On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:55:23 PM UTC-7, Darwin123 wrote:
> First, the anecdotal background. There are stories on the
> internet claiming that dogs are afraid of the smell of lamb meat. There
> are even videos on the web where owners show their dogs turning away
> lamb meat and gobbling down other types of meat.
>
> I was in a discussion where some dog owners claimed that their dogs
> were afraid of the smell of lamb meat. Other dog owners had dogs which
> liked lamb meat. One dog owner claimed that he had one dog that was
> afraid of the smell of cooked lamb and another dog that liked the smell
> of lamb meat. Several breeds of dogs were discussed.
>
> This could be a matter of individual variation, having nothing to
> do with breed. However, the dogs discussed were of different breeds. So
> this could be a variation between breeds. So the question is really
> whether this is a variation between breeds, or some a polygenetic
> variation between individuals.
>
> One participant suggested that it was only the sheep dogs which
> were afraid of lamb meat. This sounded plausible to me. However, the
> participant did not distinguish between breeds of sheep dogs. Some
> dogs were bred to guard sheep, and some dogs were bred to herd
> sheep. There are separate phenotypic differences characteristic of
> these two breeds of sheep dogs.
>
> I haven't found any scientific articles on the web on this topic. Lots
> of anecdotes, but no analysis.
>
> I figure that this is relevant to evolution. The question is one
> of selection and genetics.
>
> So my questions are:
>
> 1) Has any s documented a particular aversion to lamb meat among dogs?
>
> 2) If there is such an aversion, would it characterize individual dogs or
> some breeds of dogs.
>
> 3) What taste differences are there in between non sheep dogs, guardian sheep dogs or herding sheep dogs?
>
>
>
> It seems to me that scientists working for dog food manufacturers would probably have researched the tastes of different breeds. I can't find any
> scientific publications. If a scientist or student is looking for
> an interesting topic in evolution, with clear applications in the real
> world, then this would be a good one.
> work on, with practical applications,

I just experienced this with my dog, my father cooked lamb meat balls last night and my dog became restless and scared. Even the next day when he went to eat it for lunch my dog began to become restless and frightened and started shaking very badly. He also would not eat it. He is an Italian greyhound, I also have another Italian greyhound who is not scared at all and acts just like she normally would around any other food.

On Thu, 8 Jan 2015 18:45:19 -0500 (EST), kapsemili@gmail.com wrote:

>On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:55:23 PM UTC-7, Darwin123 wrote:
>> First, the anecdotal background. There are stories on the
>> internet claiming that dogs are afraid of the smell of lamb meat. There
>> are even videos on the web where owners show their dogs turning away
>> lamb meat and gobbling down other types of meat.
>>
>> I was in a discussion where some dog owners claimed that their dogs
>> were afraid of the smell of lamb meat. Other dog owners had dogs which
>> liked lamb meat. One dog owner claimed that he had one dog that was
>> afraid of the smell of cooked lamb and another dog that liked the smell
>> of lamb meat. Several breeds of dogs were discussed.
>>
>> This could be a matter of individual variation, having nothing to
>> do with breed. However, the dogs discussed were of different breeds. So
>> this could be a variation between breeds. So the question is really
>> whether this is a variation between breeds, or some a polygenetic
>> variation between individuals.
>>
>> One participant suggested that it was only the sheep dogs which
>> were afraid of lamb meat. This sounded plausible to me. However, the
>> participant did not distinguish between breeds of sheep dogs. Some
>> dogs were bred to guard sheep, and some dogs were bred to herd
>> sheep. There are separate phenotypic differences characteristic of
>> these two breeds of sheep dogs.
>>
>> I haven't found any scientific articles on the web on this topic. Lots
>> of anecdotes, but no analysis.
>>
>> I figure that this is relevant to evolution. The question is one
>> of selection and genetics.
>>
>> So my questions are:
>>
>> 1) Has any s documented a particular aversion to lamb meat among dogs?
>>
>> 2) If there is such an aversion, would it characterize individual dogs or
>> some breeds of dogs.
>>
>> 3) What taste differences are there in between non sheep dogs, guardian sheep dogs or herding sheep dogs?
>>
>>
>>
>> It seems to me that scientists working for dog food manufacturers would probably have researched the tastes of different breeds. I can't find any
>> scientific publications. If a scientist or student is looking for
>> an interesting topic in evolution, with clear applications in the real
>> world, then this would be a good one.
>> work on, with practical applications,
>
>I just experienced this with my dog, my father cooked lamb meat balls last night and my dog became restless and scared. Even the next day when he went to eat it for lunch my dog began to become restless and frightened and started shaking very badly. He also would not eat it. He is an Italian greyhound, I also have another Italian greyhound who is not scared at all and acts just like she normally would around any other food.
>

Possibly your father is a very bad cook?

[moderator's note: Oh, now. Be nice. I will say, all of my dogs, some of
which have herding breed ancestry, happily ate lamb-meal based chow for
years. -JAH]