#which is largely focused on the Iditarod and hashes out a bunch of the mid-90s drama from the committee

[grison-in-space]

Form for a working dog refers to locomotion, agility, strength, bite; for a show dog, good looks. Mate two dogs who look like pointers but have never really pointed, and you probably will end up with a litter of dogs who look like pointers but do not reliably freeze when they encounter prey. But breed two scruffy-looking mutts who come to a screeching halt whenever their noses encounter another animal and stare, waiting for it to move, and you have a good chance of getting at least a couple of puppies with the same disposition. They might look like street curs, but they will point and probably do other things as well. In other words, the look does not make the dog—something that many of us have never learned.

While the breeds, or subgroups, into which these animals are narrowly divided are often arbitrarily based on the irrelevancy of coat characteristics or ear shape, the general types more appropriately reflect broader behavioral and phenotypic eccentricities. Insofar as the dogs are employed at tasks for which they ostensibly were bred, their styles of work reinforce our notions of breed specialities. On the other hand, when we watch them performing in a different arena—for example, chasing a Frisbee or detecting scents—we realize how much they have in common in terms of their innate canine drives.

Dog’s Best Friend, Mark Derr (1997)

#mark derr #I'm coming back to my reading projects #didn't note anything particularly quote worthy in the mushing section admittedly #which is largely focused on the Iditarod and hashes out a bunch of the mid-90s drama from the committee #fairly reasonably tbh #dog's best friend