Effect of person on nervous,stable and crossbred pointer dogs

Through selective mating and line breeding of pointer dogs we have developed and continued two strains which are fairly behaviorally distinct. We now have data accumulating from the crossing of these two lines. Although the offspring from the crosses are still young, it can be seen that some stable male parents have had nonenvironmental, i.e., genetic, effects. The offspring are in many respects like their nervous mothers, but in some behavior, notably social behavior, they can be mistaken for the stable strain of dog. Heart rates have mimicked those of the nervous mothers and seem in no way influenced by the stable ancestry in “Effect of Person” tests. There is a marked difference between stable and unstable dogs in the effect of “Person” on heart rate: the unstable dogs show practically no cardiac response to “Person” (petting), whereas the normal dogs show the usual marked bradycardia to petting.