Pedigree Dogs Exposed

[logansrogue]

I finally saw this BBC documentary. It was aired on the ABC tonight, but I missed it. I saw it on youtube and it made me cry. Seeing those poor damned cocker spaniels writhing in pain on the floor, or a boxer having an epileptic fit. How can people do this to dogs? The rich snotty bastards that wilfully breed these animals, they have no care about the future of the breed, nor any care of the cruelty they inflict. These people live with an inward material flow. They think only of themselves, only of acquisition of wealth and status, and think nothing of the big picture.

Well, money and ignorance does not change science. If you limit your breeding pool, you are going to end a population. Diversity is survival. Basic Darwinian principle, man!

I really love dogs. They are such sweet, sweet animals. They have a loyalty and a capacity for unconditional love that touches me deeply. A lovely labrador cross (he was part lab, part mongrel) was my only friend when I was 10. I had no friends at school and I was miserable. So happens the next door neighbour's dog was miserable and lonely too. We found each other over the fence, and because the neighbour had previously had barky dogs, I thought this dog was mean and barky too. But he wasn't. He was sweet and he cried for me to throw him a ball. And I kept throwing that damned ball for him for years and years, in any weather, despite the sliminess of his spit. Tiger loved to play. Tiger was a true friend to me.

I can't imagine loving dogs so much that you would keep and breed them yourself. I love dogs but I just couldn't cope with losing them so soon. I have a hard enough time coping with the loss of my cats, and Melma's been going for 19 years now. I worry about her every day (I know, nutty, but she's a good cat, a wonderful caring friend).

So people keeping multiple dogs, breeding them, and then not caring if they're carrying on painful, debilitating genetic illnesses? What is that? How... how uncaring, cruel and heartless do you have to be? Is it THAT hard to police your breeding practices, to make sure you don't carry on any detrimental lines? A woman in this documentary quite happily said that she likes to euthanase any rhodesian ridgeback puppies she has that are born without a ridgeback!! It's a perfectly healthy fucking puppy! The ridge is actually an expression of a gene that can easily be Spina Bifida!! I mean, WHAT THE HELL?!

The woman is talking happily about KILLING PUPPIES. How evil must you be, how black-fucking-hearted, that you could happily kill a fucking puppy? A PUPPY! This:

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images14/RhodesianRidgebackPicture_0491Puppy.JPG

LOOK AT THAT FACE. SHE KILLS THOSE. EVIL CUNT. Just because it doesn't have a big ugly ridge that is a sign that that particular breed of dog is on its way out!!

I DON'T GET IT Y'ALL. IT'S A BABY ANIMAL. WHAT THE FUCKING HELL.

This is why humanity can't have nice things. It'll get to the point where these animals will just die out. And they'll have nobody to blame but themselves, stupid bastards.

Comments

[starfyre01.livejournal.com]

That is what is called irresponsible and bad breeding in the extreme. There are plenty of wonderful breeders out there that have a code of ethics that would not do such a thing. It's disgusting that there are people out there that are just interested in making a fast buck and not testing their dogs to see if they've got an animal that has diseases in the gene pool.

Both Teddy and Jasper come from breeders that test their dogs for diseases - and in fact, you can even see their sire's and/dam's test results online (Teddy's breeder has even donated a DNA sample of his mommy for CHIC!). It's a shame that there are scumbags like this who are doing these terrible things to innocent animals.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I'm aware there are good breeders out there. I have no problem with a good, functional, attractive breed. There's a lot of good reasons to have a breed - to know what you're getting in a companion animal.

It's a very, very specific scene I'm losing my shit about. It's the very top of the UK breeding scene. Horribly ill dogs are being bred because they LOOK like these breeders think the breed should look like, consequences to the poor pups themselves be damned.

I have never had a doubt in my heart that you've always sought out good breeders and only want the best for your puppa-doodles. Every photo of your babies is a beacon of healthy and happiness. Hope my shit-fest here hasn't bothered you or offended you!

[starfyre01.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've seen some really outrageous breeding practices here in the States - and it infuriates me that people would be so cruel to these poor animals. GAH!

Not to worry - you didn't offend me at all. I get just as upset as you've been upset by irresponsible and cruel breeding practices - just to get "the look" that they want - and destroying the "not as nice looking" pups. It's gross and inhumane ><

The boys wag their tails and say "Hi!"

