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Archive for the ‘dog breeding’ Category

Corgi Boxer hybrid

16 years before Pedigree Dogs Exposed, there was a cross done in Britain between a Welsh Corgi and a Boxer Dog.

The puppies grew up very cute. They had short legs, but not real short like a corgi.

Two of these puppies were females with naturally short tails like the Corgi parent. They were bred to a male Boxer dog.

One of these 3/4 Boxer, 1/4 Corgi puppies looked like a purebred Boxer (not show quality) and was named Jane.

Later, Jane was bred to another purebred Boxer dog, and her descendants have gone on to be registered as Boxer dogs with the UK’s kennel club.

The British succeeded in doing for Boxers dogs, what was tried in the US for Dalmatian dogs.

However, in the US, while the LUA Dalmatians looked just like other Dalmatians but were healthy, the club would NOT accept them.

Really, what the British did was more bold, because Dalmatian dogs and a Pointer dog look alike, while Corgi Dogs and Boxer Dogs look nothing alike.

I remember this when it came out. Spectacular! It turned out very well. Now Boxer Dogs in the UK can be born with short tails, instead of surgically amputated tails.

It was an ice breaker. And it could be hoped that more of these well planned and successful crosses would eliminate diseases in purebred dogs.

Unfortunately, the hybridizing seems to have stalled, despite this really successful start.

Takes a bit more nerve to walk cross country than to stay on the well worn trail.

You can read about this hybridization and see the photos if you click on “genetics” and then “genetics can be fun” at this link:

http://www.steynmere.com/PEDIGREE-EXPOSED.html

I have to agree with the author, breeding dogs in the era when cross breeding was allowed would have been so much more fun. Note: cross-breeding was allowed – not demanded.

I am linking to his re-action to Pedigree Dogs Exposed, which I find refreshingly mild compared to that of some other show dog breeders. I agree with what he said, some people got so use to the problems that they no longer noticed them. “inured”.

Although, I believe that many people here, knew very well what they were doing in breeding unhealthy dogs, many other people were like the boiled frog.

(A pan of water was setting on a stove, the flame under it left on simmer. Along came a frog who hopped into the pan and enjoyed the warm water. As time passed the water, ever so slowly, got warmer and warmer, but the frog did not notice because the change was so slow.

When the water was way hotter than what the frog would have jumped into, he was still happy in the now dangerously hot water. Sadly, although he could of hopped out of the water at any time, the frog was boiled and died because the change was too gradual for him to notice.)

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I am glad that the British care about their children, and about people out for a walk, but I hope they go the right way with their laws.

Politicians and other lawmakers are not dog professionals, and again, I must point out that ‘information’ by people whose business involves dogs, is apt to be propaganda.
(either intentional lies to deceive, or innocent people parroting those lies.)

Where does one go when they don’t understand an important topic, but they must do something about it, and the professional ‘information’ is suspect for being biased?

Common sense, and plain investigation by people who wont put a bias on what they see and hear.

But lets not forget the propaganda. People whose business is dogs, often lie or spin the truth to manipulate information.

People sometimes post things that don’t jive with the facts. Like:

“Chihuahuas are more dangerous than pit bulls”.
This is so unbelievable that I don’t know where to start to de-bunk it.

Common sense should tell you that the bite from a Chihuahua, is not as bad as the bite from a pit bull. Look at their jaw structure and the muscles that work those jaws! And just the plain size of the dog. And the difference in muscle mass.

If common sense won’t do it, let me add knowledge.

Dogs have instincts – think of instincts as inherited knowledge. Pit bull are born with programming that will urge them to hang on when they bite.

This instinct, this ‘inherited knowledge’, this ‘program folder’, is called “Locking Jaws”.

Pit bull fans, have argued that pit bull’s jaws are not different from other large dog’s jaws. That’s not quite true, but more importantly, it is totally beside the point.

“Locking Jaws” is an inherited behavioral trait, it has nothing to do with anything that you can see by looking at a dog’s skull.

But the pit bull fan has changed the focus of the subject. He has relied on the lawmakers lack of knowledge about pit bulls.

