# Genetic Capability



## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

As I was reading through various breeder websites as I do about every morning. I came across the term "Genetic Capability". It got me thinking, what the heck is that haha. Now I know there are some WL's that have a hard time capping. I'm also curious how much of this is how the dog was raised/training and how they went about capping it. Are strong dogs out there that cap themselves? The ability to cap goes along the lines of a bidability(real word?) to me. Does this make sense?


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

IMO I think that capping ability and bidability are 2 different things, with 2 very different genetic components. One refers to the dog's ability to "hear" the handler when highly stimulated and is a factor of the dog's nerve. The other refers to the dog's willingness to do as asked and is a factor of other aspects of temperament, most notably pack/social drive.

Yes, there are plenty of strong dogs out there who can cap well. Sometimes capping problems are raising/training related, and sometimes they are genetic. Most often in my experience it is a combination of genetic predispostion within the dog that makes it possible for the dog to achieve a drive level above the ability of it's nervous system to control combined with training/handling that regularly places the dog in that situation by loading the dog to an inappropriate level of drive.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

genetic capability is exactly that -- the top most that you can expect from a dog , whether it be the capacity to learn and retain, the capacity for stress, the ability to be interested and fire up -- and yes even the limits of health and longevity. Not so much capping -- 96.05.05: Ethics and Genetic Capability


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

Thanks for the input! 

Chris, I made the connection of bidability and capability in my head by thinking a biddable dog is one that likes to work with the handler and is easy to train. A dog that can easily be capped is easy to train instead of fighting it when trying to cap. Well, at least that's what my train of thought was for that comment. As usual your explanation is much better than mine. Thanks! 

Also I definitely there are strong dogs that can be capped. I work some every week. I was thinking more a dog that self caps. If that makes sense. A dog that will limit itself? Yeah, I don't know.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

oh for pete's sake capping ability --


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

Yes, Carmen, the thread title struck me as odd in the sense that the subject seemed to be a different topic than the title until I realized he meant capping ability.... Since capability is a real word, that has nothing to do with ability to cap (at least not specifically, it's just the ability to do something... anything) we should probably refer to capping ability as capping ability rather than cap-ability.


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

So... You ever have those moments and look at yourself say WOW! You're an idiot! Yeah.... This is one of those moments. This is a sign I have been working too much and am way too tired. I wish I could remember what breeders site I was on so I could go back and read it and see where my confusion was. Thanks!


Edit: It didn't even hit me until I was driving home from work what the confusion was. I'm shaking my head in disgust.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Great subject none the less(capping)!


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

onyx'girl said:


> Great subject none the less(capping)!


 
Thanks, capping was where I wanted it to go:blush:


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

mycobraracr said:


> So... You ever have those moments and look at yourself say WOW! You're an idiot! Yeah.... This is one of those moments. This is a sign I have been working too much and am way too tired.* I wish I could remember what breeders site I was on so I could go back and read it and see where my confusion was. Thanks!*
> 
> 
> Edit: It didn't even hit me until I was driving home from work what the confusion was. I'm shaking my head in disgust.


How about checking your history? I enjoy reading and learning from these threads. Often what I read here I end up hearing it later on at training or at DW's club and I'm not so clueless.


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