I was talking to a friend today who has been on holiday in Kenya for 2 weeks, and put her Beardies back with the breeder to look after.

When she collected the dogs, she was chatting away and the breeder said her dog Lloyd was difficult to get back in from the garden, and that he would also simply turn his back and "sulk" when you called him!! Apparently this was a trait inherited from his father who does exactly the same thing, and also quite a few of the male pups sired by this dog apparently exhibit this behaviour! The female pups don't seem to.

I've heard of other similar tales where behaviour is "inherited", such as the Goldie who sires pups who all "paddle" in their sleep with their paws.

I wondered if others have any similar stories, it would be interesting to hear more about such apparently inherited behaviours :)

Lindsay

Lindsay,
My Beardie brings people presents when they visit, usually a toy or cushion, her granny Mandy did this too, but none of my other Beardies have done it. Another friends Beardie often ate and drank lying down with his hind legs stretched out behind him and some of his pups did it too
Anne

My oldest elkhound will put his head under your hand and flick it up so it lands on his head for a stroke.When I spoke to someone at Manchester champ show who has dogs from the same kennels she said 'its a Steldawn thing'(steldawn being his Affix).
Archer.

Some of mine do what my original bitch did and its usually only those that are a direct line back to her. When being stroked on the head while I'm sitting on a kitchen chair with their front paws on my knees, they wait til you hand goes behind their head and then push thier head backwards - if you keep a pressure on the back of their heads they push their head back and use your hand pressure which holds their weight to get a purchase with their hind legs and then very gently climb up your legs and onto your lap. This has been going on for 7 generations now and my latest puppy Roxy (14 weeks) does it too.

The other habit is not quite so cute! : Some will always poo through the weldmesh of the run so that it lands outside -only one bitch did this and I bred her mother and grandmother too and they didn't do it.When she had puppies I kept two bitch puppies, once weaned those two daughters were seperated from her and did not witness their mums habits after 8 weeks, but both did it too. The place where I rear puppies to eight weeks has solid walls so I dont think they ever did see her do it. Now one of those daughters has had puppies and I kept one, and she does it too. It must have come down through the fathers line if it was inherited.

One stallion I used to look after used to throw his feed bowl over the stable door when he had finished eating, and nearly all his foals did the same, though never saw their father do it.

This is a bit off-thread - it's not inherited - but one of my boys has discovered that, if he stands up against me, front paws over my arm, I'll bend down to whisper sweet nothings to him...he instantly shoves the back of his head against my neck and lifts his hind feet off the ground... Lo and behold, I find I have my arms full of adult male dalmatian - not the easiest breed to carry!

Hate to disillusion you it's an Elkhound thing generally, and my BSD did it. It was always the hand with the tea in though :D

When we went to choose our second f/c puppy, I was kneeling on the floor looking at the puppies (they were reared indoors) and the huge mother came and sat on my knee, she was really heavy! When our puppy was growing up she too would sit directly on your knee if you were kneeling down! She also loved to climb on the sofa and sit right on your knee, which was fine when she was small...but she never quite realised she was grown up! None of our other flatcoats have done this!
Now we have Livvy, who is extremely noisy when she's excited. She sings all the way to the park in the car(VERY loudly), luckily it's only 5 min' drive, but when we drive to Wales(2hr drive) the paracetamol are definately needed! When we went to collect her as a puppy, I remember the breeder saying that she had sent the mother home as she was SO noisy and driving everybody mad! Definately inherited things!

My cross also sits on your lap when you kneel on the floor, quite nice when she does it to me, but my friend isn't so sure (non doggy person!)

It's amazing that this sort of thing can be inherited, especially as Westie Lover reports through 7 generations. I agree that much can be learnt by just watching, but of course in many situations this hasn't happened and I feel it must be an inherited thing.

Very interesting!!! :) ;)

Lindsay

Our male GBGV will carry his bedding or any other types of rags that he finds. He won't chew it or anything, just holds them in his mouth & usually leaves them in the garden. When we went to see the pups, the breeder said he would do this as his mother does. Our bitch doesn't carry anything around & niether does her mother.