Dog N A

I'm a curious person and being a curious person means that I read alot. Last night I couldn't sleep but I didn't want to get wrapped up in a book and then stay up all night, so I plucked some mindless reading of my bookshelves - Your Alaskan Malamute and You. Now, Portia is not a pure bred, she was rescued by ARF (link on the right) but based on her appearance, they speculated she was either a Husky or a Malamute cross. After reading several books and scrutinizing pictures, I have decided to go with Malamute.

I was reading last night the general characteristics of malamutes: stubborn (check), likes to be with her pack (check), loves children (check), worst guard dog ever (check - she loves anyone who looks at her sideways), loves snow (check), etc. But all of this got me thinking - these were not physical traits - these were mental/emotional traits. So how much of who she is is defined by her DNA? And by that turn, how much of who we are is defined by our DNA? The old Nature vs Nurture debate. If there are characteristics that can be generally applied to most alaskan malamutes, then what would be the charateristics applied to me by my ancestors? What's a product of my environment and experiences, and what's a product of stuff lurking in my genes? My love of pink? Scrapbooking? My dislike of seafood?

If you say that someone is an artist, or musically talented because someone else in their family was and that was passed on, then what else can be handed down? Like, I hate the smell of wind, I love crunchy food and I'm afraid of the dark. If I could hand out questionaires to all my ancestors, what would they say? Would there by a high proportion of people who like pink and solitary activities the same way that Portia's ancestors learned you depended on your pack for survival and therefore, pack was all?

Shrug - but it sure makes for interesting wool gathering late at night.