My understanding of the situation was that dogs that didn’t display the drive/nerves/stability needed to do the work they were intended for were euthed. Based on the information I had, I suspect it was older pups. It was implied that the dogs weren’t suitable as pets. It’s been a while and it wasn’t anything that I saw just what I heard.
I believe here in the States it’s not unheard of to euthanize pups, but based on a genetic marker for unstable, aggressive behavior.
I know a LOT of breeders, and have never heard of anyone euthanizing puppies for unstable behavior.
I’ve never heard of a genetic marker for behavior, either. I find that hard to believe.
Genetic markers have come a long way but I don’t think they’ve gone that far, unless the “unstable behavior” is related to some other inherited disease or disorder. There are some neurological disorders that can be detected by markers which might produce behavioral issues. While you can test puppies for some things, most breeders test the adults and don’t breed them if they are carriers; it would be pretty rare (in my opinion) that a good breeder would test puppies before placing them and euthanize if they were genetically affected.
It’s possible for some diseases, I suppose. But I think if a breeder is going to the extent of dna testing, they would just not breed carriers. The exceptions might be in very rare breeds, possibly, where they are hoping to produce some non-carriers to continue the gene pool?
Some interesting tests at OFA that I have never heard of: https://www.ofa.org/diseases/dna-tested-diseases
This is I believe the genetic marker testing I referred too. It’s fairly controversial as I understand. It seems to be confined to Mals.
https://vgl.ucdavis.edu/test/behavior-propensity-belgian-malinois
To be clear, I totally support the concept that good breeding practices to produce correct stock is superior to culling offspring with undesirable traits.
The testing I linked above is controversial as far as I can tell in so much as some seem to think it’s irrelevant, some support the culling of individuals with the markers and other support retirement of breeding stock that are producing dogs with the markers regardless of the testing status of said breeding stock.
I’m not terribly involved in the discussion as I don’t breed myself (and am looking to have poodles instead of Mals in the future).
Interesting - I started to respond earlier and got caught up in life…and lost it.
I’d be curious what the continued research on this genetic marker finds - if it is a combination of nature & nurture or whether they will find an underlying neurological issue.
I’d also be interested to know if it follows breeding lines.
My breed (and other breeds) are battling idiopathic epilepsy and hoping to find genetic markers but it’s not a single gene so it’s not possible yet to identify the markers to eliminate/exclude it. UC Davis is collecting samples but so far there is no test. https://cgap.ucdavis.edu/epilepsy-project/
ETA interestingly my breed is not on the list of breeds being studied - it may be because they couldn’t get enough samples, especially of “affected dogs”. I know one breeder who had a litter of 7 and 5 are affected so I’m pretty sure she submitted samples from them all.
It is interesting and I’m casually keeping up with the conversation surrounding it. The breed’s popularity has boomed recently and I’m not sure it’s been a positive thing for the breed. IE MWD culls ending up in backyard breeding programs and the resulting pups pawned off as “family pets”. As you might imagine, there’s a lot of room for that to end up rather poorly.
Epilepsy sounds very concerning and also heartbreaking. Hopefully continued research will shed some light on the situation.
same here with the crazy beagle. Please let me know if you discover the solution. My husband says the solution is to unclip the leash and wave goodbye forever 
I think you’ve posted his pic before. I’m looking at a Cane Corso for my next dog, once I move and have a decent sized yard. I love the mastiff breeds in general but the Coros seem to fit what I’d want best of all the mastiffs. I can imagine the intimidation factor for people that aren’t really comfortable with dogs. LOL They can look pretty scary.
I absolutely love mine and I think I’ve found “my” breed. He’s curled up on the couch with me right now 
My son adopted a very reactive adult dog. He is good with family but very difficult to walk. We tried reactive dog classes and distraction training with limited success. What really worked was the Sidewalker collar by Dog Watch. The collar only shocks if he pulls or lunges and it takes the human timing out of the picture. With the collar he walks quietly by your side. To me it’s a miracle.
This frustrates me beyond belief! It’s pretty obvious when I am trying to work with my dog. I actually ended up being quite rude to a woman with 2 labs, when for about the 10th time she would stop for a chat despite me having my back to her, focused on my dog, and I kept asking her to please not.
I have a miniature dachshund, who is nearly 2. He is incredibly reactive. To just about everything. I think it is a combination of anxiety and protectiveness. He wasn’t that way as a puppy, it developed after a fridge repair man visited the house when he was probably 7 or 8 months old, and spiralled from there. We got to a point where he would lunge and bark at anyone, person, dog, whatever that we passed while walking. Even if they were on the other side of the street! He has a very, very big bark for a dog his size, and I don’t believe that small dogs should be allowed to get away with it, just because they’re small enough to easily restrain.