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I send those darlings lots of cuddles and big squishy smooches! That upsetting doco made me want to hug a bunch of puppies. I'll never understand cruelty to animals. Ever.

[likebunnies.livejournal.com]

I would never buy a dog from an American pet store because of the whole bad breeding and puppy mill epidemic. I wanted a dog from the local shelter but in my area, most of them are pitt bulls or the like and I am not the right owner for that breed. I am not dominant enough. My two boys are Shelties and they are bred to do a job which makes it a shame that I don't have any sheep! Now their only job is barking to let me know the garbage men have arrived. I did investigate breeders for a long time and found a good one. She was very particular about who her puppies would go to and even recommended that instead of getting an eight week old puppy, I'd be better suited with an older puppy since my kid was ADD crazy then. She was right and things went well. I wish more people out there actually cared about the animals and not just the profit.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I just don't think I'll ever understand animal cruelty. Or any sort of cruelty, really. It just doesn't compute in my head. I can't parse it. It makes NO sense to me.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

Given the vast quantities of abandoned dogs and cats in shelters across the developed world, it blows my mind that people still purchase pedigree animals at all.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I know, right? And a little mutt will love you just as much as a pedigree, and probably for longer cause it won't have inherited a deadly genetic disease!

[melalucci.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. :) Although I can understand why the above person might have a hard time at certain shelters, finding only pit bulls and stuff...

[starfyre01.livejournal.com]

It is especially difficult to find a breed that is non-allergic/doesn't set off an asthma attack, such as a poodle - and even then, you need to watch what you're getting because you simply do not have a clue as to where the dog comes from (a puppy mill or good and reputable breeders, such as the boys that are in my picture are from), either. That's why the Obamas ended up NOT getting a dog from a shelter because you simply are limited from that perspective. Poodle rescue societies have older dogs, and when you're looking for a puppy (or in this case, puppies, LOL!), like we were... It's virtually impossible. The waiting lists are ridiculously long.

Also, for those who are wondering, poodle mixes - such as the labradoodle - are NOT as hypoallergenic as one would think. More often than not, they tend to take on the labrador's skin type - and allergen triggers, to boot, unfortunately.

[melalucci.livejournal.com]

I would love to kill people like that woman.

[sakurakiss.livejournal.com]

That's why I always get my critters from the pound or humaine society. I'm saving one from death row and not supporting puppy mills. Plus, mix breeds don't have any of the health problems that purebred do because they're not inbred.

[dormant-dragon.livejournal.com]

Any kind of cruelty to animals - and especially dogs - makes my blood boil, as anyone who's read my journal knows! I didn't see this doco, but read about it in the paper.

You're absolutely right about this sort of thing being a manifestation of greed and acquisitiveness at all costs. I suspect there is also a certain amount of good old British traditionalism at work - that kind of inbred, Tim-Brooke-Taylor-esque concern for bloodlines and so-called 'good breeding' that produced the horrors of the European royal families a couple of centuries ago. It's absolutely unsurprising to me that there are those Cruella deVil types in the breeding industry who think nothing of drowning a perfectly healthy puppy just because it doesn't have the 'right' look. To them, a pedigree dog is not a living, breathing creature at all - it's as much an accessory as the latest handbag (made from Australian crocodile skin, no less).

Oh, and I know there are people out there who say, "It's only a dog - what's the problem?" but those kinds of people should be shot, in my opinion...

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Senseless killing is senseless killing. Puppies or birds or crocodiles, I'm sad about it. I never understood kids that had fun tormenting animals when I was young. I thought there was something deeply and horrible wrong with them.

Well, these staunch traditionalists are going to get a bit of a lesson from ol' Darwin and his amazing DNA, cause a genetic pool can only get so small before the entire population just farts itself and ceases to be.

[loic.livejournal.com]

And this is why dogs disgust me. It's not the dogs themselves, its that when I look at almost any dog I see the horrible things people have done to its ancestors for several thousand years to turn it into a sad, twisted parody of the proud wolf it started out as.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of dogs that are pretty much at the same proportions as they started. And making an animal smaller isn't, in an of itself, a harmful thing. I mean, it happens in nature all the time. It's the short-faced pugs unable to breathe and the German Shepherds absolutely unable to walk that break my heart. Mum often says to me about my cats, "You're lucky she's just small or she'd have you." I think this is why most cats have resisted being quite so bizarrely bred. Though, rich cat enthusiasts are catching up with that too.