If I knew now what I knew then, then I would have a spayed particolour bitch.
How sad:(
I am a geneticist and statistician, but would never make a choice about a dog based on the kind of statistics you have been quoting, Phil - the methodology is far too flawed
Cars, houses, white goods etc are "manufactured" to standard specifications - dogs are living, breathing creatures that respond to their environment, and have emotions, feelings and "opinions"
As I understand it Phil, you are "nearly" a psychologist. Are all psychology patients assessed and treated based solely on the
statistical likelyhood of a personality type/disorder occuring in a person of their age/gender/hair colour, or is it more complex than that? If it is, why are dogs any different? You are right ,dogs haven't changed in 30 years, but our understanding of them has - otherwise, the techniques used then that I mentioned would still be recommneded today. IMO, it can be compared to the fact that we used to send little boys up chimneys - we now understand that this is physically and psychologically damaging for many children - just as some "traditional" dog training methods are now known to be to dogs
While I fully relate to your desire to understand Sooty and what may have happened to him - please don't under-estimate the recommendations and advise you have been given by COLers. The danger with academic research is that you can find scientific papers that prove or disprove most theories - the advantage of COL is that many of the members have been actually dealing with these issues first hand for years; which, even as a scientist myself, I have higher regard for than all the scientific theories in the world