A spot of truth

There has been much written about the bad path of dog breeding.

Unfortunately, much of it has been written by the very people who are ruining dogs, to try to say that they aren't doing it wrong, that breeding unhealthy dogs that yap all day or who have bad tempers, is fine - so long as they win at the dog shows.

That Shaking Spear dude was right, it does often mean something when: The lady doth protest too much.

For Example, when looking through public domain photos of dogs, most of the bird dog photos were NOT of dogs on point or dogs fetching birds - they were show shots of posed dogs, or pet dogs.

For photos of bird dogs actually doing the work, what were the 2 close ups that I could find (in public domain), A poodle, and a cocker spaniel.

Now if you even know squat about bird dogs, you know those aren't common breeds among bird hunters. But it makes sense that these would be the only two breeds in public domain.

Why? A woman had inherited her parents things, including a box of photos. There was only one photo of the house she grew up in. The family took photos of each other, but almost none of the outside of the front of the house.

And the one photo of the house? The yard was covered in snow. I said that I didn't know it snowed there. She said that it didn't, it had only snowed once in 20 years. That being a rare event, they took a photo, but had no photos of the house as it normally was.

We photograph the unusual, the hunting poodle or cocker -but not so much the dogs that are the usual hunter's dogs.

But a great lot of the stuff out there on dogs, is propaganda by dog breeders, and the people who make money off of the status quo in dogs, and who fear change might upset their applecart.

Terrierman's blog tells it like it is.
http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com

Retrieverman is another good honest dog blog that I read.
http://retrieverman.workpress.com

Wolf Friends

The other day, I was wondering just how the situation in SHOW dogs ever got this bad.

What went wrong? I decided that dog shows got off to a bad start. It was an era when people latched onto new ideas and ran with them. Some of these were good ideas, but some were not. The idea behind dog shows was a leaky boat.

Usually people are told when they are doing something wrong. None of us are born a scientist, a parent, a teacher - we are all just born a little baby. People point us back onto the right path when we go astray.

I think the real problem is that the club didn't have good enough enemies.

If it had good enemies, it could have over come it's weaknesses.

Inuit saying "The wolves keep the caribou herds strong."

I guess I mean to say the club needed more aggressive criticism. Not mealy-mouthed "Are you sure that Pekingese dogs are okay?" but "Hey! Those dogs are suffering because YOU incite people to breed dogs with flat faces. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!!! Are you planning on encouraging the breeding of more puppies who will grow up to suffer? Do you think that is a nice thing to do?".

The club might have heard a few disgruntled people sadly say of them, "They are ruining dogs", but what they needed to hear was:

"What kind of idiots are you? Are you stupid or what? Can't you see your winning bulldog is a suffering, smashed face mess, with goop growing in his skin folds, a twisted tail, and teeth that don't meet?

Poor dog! And it is YOUR fault. YOU are the ones inciting breeders to breed dogs like that. Can't you do anything right?

Git off your lazy behind, and insist that every breeder breed only healthy dogs, that every standard describe fit healthy dogs, that judges turn away whole classes and breeds until fit dogs are brought before them.

Hire some people who don't have mouse balls and pea brains. Insist that dogs can't be shown unless they are healthy and health tested."

Wolves keep the caribou herds strong.

The club might have wanted peace, but it needed to hear the outrage, the laughter, the scorn.

Because when someone you love is in a boat drifting towards the falls, or going grizzly bear hunting with just a knife, or staggering drunk to his car to drive down the mountain - you don't just wave bye-bye and say "Have a nice time, dear".

You say "Get that boat out of the river, now! Leave the Grizzly Bear Alone! Give me your car keys!"

Maybe people didn't care enough to criticize. Maybe the club didn't listen.