Ear Myths

Ear Myths by Frances McCormack | All Collie , Collie Public , Seeing with New Eyes There is a myth surrounding Border Collies that ear shape, coat colour or texture, and even eye colour are indicators of that dog’s personality, temperament, or behaviour: for example, it might be said that a long-coated red dog is sensitive; a dog with pricked ears is tenacious; a dog with amber eyes is gentle. Now, before you look at Bess lying by your feet and whisper “I didn’t know you had it in you,” don’t worry; she probably doesn’t! In a way, once upon a time these ideas may have made sense: a dog may have inherited elements of their working style and their physical characteristics from their parents; their siblings may have exhibited similar traits; it would therefore be a useful mental shortcut to assume that a dog who looked like Sweep and his line might behave and work like Sweep and his line. This idea has also probably been given credence from an oversimplified understanding of Dmitri Belyaev’s experiments in the fur industry in Siberia when he set out to select and breed tame foxes, discovering in just a decade that the domesticated foxes had floppy ears and curly tails, and seeing certain predictable changes over generations in their coat patterns and colour, and face and body shapes. While it is increasingly accepted that we can’t select for behaviour without affecting physical appearance (or vice versa), to believe that physical appearance is an iron-clad guarantee that behaviour (or temperament, or personality and so on) is an oversimplification. To say that a red coat means that the dog who wears it is sensitive makes as much sense as saying that all redheads have fiery tempers (sometimes I wish I did! I know a few people who could benefit from encountering it)…these are myths with absolutely no basis in reality. While they may be true for one or more redheads or one or more red-coated dog, this does not make them universal. Let’s take a look, with the provisio that this information is simplified for the purpose of demonstrating the point that coat colour does not determine a dog’s “nature.” For those who prefer a deeper dive, approach with caution. Do these evenly balanced ears mean he has a balanced nature? Does the one blue eye indicate he is of a devious nature or quite determined? Would it matter if this was his left eye or right eye? The Look of a Dog: It’s All About Pigment Sweep has 39 pairs of chromosomes in each of his cells; of each pair, one chromosome has been kindly donated by his mother, and the other by his father. These chromosomes hold

genes that contain specific instructions that determine Sweep’s appearance and how his body works to make Sweep who he is. Sweep has about 19,000 genes, only a small number of which have anything to do with the colour or texture of his coat, the set of his ears, or the colour of his eyes. There are two types of pigment responsible for coat colour: eumelanin is by default black, but genetic expression can cause it to take on brownish or greyish hues (liver and blue coats, for example). Phaeomelanin, which is red, can become cream, yellow, gold, or even orange depending on the genes (yep, the same pigment that’s responsible for my red hair and freckles). Sweep’s genes decide which cells should produce eumelanin or phaeomelanin, and sometimes they decide that some cells (coat pattern) shouldn’t produce any pigment at all, resulting in white. This information is dictated by the genes he has inherited. Border Collie Coats Border Collie coats come in a wide range of colours, markings and length: solid, bicolour, tricolour, sable, and merle included; soft, medium, long (rough). Some of these traits are dominant, (like the colour black, or the patterns merle and sable) meaning they will be expressed if one of the dog’s parents is a carrier. Others are recessive (like the colours red, blue, gold, lilac, or the pattern tricolour), meaning they require both parents to carry the genes for them in order for them to be expressed. The colour and patterns of Sweep’s coat are not merely a matter of replication of the visual appearance of his parents, but their own coat colour genetics and the genes they respectively pass on to Sweep. With such a small number of genes involved in coat colour, then, and with inheritance being far more complex than the traits that the parents exhibit, it doesn’t appear to make any sense to suggest that a dog’s coat is a predictor of their “nature.” What we do see, however, is that it significantly influences human perception. Anyone who’s attuned to how certain colours of dogs and cats are overlooked for adoption from shelters, or who have experienced people crossing the street to avoid their friendly black dog will appreciate this. Border Collie Diversity It should be clear that Border Collies are incredibly diverse in appearance: the carriage and shape or their ears; the colour, patterns, markings, texture and length of their coat; the colour and shape of their eyes; the set of their tail; their body mass and shape. Since these dogs are a type, and were never originally what we would refer to as a “breed,” we can safely assume (and easily

