Introducing the American Shelter Dog, the dog you've always
known. In most shelters across the United States the majority of
dogs are mixed breeds of unknown parentage. Nevertheless, it is
common practice for staff to guess a dog’s breed based on
appearance. This ‘best guess’ is used to identify the dog,
although the actual pedigree is unknown. The problem is that
breed identity elicits behavioral expectations on the part of
the new owner, even though researchers have found enormous
behavioral variability within all breeds. For instance, people
who adopt large black dogs with floppy ears, identified as “Lab
mixes,” expect their dogs to swim and retrieve balls. Dogs with
short legs and long bodies, labeled “Bassett Hound crosses,” are
expected to bay and hunt with their noses. Blockyheaded, short-
coated dogs are called “Pit-mixes” and, to their detriment, are
expected to carry all the behavioral baggage unfairly
associatedwith their brethren. We now have the ability through
DNA testing to identify the actual g