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Asheville, NC April 18, 2004 |
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Dog breeds follow trends just like clothes and food, professor says
CULLOWHEE - Think you picked your purebred dog on your own? Think again, says Hal Herzog, a psychology professor at Western Carolina University. More likely, you picked your dog because it's trendy. "Dog breed popularity is no different that changing tastes in clothing styles, music or food - remember fondue pots?" Herzog said. "The popularity of some dogs just takes off, much like a social epidemic. People can think they are making choices independently, and in reality, other people are making the same sorts of decisions." Herzog had long wondered why people pick their dogs. So he worked with scientists in London and California analyzing the records of more than 40 million purebred puppies registered with the American Kennel Club during the past 50 years. Their findings were published in the current issue of the Royal Society's Biology Letters. Last year, the most popular dog in the U.S. was the Labrador retriever, followed by golden retrievers, German shepherds and Beagles. Herzog wouldn't call Labradors trendy, though. They've shown a steady rise in popularity. But the popularity of some breeds has risen and fallen, like a bouffant hairdo. These days, the trendiest dogs are Havanese, Cavalier King Charles spaniels, Brussels griffons and French bulldogs.
Those declining are dalmatians, chow chows, rottweilers, Akitas and Pekingese. It's attributable to a theory borrowed from geneticists known as Random Drift, Herzog said. In other words, people simply do what previous generations have done. Very little real choice is actually involved. The theory can apply to any social trend, whether it's the rise of teens with anorexia or people using heroin, Herzog said. And when it comes to dogs, which were originally domesticated for hunting or other practical reasons, the guiding force today is cultural fad. "That doesn't surprise me," said Roger Chipman, who's owned Exotic Pets in Skyland for 34 years. "People see a dog in a movie and want it, like the Brussels Griffon in the movie `As Good As It Gets.' And so they don't always make the best choices." And that can be a problem for people like Theresa Cooper, director and founder of Dalmatian Rescue of the Carolinas. She's rescued more than 100 dalmatians in the last six years from owners who decided too late that the often difficult-to- train breed isn't for them. "Every time a `101 Dalmatians' movie comes out, people want them," Cooper said. "And people think they're supposed to be well behaved like they are in the movie. They don't realize you've got to train them to be that way." Contact Miller at 232-5922 or ARMiller@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.
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