He has ignored the fact that locking jaws is something a dog does – an instinct, and misdirected the lawmaker to look at skull structure, and to return to subject of the greater power of a pit bull’s head and jaws.

And then the pit bull fans conclude for you “They are are stronger dogs, but that is all”.

Sorry. That is the beginning of the argument. They are stronger dogs, and have more jaw strength. That is obvious. But that isn’t what we have moved on to discuss.

“Locking Jaws” means that the pit bull doesn’t nip, he doesn’t bite and retreat.

He bites, puncturing the skin, and he holds on. He doesn’t let go. He doesn’t open his mouth back open and release. He starts to hang on like an American bulldog. He ‘locks’ his jaws on his victim.

Most dogs do NOT lock their jaws.

Police ‘train’ German Shepherd Dogs to hang on by playing tug of war with them, this awakens the hang on instinct that is latent in the breed. (It installs the program from a previously unopened file already in the dog).

But even with canine police training, German Shepherd Dogs do NOT jump up and hang onto sacks tied to trees and swing themselves around for hours out of the day.

Pit bull, and several other very similar breeds have an urge to bite and hang.
Like border collies want to herd sheep, and beagles want to follow their nose, and field-bred bird dogs look at birds, pit bulls want to hang on when they bite.

There is a fine little line, between a bulldog that bites and hangs, and the much much much more common case, where pit bulls not only bite and hang leaving a nasty row of puncture wounds, they also have the instinct to shake their heads while they are biting.

It is NOT them grabbing you with their teeth which does most of the damage. It is the head shake which TEARS parts of your body loose.

I have seen a veterinarian, day after day, do surgery on a dog shaken by another dog.

Some days, the dog’s laboratory results would indicate the dogs kidneys were overloading.

The veterinarian would open the dog back up, and all would look healthy and pink, but he knew from the lab results that something was decomposing inside of the dog.

He’d have to cut through health tissue to find it, but there it would be.

A muscle, dead and dieing, while hidden by healthy muscle above it. The muscle, or sometimes part of a muscle, would die because the blood supply to it had been torn loose from when the dog was shaken.

The only visible mark when the dog was brought in was 4 puncture marks from the bigger dog’s fangs. But underneath muscle tissue was dieing. The surgeries, the pain the dog was in, the suffering. This should not be.

And this should not happen to people. Not to people walking to their car. Not to children. And not to visitors.

It is time to make people responsible for their dogs actions.

And because we are people, we can learn from the mistakes of others. We don’t have to let each person learn how dangerous pit bull type dogs are.

We can use collective knowledge – the experiences of other people – to figure out which lines of dogs have the instincts to bite, hang, and shake, and which lines of dogs have emotional or aggressive problems which require that they be trained to suppress their instincts.

It is far easier to raise a puppy who naturally has the instincts you want,
and who doesn’t have any of the instinct you don’t want –
than to start off with a puppy who has urges to do things that you have to train him not to follow.

People who buy a puppy as a companion, have a right to be sold a puppy who was bred to be a good companion.

One of the questions is:
Are we going to allow dogs as yard guards?

If so, under what conditions?
What type of fence? How high? What to prevent a dog from digging out?
What type of double doors to prevent a child from answering the door and the dog bolting out?

What precautions for invited visitors? (not trespassers.)

Will we have breed bans (No dangerous breeds),
Or size restrictions (like no more dogs over 16 inches or 40 pounds)?

Read:
http://dogsbite.org

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Change

It is said that the Internet allows information to be passed around. True, but . . .

It also lets propaganda get spread around.

I hope the people like terrierman (Patrick Burns), Margaret Carter, and Jemima Harrison, will keep telling the truth about what is happening to the canine gene pool, purebred dogs, and at dog shows.

I hope that a younger generation will understand not to breed dogs for dog shows or to be used in other competitive sports.

I hope the public will understand to not accept dogs bred for shows and sports, over dogs bred to be good pets.

I hope that even the show breeders will acknowledge that:

If Mary breeds dogs that are good with children, she can’t truthfully label those puppies who are not good with children as “show quality”.

If Sue breeds dogs to win dog shows, she can’t truthfully label those puppies who are not good show dogs as “pet quality”.