observe) that they exhibit as much diversity in behaviour and in working style as they do in physical appearance. To suggest that the handful of genes responsible for just coat colour or ear set or eye colour are predictors of who the dog will be and how they will work seems entirely far-fetched, superstitious and, dare I say it?, irresponsible. The heritability of behavioural and working traits is still hotly disputed: the mode of inheritance of working behaviours is complex and polygenetic, and there persists research into how individual genes can control multiple characteristics. What this means, then, is that it is possible that a dog with a smooth, medium-length, red coat; pricked, pointed ears; and amber eyes might show certain behavioural predispositions as a result of their genetic inheritance. But a predisposition is not a guarantee. What it doesn’t mean, then, is that those behavioural predispositions will determine how the dog behaves. That is a matter not only of their genes but also of their experiences, their learning, their environment. To predict that a red Border Collie will be sensitive is as sensible as telling this redhead that she’s fiery by default…and at that, I will gently close my laptop, breathe slowly and gently, and go and dance barefoot in the woods. References and Further Reading Arvelius, Per, et al. (2013), “Measuring Herding Behavior in Border Collie—Effect of Protocol Structure on Usefulness for Selection,” Journal of Veterinary Behavior , 8: 9-18. Coats and Colours, https://coatsandcolors.com/punnett-squares-inheritance-of-coat-color/ Delgado, M.M., et al., 2012. “Human Perceptions of Coat Color as an Indicator of Domestic Cat Personality.” Anthrozoös , 25.4: 427-440. Dog Genetics, http://www.doggenetics.co.uk/ Dugatkin, L.A. and Trut, L. (2017). How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution . University of Chicago Press. Fratkin, J.L. and Baker, S.C. (2013). “The Role of Coat Color and Ear Shape on the Perception of Personality in Dogs. Anthrozoös , 26 .1:125-133. Ostrander, E.A. and Wayne, R.K. (2005) “The Canine Genome,” Genome Research 15: 1706-1716. https://genome.cshlp.org/content/15/12/1706.full.pdf+html Storteig Horn, S., et al. (2017) “Genetic Analyses of Herding Traits in the Border Collie using Sheepdog Trial Data,” Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 134.2: 144-151. Weir, Malcolm (2024) “Genetics Basics: Coat Color Genetics in Dogs,” VCA Animal Hospitals . https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/genetics-basics-coat-color-genetics-in-dogs Diagrams

and photos by Kay Laurence with Collie icons by Hayley Hunter of Hillside Creative. Surprising Puppy Surprising Puppy. With obnoxious moments. After introducing the obnoxious puppy as a youngster I am knocked over by the Delightful Young Man he is turning into…… Read More It’s Not Training A carefully planned learning pathway, paced to suit that particular learner for their life ahead. Read More Dogs are Born To Learn We can build tremendous learners when we get beyond the idea that “dogs are trained”. Read More Obnoxious Puppy The delight of your new puppy is probably going to last a few weeks, maybe four if you are lucky. When 12 weeks old hits, and you will feel a slam, the Delight is going to demonstrate ungrateful, obnoxious traits. Read More A New Puppy. Oh Joy. Impulse buying the wrong sofa can be rectified if you swallow the expense. Impulse buying a puppy can result in personal grief for you and your family and quite possibly result in a very unhappy future or end the life of that puppy. Read More Be-toothed Learning Machines The thing they don’t tell you is that raising a puppy is DANGED HARD WORK. Biting everything, peeing everywhere, eating anything; not for the faint hearted. Read More Reasons to use a clicker The concept of “being a clicker trainer” is always going to lead to argument and misunderstanding because it cannot exist alongside the science and technology. It is a “fakery” of our time. The clicker itself is a simple tool that when used in conjunction with technology provides clarity and understanding in teaching. Read More A Cue or not a cue? With thoughtful planning and a good understanding of the relevance of antecedent selection we can teach the dog the skills of sorting the wheat from the chaff, finding the bones of the exercise. This skill is critical to being able to distinguish between distractions, which are just cues for an alternative reward opportunity, and cues which signify a guarantee of success. Read More Herding Games For All Dogs? The wrong herding game is like trying to make a tennis player succeed at football Read More The Fade-in Protocol Even though today we are surrounded by many available protocols for teaching with positive reinforcement, there is still a persistence that a dog should be set-up to make an error. An error is simply the difference between my expectation and the dog’s response. No more “distractions”, but faded-in environments. Read More One dog watching The other dog working or ….how to train the spectators to quietly rest and watch whilst you work, play, teach a single member of the group R

ead More Do you see what I see Doing better is the reward from doing the work. This work needs to be the right work at the right time with the right intent done in the right way. Read More Submit a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Δ