When he was just over a year old in January, I signed up for a short obedience course. He actually did quite well with every aspect except barking, and the most important part was that it gave me tools to use. We have spent the entire year slowly slowly chipping away. It has been very, very hard work. Luckily for me, he is super food motivated so that makes rewards easy, and I carry a treat pouch. Here is a brief rundown of what I did that has gotten reasonably good results.
Several other regular walkers have recently commented on how much he has improved, so I must be doing something right! A big key is redirecting his attention to me early, preferably before he notices the other dog.
I also try at least once a week to take him to some local trails where I can work with him off leash. He’s now learnt a pretty good heel and his recall is usually good. He no longer takes off if he sees anyone, and he is increasingly on encountering stimulus, self directing his attention to me to see what I’m asking of him.
I do not think I will ever, ever train the reactivity out of him completely, and everyone I have come across with dachshunds says they’re all the same. My goal is just to have reliable tools to get his focus back on me and manage the behaviour as best as we can.
Oddly enough…the one situation where we don’t have to worry, is letting him off leash at the beach/a park to chase a ball! He is absolutely obsessed with fetch, and if he has a ball, will not pay any attention whatsoever to any other dog. Big dogs can come up to him and he will ignore as long as he has his ball.
Coming back to this after we have gotten more settled in our new place and have a decent grasp on the amount of dogs/dog walkers here in the new neighborhood. There are quite a few.
I read here:
That this was one of the higher rated bark collars:
There is a sale going on through the end of the month; has anyone used this brand specifically or something similar?
The goal would be to get them the shortish distance from our house to the neighborhood dog park (which doesn’t seem to be used a ton), then take the bark collars off and let them romp for a while/play fetch etc. Its the walk there and back that are going to be the big hurdle!
Edit to add - these would only be used on walks, the dogs are quiet inside. Ive seen some horror stories of people leaving these types of collars on for long periods or unsupervised and they end up getting burns/other issues. Dont want that 
I’ve had good luck with bark collars reducing barking, not familiar with that brand, but similar beep vibrate zap function.
I personally would prefer to introduce that in a setting where dog isn’t on a leash, like in a fenced yard or something, as some dogs can be reactive to the stimulation.
Unfortunately we are without a fenced in back yard anymore, that would solve all our issues! On the leash crossing paths is really the only time barking is an issue as well.
I got you. Be aware of the possibility of flinging teeth. I know an unprepared handler that took a serious bite when a dog turned, reacting to the stim. I don’t think it’s probable, but it’s possible.
I think the collars are swell for barking though I mostly use an e collar (remote control) these days.
We (finally) got the dogs out for a short walk last night for the first time with the collars. It went well. We took them out later when we were pretty sure we wouldn’t run into other dogs, and stuck to our culdesac and went down the short ways to where our mailbox is. The mini Aussie (Ruby) sounds like a monkey when we go for walks as a default so I had her sensitivity setting higher due to that. She did bark when I took the hound (Mylo) for a run around the culdesac (her separation anxiety is that bad 
and it beeped at her quite loudly which got her attention off us running around.
I think that was a pretty good success. Were going to keep going at off times for a while just to get them more used to being walked and with the collars, and then work on taking them for longer walks where we might encounter another dog.
Same. And I don’t blame them in the slightest - absolute nightmare scenario to try to place a high drive, working or bite-ring bred dog that has an unstable temperament. These are not “pet” appropriate dogs, though, and never will be.
Boy, this takes me back to the guy I dated in college. He had a Weim. He chose the breed solely based on the look (this SHOULD have been my first red flag). This poor dog was crated more than she wasn’t, when she was out, wasn’t exercised much, and had no boundaries whatsoever. Up until that point, I had never met a dog I was afraid of; the first time I met her she snapped at me. This was not an uncommon thing either. He had young nieces and she would snap at them too and was super territorial. He was living at home at the time, and his parents couldn’t stand the dog and wanted me to help train her. They didn’t understand THEY needed to modify what they were allowing her to do so it went nowhere fast. I had never met a dog that I thought would be better off being put down for the safety of all involved. I don’t know for sure, but can’t imagine he did any valuable research on breeders as his mom had a pet store Pom that ended up with Parvo that she then blamed the vet on. I never knew what ended up with the dog, but I have always hoped she never seriously hurt anyone.
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