Mike Schoonbrood

How much of a dogs temprement do you think is genetic vs. how the dog is socialized as a pup?

My trainer has a female malinois who he didn't do any exposure work with, he says he's tested it, raised 2 pups from the same litter in 2 different ways, n by the time they hit maturity, they both work equally well. Alot of people have told me that socializing isn't neccesary, because when the dog hits maturity they change anyway and make up their own mind of how they should be.

Cujo was the most social pup you'd ever met, loved everyone, would run up to perfect strangers and go crazy with joy. It annoyed the hell outta me. Now if I take him somewhere around strangers, or even people he has known since puppyhood, he will ignore them, or if they insist on calling him over to them, he will wag his tail, walk by them, then go and do what he wants to do somewhere else.

Lÿka is the complete opposite, she's cautious of people, she takes time to warm up to people, she raises her hackles and postures at strangers and won't go up to them if they want to pet her unless they have food in their hand, and even then she is very cautious of them. When she postures, barks and hackles at people, she runs toward them, but will never get closer than 3 or 4ft away from them, her tail straight up and her ears perked forward.

People she has warmed up to, my trainer, people at training, my family, close friends, when she sees them she goes right up to them as happy as could be, but if she doesn't know you, she doesn't want anything to do with you n barks if you walk in her direction.

I'm interested in seeing how people believe socialization helps their dogs, and how far you can change a genetic predisposition thru socialization. If a dog is level 8 on the scale for antisocial, do you think socialization can bring them down to a level 3, or do you think that there is only so much you can do to socialize a pup, and they will never be more social, or perhaps only become a level 7 on the imaginary scale?

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Cujo | Lÿka | Tiko | Yasko
Just because it makes sense doesn't mean it's true.