Is our obsession hereditary?

[BarbedWire]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190517081636.htm?fbclid=IwAR3aeFguULcuesJeLcutfI4SgBd2twuU5H5SnfgpNmafIphsKqNMGHqPwqo 

 

Owning a dog is influenced by our genetic make-up

Date:

May 17, 2019

Source:

Uppsala University

Summary:

Scientists have studied the heritability of dog ownership using information from 35,035 twin pairs from the Swedish Twin Registry. The new study suggests that genetic variation explains more than half of the variation in dog ownership, implying that the choice of getting a dog is heavily influenced by an individual's genetic make-up.

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Woman and dog.

Credit: © Vasyl / Adobe Stock

 

 

A team of Swedish and British scientists have studied the heritability of dog ownership using information from 35,035 twin pairs from the Swedish Twin Registry. The new study suggests that genetic variation explains more than half of the variation in dog ownership, implying that the choice of getting a dog is heavily influenced by an individual's genetic make-up.

Dogs were the first domesticated animal and have had a close relationship with humans for at least 15,000 years. Today, dogs are common pets in our society and are considered to increase the well-being and health of their owners. The team compared the genetic make-up of twins (using the Swedish Twin Registry -- the largest of its kind in the world) with dog ownership. The results are published for the first time in Scientific Reports. The goal was to determine whether dog ownership has a heritable component.

"We were surprised to see that a person's genetic make-up appears to be a significant influence in whether they own a dog. As such, these findings have major implications in several different fields related to understanding dog-human interaction throughout history and in modern times. Although dogs and other pets are common household members across the globe, little is known how they impact our daily life and health. Perhaps some people have a higher innate propensity to care for a pet than others." says Tove Fall, lead author of the study, and Professor in Molecular Epidemiology at the Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University.

Carri Westgarth, Lecturer in Human-Animal interaction at the University of Liverpool and co-author of the study, adds: "These findings are important as they suggest that supposed health benefits of owning a dog reported in some studies may be partly explained by different genetics of the people studied."

Studying twins is a well-known method for disentangling the influences of environment and genes on our biology and behaviour. Because identical twins share their entire genome, and non-identical twins on average share only half of the genetic variation, comparisons of the within-pair concordance of dog ownership between groups can reveal whether genetics play a role in owning a dog. The researchers found concordance rates of dog ownership to be much larger in identical twins than in non-identical ones -- supporting the view that genetics indeed plays a major role in the choice of owning a dog.

"These kind of twin studies cannot tell us exactly which genes are involved, but at least demonstrate for the first time that genetics and environment play about equal roles in determining dog ownership. The next obvious step is to try to identify which genetic variants affect this choice and how they relate to personality traits and other factors such as allergy" says Patrik Magnusson, senior author of the study and Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Insitutet, Sweden and Head of the Swedish Twin Registry.

"The study has major implications for understanding the deep and enigmatic history of dog domestication" says zooarchaeologist and co-author of the study Keith Dobney, Chair of Human Palaeoecology in the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. "Decades of archaeological research have helped us construct a better picture of where and when dogs entered into the human world, but modern and ancient genetic data are now allowing us to directly explore why and how?"

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Story Source:

Materials provided by Uppsala University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Tove Fall, Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Keith Dobney, Carri Westgarth, Patrik K. E. Magnusson. Evidence of large genetic influences on dog ownership in the Swedish Twin Registry has implications for understanding domestication and health associations. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44083-9

[Papillon Kisses]

Literal dog people.  

[Diva]

I kind of assumed it was partly genetic and partly cultural heritage. I come from good farming stock who loved their animals

[persephone]

That explains a lot!!  

[asal]

On 29/05/2019 at 1:43 PM, persephone said:

That explains a lot!!  

 

 

doesn't explain families that came from a cultural background where no one kept a dog as they were considered unclean.

 

Never forget the first time they met my dogs, they came to visit and the dogs were out, I could hear screaming, raced out to find the three children were trying to climb their mother in terror to escape the three chihuahua's that had ran up to them for a pat.   Their mum was screaming in terror louder than the children.  Took a while to get them used tot them.   

Another family had been hired for an upcoming add. I was asked to supply a puppy, the children were to run in the park with the puppy.  the minute they were introduced to me I realised they had no knowledge of dogs, even a puppy, they were afraid of.  Whoever the casting agent was missed a rather important thing.

so. set up the puppy pen. put down blankets and got mum, dad and the two children to sit on the blankets and told them they must stay seated.  held the puppy so each could pet it. as they began to relax i let the puppy go and it ran to each for attention. so lucky I had 2 hours to get them relaxed interacting with the puppy.   so much so in the end the director made the parents sit on the picnic blanket and not allowed to interact with the puppy as they were taking it over from the children.   How many of you saw the Sydney wide add when they were building the new freeways?   

'We are building a better Sydney'?   the parents picnicking and the little boy running to his parents and sister with his blue heeler puppy which jumped the ball as they ran to the parents?

 

When my cheque arrived it had another $300 extra?  When I rang to say they have overpaid me I was told, 'the director likes problem solver's.   He saw you educating the children and parents so the shoot wasn't a  disaster'.

 

emigrate to Australia,  get to meet the neighbours dogs and get one themselves.

 

again generations that never had horses, yet get to know them and now also have horses

 

 

all the children of these families have grown up and all have a dog for themselves and their children too.

 

wonder how those researchers  would explain that then?

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by asal

[Loving my Oldies]

When are we going to get over this stupid nature/nurture debate?  It is a combination.  
 

We all have our own examples and experiences.  My eldest sister and I are four and a half years apart.   Because we lived in small country towns in Queensland, when it came to secondary school education we all went to boarding school when we turned 14.  My eldest sister was at boarding school for four years  and then I went away.  Therefore we didn’t live with each other except on holidays for six years.

 

When I look in the mirror combing my hair, brushing my teeth, having a deep and meaningful conversation with myself, I see my sister looking back at me.  We sound the same (if in the same house but people can’t see us, they don’t know who is speaking).  Our mannerisms are the same, our facial expressions are the same.  
 

But we are very very different in  personality. The ways we look at the world are like chalk and cheese.  
 

Nature/nurture?  It is a combination and can be more or less of one or the other at any given time.  

[sandgrubber]

Sounds pretty loose to me.  Maybe identical twins tend to end out with lifestyles that are compatible with having a dog.  My family is full of dog lovers...but we all live in rural or semi rural areas.

[asal]

sometimes I wonder if these "researchers" just come up with anything to justify funding?