#176 Beyond the Shelter: The Hidden Inheritance

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Genetics shape your rescue dog's life in ways you might not realize. While many adopters tune out when they hear words like "breeding" or "genetics," thinking these concepts only apply to dogs from breeders, the truth is far more nuanced. Your shelter dog's genetic makeup influences their behavior every day, whether you know their history or not.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Let's talk about something that a lot of people
who rescue dogs accidentallytune out Breeding.
If you didn't go to a breeder,if you adopted from a shelter or
found your dog through a rescue, or even just took them in off
the street, it can feel likeconversations about genetics or

(00:24):
breeding don't apply to you.
You might even think, well, Ididn't choose the parents, so
what's the point?
But here's the deal.
Every single dog comes from alitter and whether that litter
was the result of an intentionalpairing or an accidental one,

(00:45):
breeding happened and it isstill shaping your dog's brain
and body today.
You don't have to know thewhole family tree for breeding
to matter.
So let me give you a couple ofthings to think about.
First, if you're adopting apuppy or a young dog from a
rescue or shelter, ask questionsabout the mom.

(01:08):
Often she's on site or infoster care and you might even
be able to meet her.
Ask what her temperament islike.
Is she fearful, friendly,overwhelmed in the shelter?
Does she bark at people orsounds?
Does she approach new things ornew situations with curiosity

(01:31):
or hang back and freeze?
Because here's the truthpuppies get more than just looks
from their mom.
They get a big chunk of theirtemperament from her too, both
through genetics and throughthose first few weeks together,
and if she was fearful orstressed during that time, it

(01:52):
may shape how the puppy respondsto the world as well.
Same goes for the littermates.
Ask the rescue how the puppiesare doing.
Are they reactive?
Are they calm?
Is one struggling more than theothers?
This will help you betterunderstand how your puppy may
react to the world.
You don't need to be a geneticsexpert, but asking those

(02:14):
questions can give you a muchbetter sense of what to expect
and what you might need tosupport your puppy long term.
And second, what if you alreadyhave the dog and you don't know
anything about the parents, andthat's pretty common.
A lot of people adopt adultdogs with zero background info,

(02:37):
no birth date, no known litter,no clue where they came from.
If that's your situation andyou're seeing ongoing behavior
challenges like fear ofstrangers or sensitivity to
sound, separation, anxiety oreven reactivity, and you've been
working on it but you aren'tseeing any improvement, then it

(02:59):
might be time to loop in aprofessional why?
Because not all behavior islearned.
That may just be the way yourdog's brain works Nature versus
nurture and a behavioralist orexperienced trainer should be
able to help you tell thedifference and offer guidance on
how to address it going forward, maybe a training plan for

(03:23):
learned behaviors and amanagement plan for those
behaviors that seem to be wiredinto your dog's brain.
So even if you have a rescue orshelter dog, don't tune out just
because the word breeder getsthrown around.
Genetics matter.
Your rescue dog may not havecome from a kennel or pedigree

(03:44):
line, but they still came fromsomewhere.
Breeding matters, geneticsmatter, and if we ignore that
fact, if we just assumeeverything that our rescue dog
is doing is a learned behaviorthat they can unlearn, we might
just be setting them up forfailure.