Mary’s puppies can be divided into 2 groups: “Good with Children” and “Not good with Children”.

Sue’s puppies can be divided into 2 groups “Potential show dogs” and “Not potential show dogs”.

It would be exactly as much false advertising for Mary to label her pet puppies that are not good with children as “Show Quality” as it would be for Sue to advertise her show dog puppies who are not going to win, as “pet quality”.

A puppy who is not good with children is NOT automatically “show quality”.

And a puppy who is not built to win in the show ring, is NOT automatically “pet quality”.

I am NOT impressed by claims that telling a lie for 40 years, makes it true.

And calling lions “house cats” for 40 years will not make them house cats – they will still be lions.

A reject from the show ring might be a good pet, just like a puppy bred to be a good pet, but who is not good with kids, MIGHT be a good show dog.

But dogs have instincts. It is easier to teach a pointer to point, than to try to teach a bloodhound to point. It is easier to teach a border collie to work sheep, than to try to train a foxhound to herd sheep.

Why do so many dogs not work out as pets? I believe that it is because they were not bred to be good pets, so it is no surprise that they fail.

You can try to baby all kinds of animals. But there is a huge difference between having a pet dog that naturally adapts to your house, loves your kids, and whose whole life is centered around trying to please his family, vs –

– a ‘pet’ dog who requires constant updates on his training, and requires that his owner project mastery over him to keep him in line, and that the kids have to learn to handle in a way to prevent the dog from becoming aggressive.

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Dog Breeders

I have been looking around the web, looking for other people like me.

What I find a lot of, are followers of various doggie creeds.

People who, you don’t have to ask them their opinion to know what their opinion is, because they will parrot the club’s opinion.

Never mind the loss of genetic diversity, the amount of inbreeding and mis-breeding; they say they are improving the breed.

Never mind that they are selling most of the puppies they produce to families as pets; many breeders think that breeding to get show points and titles is more important than breeding to get puppies who are good with children.

Duh. If you are selling puppies to families with children – you need to be breeding dogs who are best with children – dogs who love to have children play with them, dogs who are tolerant of toddlers pulling their ears and trying to ride them.

Even if the family who buys the puppy, doesn’t have young children, they often have nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and friends who visit with children.

Don’t disqualify a dog because his tail is a bit too long or too short, disqualify a dog who tries to bite your children’s friends, or who growls or snaps at children.

Breed sane dogs who can live in the house without wreaking it, are naturally easy to housebreak, who don’t bark too much, who don’t want to fight or kill cats, and who are good with children.

That the dog is healthy is also important, but better a sickly dog, than one who bites children.

It is also nice if the dog has an easy to care for coat.

And if the dog is to be kept indoors, that he doesn’t shed too much.

Mostly, if you are selling puppies to families as pets, then you have to have breeding stock that run loose in your house and are safe with children, visitors, and other pets.

That pedigree with fancy sounding names on it? It is apt to go in the trash bin, along with the dog its self, if the dog bites the children.

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Not part of the herd?

I tried google’s new personalize your news page – which is a good thing, if you don’t have to keep re-personalizing it.

But I can’t quite personalize myself into any one herd type.

I guess, if it were possible, I would tell the search engine:

Find me something new, something I don’t know already, some whole new topic, “Amaze me”, show me something “Wow!”

Don’t show me more of what I’ve already read about, show me new science, new concepts, something different.

I know that, no matter how much I like a subject, there are only so many new ideas.

At first, UFOs are strange, cool, stories – but after 50 such stories, unless you’ve got photos of space aliens leaving their UFO and saying “Take me to your leader”, then I have heard it before – actually, I’ve heard that story before too.

With dogs, often the story registers with me only as “Yes, another person understands!”

I’m happy, but it isn’t news, it’s collecting other people’s “How I came to understand that the dog system it not functioning” articles.

Good! but not the adventure it started out to be.

I am totally for people understanding, but I can only do so much.

How often can I say:

Please don’t breed dogs to be used in competitive sports or shows.

Please understand that dogs are NOT all the same, select only healthy dogs, who posses instincts that help them be good pets, for breeding stock – do not breed dogs that have instincts which makes them unfit for civilized living.

