Do all pups take on the temperament of their parents? Or one more than the other? Does it matter if your pup is a male or female? My dog's parent's seemed to be high energy when we got him, dad was only 2 and mom was 8. I'm assuming that if mom was high energy at 8, Aspen will be high energy for life too? Or was she just energetic just because her babies were being taken away?
I think they tend to have temperaments similar to their parents, but there are no guarantees. Tilly came from a long line of field dogs, and her Dad was a Field Trial Champion, her mom a Master Hunter. Tilly is the least birdy Lab I have ever seen. She was energetic and loved to retrieve tennis balls, but paid no attention to birds or other small animals. Our other two Labs were energetic and birdy.
I agree with @Ski-Patroller. Holly has taken after her dam as she's very placid and gentle. Our last lab was quite unlike her parents as they were both very energetic, but she was the laziest dog I've ever known.
Well, I'm very clearly in the "nature, nature, nature!" camp, but there still is a large amount of nurture in there, and also simple differences between dogs, too. Willow and Shadow have a large array of FTChs in their pedigree, but Shadow really wasn't a keen retriever as a youngster and that desire had to be nurtured; now he loves it and it's his raison d'être. But I would consider that to be training rather than temperament. Similarly, if a dog is never trained how to settle down and is encouraged to always be on the go, then it will behave differently to the same dog who is given the skills to chill out. And, as mentioned, even within a litter, the pups aren't carbon copies; W&S are both anxious, but handle it very differently. Their sister Annie (who belongs to a friend) is similar but different again. I put the tendency to anxiety down to breeding, but it doesn't make them the same as their parents.
Interesting question! I agree with @snowbunny that basic temperament is very much down to nature, especially in regards to anxiety. I've also heard that dams influence temperament more heavily than the sires, which makes sense as they are actually with the puppies for the first weeks (although I guess then that would also make an argument for both nature and nurture). For energy levels, it seems that nurture can have a big influence in terms of how you yourself channel that energy. For example, with some notable exceptions, I do tend to put even my high energy foster dogs in a sort of doggie coma. I've now had a couple fosters that got to be pretty chilled out at home (but very active when out and about) who then did a complete turn around and became whirling dervishes once in their forever homes. It's pretty amazing how much the same dog can react very differently depending on environment!
Well I would love for my Lab to take after his mum...she was lovely and calm, very sweet natured. We didn't meet his dad, just saw videos of him working, but my dog certainly takes after him in looks. I think his mum was 3 if memory serves, so maybe in 1.5 years he'll be calm - we can hope anyways...
Nibbler definitely takes after his mum on the couple of occasions we saw her she was non stop brining ball back and forward - totally ball obsessed even when strangers were handling her babies - Nibbler is exactly the same will chase a ball all day long.
