black dogs

Hah!

Back when Temple and I were working on Animals in Translation, I came up with the idea that black dogs are better.

I came up with that idea because Temple told me skin color in animals matters; an animal needs some black skin in order to be neurologically typical.^*

Temple was adamant that the color that mattered was the color of an animal's skin, not his fur, but I didn't believe her. I'd always loved black animals of any kind, clear evidence that black(-furred) animals are better, right? (Bayes strikes again.)

I started asking people about their dogs. I've been doing that for a few years now, and the survey always comes out the same. Black dogs are better. I'm sorry. They are. I've met maybe one person who'd owned both light and dark dogs who thought the yellow or white dogs they'd lived with were calmer & smarter than the black ones.

The best dogs of all: black mutts. This is my conclusion.

So today I came across a study of Labrador retrievers in suburban backyards that includes this passage:

The colour of the dog was the factor most highly correlated with the amount of time the dog spent on problem type behaviours, with gold dogs spending the most time on these behaviours especially if they were untrained. It has been noted that genetic influences have a strong effect on many behavioural responses (Wright and Nesselrote, 1987; Serpell, 1987). Dogs that are gold in colour may be more genetically predisposed to being strongly attached to their owner [very true of Abby!] and thus more anxious and prone to chew things when isolated than dogs that are black or chocolate coloured. In a study by Houpt and Willis (2001), it was found that chocolate Labradors were less likely to be presented for problem behaviour than the other colours. Yellow (gold) dogs, however, were over represented for aggression compared to the other colours. Other examples of dog colour associated with behaviour include red/golden English Cocker Spaniels being more likely to show aggression than black ones (Podberscek and Serpell, 1996).

The fact that having no training was only likely to increase problem behaviours in dogs if they were gold may say more about the temperament of gold dogs than about the effects of training. Podberscek and Serpell (1997) found that the type of training had no significant effect on whether dogs had high or low aggression. Voith et al. (1992) also found no affect of obedience training on the likelihood of dogs showing problem behaviours.

I happen to own a yellow Lab: a yellow Lab (Abby) and a black mutt (Surfer).

There's a reason why Marley & Me was written about a yellow Lab.


^* This doesn't apply to "black" and "white" people, she said, because white people aren't white. White people are beige.