If you have some use for uncivilized dogs, then when you breed them – please don’t sell the extra as pets.

Please understand that quality pets are NOT just left overs from working, hunting, sports, or show litters – being a quality pet is a speciality just like breeding working dogs, or show winners.

Pet puppies should have most of the wolfish instincts bred out of them, and retain the puppy instinct to please.

How can I get that message out better? What more can I say?

More examples of dogs who need a home? Try petfingers.

More examples of dogs who really really really didn’t work out? Try dogsbite.

More examples of how there are different lines of dogs in the same breed, and that they are not equally usefully at all tasks? Try retrieverman – his understanding of the split between different types of Golden Retrievers.

More examples of how purebreds, and show dogs are NOT the best idea? Try terrierman.

Want to read of years spent around the purebred dog breeding sub-culture?
Try thepdkc and darlingyouaredoingitwrong.

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More

After, supposedly reading about how purebred dogs are becoming more inbred and unhealthy, one person pointed out the the dogs she had as a child lived to an old age, and so did the next one, and . . . then she did get one that died young, and then . . . (sounds like she is an older woman)

But puppies can have puppies when they are a year old. That dog she had as a child?

He could be 70 dog generations ago – as far removed from the puppy of his breed that she could buy today, as you are from your ancestors in the year 500.

Dog breeds are not carved in stone. They are like the sea, always changing, yet always the same.

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I went browsing around the internet – I might not get much exercise that way, but it is sure easier than going for a walk.

I am amazed by the stupid things people say.

Among the dumber points that some people try to make, is one that goes something like this:

How can it be true that any purebred dog has health trouble, when I have owned 2 of them that didn’t?

Is that just too stupid to answer or not?
Just in case you are young, or never bred dogs:

If a breeder has a pair of dogs that are both carriers for the same inherited disease, on average, 1 of every 4 puppies in a litter will be affected.

That might be one or two puppies in the litter, on average. If you are one of the people who get one of the healthy puppies, then you have no experience with getting a puppy who will grow sick and die.

If you are one of the people who are sold an affected puppy, then you understand. If you are wealthy, or a lawyer, the breeder is less likely to put the affected puppies in the litter when you arrive.

The meek may inherit the earth, but they are also the most likely to get sold on affected puppy.

I know of one breeder, who screens who she lets buy her puppies very carefully. No lawyers, no rich people, no toughs can buy a young puppy from her, if there is much chance that that litter will throw affecteds – but she might sell these people an older puppy or young dog.

But somebody is apt to get sold the extra puppies out of the litters that could of thrown an affected.

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BIS terrierman

I never thought I say this, but I’m saying it now, IMO, terrierman is not quite harsh enough to be hitting the nail on the head.

Terrierman’s review of the film “Best in Show” (“BIS” in dog show lingo), is very good, but I would add this to it: not all that is wrong in dog shows is funny.

I know that there are those in the mental field who believe that a person who does things not in their own self-interest, is neurotic.

In more exact words, there are people who believe that all altruism, is neurotic, and that all helping of other people is a form of crazy – unless you get something in return.

I disagree.

If I were pushed to choose, I prefer the neurotics of the movie “Best In Show” over the cold blooded, selfish breeders,

like the mis-named “Class A” breeders/dealers, who breed dogs specially to sell them into research, and the “Class B” bunchers who get pets and sell then to be used in experiments and product testing.

I like the somewhat nutty breeders who baby their dogs, and treat them like people, better than I like the cold mean breeders who use dogs in the ‘sport’ of dog shows and sell the losers to people who bunch for the bunchers or companies who buy masses of dogs for who knows what.

I like the neurotics that are a bit crazy over their dogs, better than I like those focused on using dogs for sport or money.

Nothing like seeing people for the nuts they are, but loving them anyway.

Of course, if one can have sanity AND kindness, that is best – but we are talking about dog shows aren’t we?

and like the variety of opinions on what is neurotic, I am not so sure, that dog show fans are any less fanatics than Star Trek fans or Football fans.

In all groups there seems to be those who go too far with their love, fandom, or obsession, and others who err by not loving enough.

