Temperament generalisations of dogs!?

You are asking an academic question and will get varied answers.

In general a puppy that is raised correctly on a good diet and socialized correctly will not usually have a temperament issue unless you as its new owners ie the environment cause a temperament to happen.

There have been m any studies as to the difference between puppies raised correctly and socialized by a breeder to ones who are lucky if they get any good meal and never see or meet humans or other animals or noise which occurs in a household.

Do you believe a human baby can be Born with a horrific temperament or to put it in lay terms an evil baby?Same with puppies if the person raised the puppies in their care correctly and gives them all the necessary tools of being a good socialized puppy and even trains them before sale it is all dependent on the purchaser to provide th BEST environment and home possible so you are looking at environment here and how a puppy owner treats their puppy.

l have seen puppies maltreated yet they bear no bad will to humans but given certain breeds if you do not raise it correctly you are looking at a potential disaster.

Certainly there are several breeds which need careful rearing more than perhaps others as they were bred for a particular purpose like fighting or something along those lines.

l agree people do generalize but than how many people really understand the psychology of a dog or bother to find out,check this sit e and you will see for yourself what people end up asking as a result of buying a poorly bred puppy to one that a decent Breeder has raised correctly.

l can guarantee a puppy's temperament when it leaves my house but if the owner does not follow the correct procedures indicated than l am hardly to blame if the puppy eventually ends up being aggressive although l do take puppies or dogs back whatever the issue With full refund.yet to happen!

You realize you are asking a theoretical question really and most dog owners fail to understand why their dog or puppy acts the way it does but if they do their homework and read up on the breed they have chosen than they have a head start,but than who reads much now,most people rely on the Internet which is not always correct

Super question although above some people's heads!

By the way of course a puppy or dog has its own mind but it is a dog not a human and thinks completely differently to us humans which many dog owners fail to understand.

No puppy is born aggressive but if it can get its own way with a new owner than it has the upper hand to use the Dog Whisperer terminology the dog becomes the alpha in the house and will not than listen to any owner as it knows it will g et its own way.This is Simply called manipulation.

Any breed description will be a generalisation to a certain extent, but it will describe how the majority of dogs in that breed behave. Remember that dogs have been bred for certain personality traits, so border collies were bred to be intelligent, submissive and determined. A terrier which wasn't stubborn, brave and aggressive would be of no use as a vermin killing or fighting dog and so wouldn't be bred from, whereas a spaniel that tried to kill other dogs or went down holes to take on badgers on its own wouldn't be bred from either- they had to be very friendly and energetic. Similarly, guard dog breeds aren't usually indiscriminately friendly because such dogs wouldn't be bred to create a guard dog. Lazy dogs would never make good herders.

Obviously there will always be the exceptions, but the rules hold true for a lot of the dogs of that breed (unless people have stopped breeding for those traits for long enough).

We bred wolves to be friendly and playful for all their lives, as well as submissive- why is breeding breeds for particular traits any less credible?

Dogs are NOT HUMANS!!!! Humans are NOT selectively breed.

SELECTIVE BREEDING locks in breed traits of all sorts-including basic "temperament".

A peke will NEVER make a good herder. Aside from it's selectively bred conformation,it doesn't have the drive.

A border collie WILL to some degree -depending on exposure-because those that didn't,did NOT reproduce.

Same for all the real breeds...you don't make more coonhounds that won't hunt & tree,more useless,won't hunt out out bird-dawgs. A terrier wasn't independant enough to get out & do it's job & make it's own life & death decisions in-ground would NOT reproduce.

Selective breeding takes hundreds of years but it DOES WORK....for ALL desired traits...in ALL domestic species...animals & plants.

A lot of dog behavior depends on how they are treated starting at birth. Puppies from a warm, loving environment, one with little kids around and not caged 24/7 tend to be friendlier and loving right off. That is not to say you cannot change a temperament. I knew one guy who wanted a mean rottweiler so he treated the dog mean. Then, when the dog was grown he couldn't understand how it was so aggressive. When certain breeds have been bred for purposes like security, of course their love reputation goes down the tubes but I have had dobies, rotts, and danes when my kids were babies and never had a problem. Like kids from a bad neighborhood--you have to love them and give them a chance.

When they generalize dog's behavior, they are mostly looking at the way untrained dogs can behave. Some dogs are harder to train than others, it is a fact, but with perseverance, it can be done.

Edited to add:

There is a difference between temperament and traits that are bred into a dog. Temperament is the emotional nature of the animal. Yes dogs are bred for specific traits.

Personally I believe that dogs behave as they are trained to behave. Although some characteristics in dogs are just so inbred into them that they can't be changed.