| Well here is where it gets even more interesting.
My first lab (the one who started this thread) got ran over by a car. One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was shooting him in the head to put him down (broken back).
I've since gotten a female who allegedly is pure-breed Lab. I don't know if sex has anything to do with it or what but I AM having to teach her to fetch. Her "instinct" is there but not nearly as strong as my first Lab. He had incredible FOCUS and when you showed him that stick it became his WORLD until you threw it. He would search and search until he found it if he lost sight of it and pretty much could not be distracted.
She (and she really is a sweet dog so I don't mean to bag on her) is more flighty. You have to get her hyped up by letting her chew on the stick before throwing it. If she loses sight of the stick she will either pick up another stick or just say fuck it.
So either the instinct varies AMONG Labs or it varies from male to female.
I appreciate your answers so far but none have fully answered my question. Maybe no one can. I can understand the survival of the fittest point that a dog intelligent enough to be taught to fetch was valued and thus bred more and thus passed along it's intelligence but two points:
1. My first lab with the strong fetch instinct was actually dumb as a rock.
2. He didn't learn to fetch and thus it didn't require intelligence. He was born knowing how to fetch.
I realize that this isn't exactly of earth shattering importance but I was curious. |