Turtle Sniffing Dogs

This video shows turtle dogs, which are retrievers bred and trained to hunt turtles.

Possible Guiding, Compelling and/or Anchoring Questions

• How do dogs inherit different traits?
• Why are these dogs different from other breeds?
• What technologies can humans use to influence the inheritance of traits in dogs?

Classroom Suggestions

Students could:

• Discuss observations/characteristics of the dog.
• View photos of dogs in pairs to compare and contrast features.
• Discuss the variety of features observed.
• Investigate the Dog Breeding Simulator (Legends of Learning) to investigate how dogs can have different traits.
• Discuss the simulation as a class of observations and the struggles they encountered .
• Review Punnett Squares.
• Research technologies for selective breeding, in their search students could pick a breed of dog and describe the potential health problems that the breed has when humans are selecting for certain traits.

Related Resources

PBS: Nature: This resource highlights the problems that can be encountered when we selectively breed dogs.
Nature.com “Genetics of Dog Breeding”: This resource could provide background information for teachers and explains how so many characteristics can exist among canines.
Legends of Learning: Dog Breeding Center: This is a simulation showing how different breeds of dogs can come about through artificial selection.
World’s First Domesticated Foxes: Foxes in Russia were selectively bred for “friendliness” to show how we have domesticated dogs.