About Adolf Hitler, dogs and being a scary person

[River Ape]

I note that Hitler's dog is referred to throughout this thread as a "German shepherd".
In England, dogs this breed are mostly referred to as Alsatians.
Since Alsace has been part of France since 1918, except for the period 1940-45, I think the dog should be referred to as a "French shepherd". Any dogs of this breed continuing to demonstrate Teutonic loyalties should be fed on frogs' legs.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Your writing really stands out on this site, while your employers are likely comparing your to others in the same business.

That's not it. A lot of what I write becomes shelfware.

I note that Hitler's dog is referred to throughout this thread as a "German shepherd". In England, dogs this breed are mostly referred to as Alsatians. Since Alsace has been part of France since 1918, except for the period 1940-45, I think the dog should be referred to as a "French shepherd". Any dogs of this breed continuing to demonstrate Teutonic loyalties should be fed on frogs' legs.

The breed was developed in Germany about 100 years ago and was called the deutsche Schaeferhund, "German Shepherd Dog." When the UK Kennel Club admitted the breed it was called the German Shepherd. However, at the end of WWI anti-German sentiment was so strong in the U.K. that the name was officially changed to "Alsatian Wolf Dog." This was finally rectified in 1977 when the original name was made official again, but old habits die hard in the land of King Arthur and many people still use the old name.

Some references allude to the specific location of the original breeding program as Alsace-Lorraine, but I have not been able to verify this. It's certainly plausible that that region was picked solely because its combination of German and French heritage was more respectable than a region entirely within Germany, whether or not it played any part in the dog's history.

In some countries the word "Alsatian" is still used in the breed name. I can't find any history of the naming in the USA--the country that once renamed sauerkraut "Liberty Cabbage." I've met people who claim to remember them being called "Alsatian shepherds" but as far back as I can remember--at least 55 years--I've never actually heard the term. I don't think it was ever officially used by the American Kennel Club or it would have popped up more readily when I tried to Google it.

Americans were much angrier at the Japanese than the Germans during WWII, and guards had to be posted to protect the cherry trees that are a defining characteristic of the Washington DC landscape from vandalism. The were originally gifts from the Emperor.

 

[River Ape]

Thank you, Fraggle, I didn't know anyone would take me seriously!
BTW, whenever paintings by chimps/monkeys make the news, as they do occasionally, I love to point out to people: "That's nothing. Gustave Doré was an Alsatian!"

 

[Enmos]

That's not it. A lot of what I write becomes shelfware.

I'm not sure how to read that.
It doesn't get published ?

 

[Jethro Tull]

Hitler acted was a dog. Listen to Pink Floyd's "Dogs" off of the album Animals.

He was a sheepherder, and because all his dog knew was a dog-eat-dog world, he was scared of the bigger dog.

 

[Alien Cockroach]

Wolves were domesticated only once, in what is now China, about 11,000BCE.

Oh, not even then. The most primitive cousins of domesticated dogs are probably the American Dingo, the xoloitzquintle (before they went bald), the Canaan Dog (sigh), the South Korean Jindo Dog (rightfully regarded as a national treasure), the Asiatic dhole (cute), the African wild dog (they eat each other's vomit), the jackal (almost forgot), and so on. The ancestors of the domestic dog probably diverged from the wolves before we even climbed out of the trees. Their other relatives just got whacked by the Ice Age.

This process was never repeated.

Except when our dogs ran out into the wilderness to mate with their distant relatives, producing the spitz breeds, for example.

Another [dog bred for alpha personality] is the pitbull, developed to fight other dogs.

Nah, they're just dumb blockheads. You get more bonafide alpha-character in the Dobies. Dobies just have better manners. Ironically, you can be safer with a Dobie at your throat than without. The owner could be some elderly drunkard with a gun. In some neighborhoods, the cops will shoot at you just for having the wrong color skin. A Dobie, though, isn't going to dig into you as long as you lay still. As long as that Dobie thinks he has you under his control, you couldn't be safer in your mother's arms.

The rottweiler was originally developed in Roman times to pull carts in mountainous country where horses weren't appropriate.

Well, that can explain why the dog can be very stubborn in the face of resistance and tends to respond well to praise. Pulling weight is mostly just mental, you know. Pitbulls have that trait, too. It's not so much dominance instincts as pure, mental perseverance. They simply don't back down.

Anyway, the alpha gene...

Okay, is it really that black-and-white? If it's based on a tandem-repeat similar to the promotor region for gene that codes the dopamine receptor D4, for example, there would be a higher degree of variability. We have another problem. Stubborness and dominance are not the same thing, and the same goes for violent behavior. The Dobie's need for control, in my mind, is a lot closer to true dominance. Even though you're more likely to be bitten by a Cocker Spaniel than a Dobie, their personalities are more powerful and intense than any breed I have ever encountered, period. So I'm not sure if you're really referring to one particular gene or referring to an apparent phenotype that could be the result of many different interacting genes.