and have the public rep that they do?
In the wild, pigeons used to nest in the cliffs and rock ledges of Europe and Asia, the exact same nesting habitat as one of their main predators, the peregrine falcon. A unfortunate choice, but despite this, they’ve survived:
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Irish setters are smart?? I beg to differ.
Also, no wheaten terrier! My beloved, stubborn, quiet pup!
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Bulldogs make me uncomfortable, because they themselves look so uncomfortable-- some of them can barely walk.
But I’m annoyed they rated Greyhounds “rightly ignored”-- I think it depends on the individual dog. I know people who have rescued Greyhounds and they can be loving animals (while other Greyhounds who could not overcome their mistreatment are problematic.)
Bottom line: if you want a dog, get one from the pound. “Breeds” are for people who want to show off; it’s cruel having a Siberian Husky if you live in a hot climate, and it doesn’t make you a manly-man outdoorsman.
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I think that’s it for me too! It like a furry Jabba the Hutt, with no dancing slave girls or party barges…
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I took a peek at the raw data, since neither Jack nor Parson Russel Terriers were to be found. Which seems kind of weird, since they are the breed most often chosen to play the mutt. Turns out it wasn’t included because there wasn’t enough data for the criteria they were measuring.
It is neat that they did try to show “smart” and “dumb” apart from the other criteria, which meant seeing a “smart” dog listed low on the value axis meant it had health and/or grooming issues. It’s these abysmal health ratings combined with the high popularity that make the poor bulldog such an outlier.
And never forget, dogs are personalities. The chart may say your Freddy is overrated, but first and foremost he’s your Freddy.
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how you know its name?
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had to open it on Safari
Philosophically, I’m all for getting dogs from the pound, but weirdly, all three dogs I’ve ever had were purebred–my mom picked two and the third/current was given to me. I barely remember the Great Pyr that my mom already had when I was born. It was nice but really independent. In my late teens my mom got a Boxer from an ad in the paper and he was the best. Very mindful and sweet and fun. A friend had a breeding pair of German Shepherds. My girl was really shy so nobody wanted to adopt her over her litter-mates. After four months, my friend just gave me a pure-bred GSD when she heard I had recently got an apartment that allowed dogs. One of the best things to ever happen to me, a great dog.
But it was all coincidence. Getting a mixed breed from the pound makes more sense, if I was actually choosing.
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I’m sorry you had to go through that. In addition to what you said, I would say consider a mutt. There’s no guarantee, but at least the risk of defects from inbreeding are mitigated, and you have a unique, lovable dog. All breeds were mutts once.
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Same with Humans.
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And if you make an X-axis and a Y-axis on the floor with tape, a cat will come and sit on the graph…
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Lovability is the Z-axis.
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