Hi, this is Kate from MinuteEarth.
Ever since rich British folks invented dog shows as a spectator sport in the late 1800s,
people have been parading pooches around with the goal of taking the top spot in their dogs’
so-called “breed group.”
These breed groups are based on the historical jobs dogs were bred to do, with game-retrievers
like labs and spaniels in the sporting group, guard dogs like dobermans and mastiffs in
the working group, and herding dogs like collies and sheepdogs in, well, the herding group.
And although most dogs today are just butt-sniffing layabouts, their breed group still influences
how we think about them.
Which is why dog breed organizations describe dogs in the sporting group as attentive, dogs
in the herding group as smart, and dogs in the working group as courageous – but perhaps
unsuited for families with young kids.
However, two decades of canine research have revealed that while dogs in a given breed
group often share certain skills, they really don’t have that much else in common.
In one study in Sweden, researchers ran more than 13,000 dogs of 31 different breeds through
a course full of sounds, surprises, and random humans attempting to snuggle.
They found that levels of playfulness, curiosity, sociability, and aggression did not differ
among breed groups.
Even weirder, it turned out that golden retrievers are more similar to Rottweilers than they
are to their fellow sporting dogs, and Boxers are more like Labs than they are like other
working dogs.
In fact, most dogs act more like breeds outside their group than they act like other breeds
within their group.
What's more, dozens of canine intelligence studies have shown that, when it comes to
skills like solving mazes and following commands, all breed groups perform about the same, even
though some individual dogs are definitely smarter than others.
So have dog enthusiasts somehow been imagining all of these differences among breed groups?
Maybe...psychology research suggests that once we begin to see something in a particular
way, we naturally seek out evidence that strengthens that image, and ignore evidence that undermines
it.
But the truth is that you can’t judge a bark by its cover.
Hey, it’s Kate - and this is my adorable rascal, Watson.
Hopefully, you enjoyed watching this video - we had a ton of fun making it.
Come join us in the comments section, where we can chat about breed groups, and confirmation
bias, and you can share your dogs with us!
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Thanks, and we’ll see you next time.