Hello again all!
Sorry to start such an inflammatory thread and then disappear, but my health has been a bit off recently, and I've been in and out of the hospital.
Things seem to be looking up now though.
I have yet to choose a dog b/c of my health issues (waiting till I get the all clear).
Regardless of what dog I choose, I think this is a great debate and would like to continue it as soon as I'm feeling more with it.
Just to throw in my two cents for the moment: although I fully accept that dog temperaments will vary (sometimes widely) across individual animals, I will again state that I think generalizations can be made about breed temperaments
and that these generalizations can be used when determining what type of dog might suit your needs. I offer
this as proof. This very site states that each breed has general temperament characteristics. If this site, as well as many other sites and numerous books state there are certain personality characteristics shared by dogs of the same breed, why can't I use them as a starting point in selecting a dog? Yes I
might end up with a dog that doesn't conform to the profile at all (especially with improper training), but it is more likely than not to be similar to all those other thousands of dogs that these breed profiles have been formulated upon.
For the most part I agree with Brecker.