Effects of a good environment in raising dogs - Page 1

Keep in mind dogs that are raised, bred and trained in a home with good, smart and wise people are much smarter
and wiser than just an average home. Dogs specially GSD learn from watching and can pass their behaviors to into their future generations. Think of set of twins raised in different home, location, weather, diet, parents education, job, class and !!!!.

Genetics first and foremost, before anything else. Obviously a dog raised properly, provided the right environment, will have an advantage over a dog that is not raised correctly, as long as the genetics are there first.

Yes, Hired Dog, I was just about to say that! There are dogs raised in the worst possible environment, e.g., a puppy mill with almost zero human contact, caged their whole lives, that still can make a good transition and become wonderful pets if they have good genetics.

Then there are puppy mill dogs that are so broken by the experience they have to be euthanized.

The difference all boils down to genetics, and the sort of temperament genetics produces.

So, no, it's NOT 'all in how you raise them'! 

my dad has a perfect example in a Shih Zhu. this was one of the most abused dogs one can imagine. my niece would go out looking for the dog (owned by a neighbor) in below freezing weather and bring it inside.

she and my sister were finally able to rescue him from the owners and gave him to my Dad. you cannot imagine a more perfect companion. and intelligence is off the charts. he has never once shown any ill effects from his abuse. has to be genetics.

Ah! The old 'nature versus nurture' debate. It is no good having the best genetics in the world if they are constantly over-ridden and under-mined by the dog having to struggle to survive in an abusive environment, whether that is neglect, poor housing, lack of decent food or anything else we can name.

Its fine if the dog can be rescued from those negative circumstances; most will recover, the better the genetics the better the recovery, but not while the abuse or poor treatment is ongoing.  You get what you put in.  If you have a 'normal' (non-abusive) situation, you will get better results with a well-bred healthy animal, which will be more responsive, for sure; and better yet for any kind of training with a dog already armed by particularly strong genetic material.

For my 2 cents, BOTH count.

^^Well stated. Both count. Both can be an excuse. Degree of importance nature v nurture difficult to determine as there are so many variables.

In my opinion genetics need nurture to reach its full potential. Genetics are the building blocks of an iconic building the architect is the nurture. 

In other words genetics are the foundation, nurture is what is build on it.

In Rik,s Dad case, nurture brought the true potential of genetics. 

It's a mistaken assumption that everything you inherited in your genes is permanent. Your lifestyle and circumstances can awaken individual genes and/or suppress others. This goes for all the living things.

What you inherit genetically IS permanent. You cannot get shorter if you are are 6 feet tall, you cannot get fat if your genetics do not allow you to have too many fat cells.
The genetics you speak of suppressing or awaken MUST be there in order for that to happen. Yes, the environment will shape those genetics, but, again, they must be there from birth.

Nature vs nurture, nature always wins.