Hi all, just venting some frustration. There was recently a thread on "Why is audio so angry"? In that thread people compared hifi to other hobbies. I have just discovered one hobby which is just as unscientific and subjectivist as hifi: Dogs!
Long story short, we're probably going to get a dog. I love dogs, always have. Being the incurable science-nerd that I am though, I of course set out to read the science on all things dogs before committing to choosing a dog. And it dawned on me that the dog hobby - institutionalized in kennel clubs etc - is all based on pseudo science, just like the world of hifi has traditionally been.
I was surprised to find out these things, which are the complete opposite from what the kennel clubs will tell you:
- mixed breeds dogs are healthier than purebreds and live longer. Really, it's no competition. When one looks into it, the genetics behind those correlations are obvious and well documented. That's all the more impressive given that mixed breeds are often owned by humans with less resources who provide their dogs with less training and vet visits etc, more often come from shelters, and are more likely to have owners who let them be run over by cars (a Swedish study showed this surprising finding - probably because it's a smaller monetary investment, so people get less protective of the dog).
- the jury is still out on whether there are consistent behavioral differences between dog breeds at all! Yes, this was the most suprising finding to me. There are some studies which indicate some average differences between breeds - but they may very well be due to selection (people who want to go hunting choose "hunting dogs", people who want their dog to attack people they don't like choose "fighting dogs", etc) or just training. In any case, the studies that do find differences between breeds often reveal them to be very, very small, with larger differences found within each breed:
There are obviously large differences between breeds concerning how they look, given that looks is what they are bred for these days. But as for behavior, it's much less clear-cut. Individual differences within breeds easily trump differences between breeds.
- and if one would want to improve a breed, the only logical way to do that is bring in fresh blood from the outside, not select other dogs from within the breed
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But here is my experience, after attempting to discuss this with people on dog forums: It's impossible! It really is, it just doesn't work. Dog subjectivism reigns supreme, more or less completely. This made me think: Why does the dog hobby seem so similar to the mainstream of the audio hobby, concerning the lack of respect for science and rationality? I think it may be because the hobby of dog fanciers actually shares some similarities with the hifi hobby: It's to a large degree a status hierarchy thing. People get into the dog hobby because the like dogs, but then slowly the inner logic of the hobby starts getting to them, and they become obsessed by winning shows and "improving the breed". And then every challenge to the breed logic becomes a challenge to ingrained status hierarchies.
But just like with hifi, things are moving on the outside... more and more people get mixed-breeds instead, to the great chagrin of the kennel clubs. There are many people who just want a companion dog, just like there are many people who just want to listen to music on a audio system that does the job. Off-topic rant over.
Long story short, we're probably going to get a dog. I love dogs, always have. Being the incurable science-nerd that I am though, I of course set out to read the science on all things dogs before committing to choosing a dog. And it dawned on me that the dog hobby - institutionalized in kennel clubs etc - is all based on pseudo science, just like the world of hifi has traditionally been.
I was surprised to find out these things, which are the complete opposite from what the kennel clubs will tell you:
- mixed breeds dogs are healthier than purebreds and live longer. Really, it's no competition. When one looks into it, the genetics behind those correlations are obvious and well documented. That's all the more impressive given that mixed breeds are often owned by humans with less resources who provide their dogs with less training and vet visits etc, more often come from shelters, and are more likely to have owners who let them be run over by cars (a Swedish study showed this surprising finding - probably because it's a smaller monetary investment, so people get less protective of the dog).
- the jury is still out on whether there are consistent behavioral differences between dog breeds at all! Yes, this was the most suprising finding to me. There are some studies which indicate some average differences between breeds - but they may very well be due to selection (people who want to go hunting choose "hunting dogs", people who want their dog to attack people they don't like choose "fighting dogs", etc) or just training. In any case, the studies that do find differences between breeds often reveal them to be very, very small, with larger differences found within each breed:
There are obviously large differences between breeds concerning how they look, given that looks is what they are bred for these days. But as for behavior, it's much less clear-cut. Individual differences within breeds easily trump differences between breeds.
- and if one would want to improve a breed, the only logical way to do that is bring in fresh blood from the outside, not select other dogs from within the breed
--------------
But here is my experience, after attempting to discuss this with people on dog forums: It's impossible! It really is, it just doesn't work. Dog subjectivism reigns supreme, more or less completely. This made me think: Why does the dog hobby seem so similar to the mainstream of the audio hobby, concerning the lack of respect for science and rationality? I think it may be because the hobby of dog fanciers actually shares some similarities with the hifi hobby: It's to a large degree a status hierarchy thing. People get into the dog hobby because the like dogs, but then slowly the inner logic of the hobby starts getting to them, and they become obsessed by winning shows and "improving the breed". And then every challenge to the breed logic becomes a challenge to ingrained status hierarchies.
But just like with hifi, things are moving on the outside... more and more people get mixed-breeds instead, to the great chagrin of the kennel clubs. There are many people who just want a companion dog, just like there are many people who just want to listen to music on a audio system that does the job. Off-topic rant over.
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