Yes, laugh at “Best In Show” and groan out loud because there are nuts like that in dog shows, but don’t go away thinking that that is all there is.

While people have often said that dog shows are agriculture (animal breeding),

And some say that showing dogs is a sport (the ‘sport’ of combing dog hair? and leading the dog around a ring? – not IMO),

And I have heard people claim that dog shows should be part of the entertainment industry,

But, now, I have heard it said, that dog breeding ought to be classed as part of the medical industry, as that is where so many of the dogs end up – used in experiments.

The movie is funny, the other side of the truth is a horror story with a bad ending, not a comedy.

“Class A” breeders/ dealers, and “class B” dealers are real.

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How many?

According to factoidz 1,012,472 animals were used in research laboratories in 2006, this number did NOT include mice rats, and birds.

Although I had thought that AWA covered them all, factoidz says no.

Factoids also says the 2 biggest funders for this are the National Institute of Health and the Department of Defense.

http://factoidz.com/animal-experimentation-is-it-really-neccessary

I have heard that universities use animals. and that cosmetic companies do too.

I don’t know if religion is doing it’s job. I thought the idea of religion was to make people more compassionate. Guess I was wrong; it often seems to make people angrier and less tolerant.

Look where these breeders/dealers are: in the bible belt.
http://www.okpuppymilltruth.org/comparison.php

(you might want to look up you know which kennel club here too)

I thought that animals were only supposed to be used once, for one experiment, then found homes for – but without positive ID, those animals can be sold down the river again and again.

What? You think that the sort of person who sells dogs and cats into torture, wont re-use them?

This is a different civilization than what it was. It is harder to hide things, now that there is an internet. I think it would be best for this sort of thing to be more transparent.

There are people who would adopt a used animal after it has been experimented on – what was the survival rate for dogs?

And the companies could help by directing breeders to only produce dogs that would be re-home-able.

As for completely shutting down such things – you just about have to find an alternative first.

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Where’s my doggie?

Well, I wouldn’t want a pet FROM at “class A” dealer/breeder.

But your pet doesn’t want to go TO a “class B” dealer. Better off dead with a quick injection, than living the life of a ‘lab rat’. Dogs are often used as ‘lab rats’ or ‘guinea pigs’.

People have been trying to stop vivisection from the beginning:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Dog_affair

If you have been reading, you know that one of PETA’s latest is a months long infiltration of a University in Utah – one of the few states that still have pound seizure laws – a law which says that if a shelter receives public money, then it MUST provide animals to experiment type places.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13861593

I am saddened that lost pets can be sold into places of torture and hell.

There are suppose to be laws. But who is enforcing these laws? The gov? Or does it look like PETA is doing the work?

And I have been around dog show breeders far too many times to be trusting. I just read that class B dealers are suppose to get dogs only from certain types of sources and under certain conditions – one of those is from the person who bred the dog.

Isn’t that nice, not? And who would have the paper work that says that they are the breeder of your dog? Might it be the person who you bought the dog from?

Funny, I have heard dog breeders say that they only sell puppies with a contract that says the buyer must return the dog if the owner can’t keep it anymore, BECAUSE, the breeder doesn’t want the dog sold into research.

But if the class B dealer, is suppose to get dogs from breeders . . . just what do breeder do with returned dogs? There are plenty of dogs for sell on petfinders. Not many grown dogs for sell in the newspaper. Where are these dogs ending up?

A list of dog bunchers is good, but it doesn’t tell you who is gathering up and selling dogs and cats to the bunchers.
http://fortheloveofthedogblog.com/animal-advocacy/dealing-in-dogs

A list of states that have laws that force shelters to sell dogs into research, and a list of states that forbid pounds from selling pet dogs into research, yields interesting results.

Look at how many are in North Carolina? Didn’t know NC was that populated! North Carolina? that rings a bell. What is in North Carolina, something that cares about dogs?

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Do you know what is a bigger taboo than exposing those purebred dog breeders like Pedigree Dogs Exposed did?

What is more taboo then showing breeding dogs with skulls too small for their brains?

What is more taboo than showing English Bulldogs that can’t mate without a person helping them?

What is more taboo than showing bitches tied in rape stands?

Did you learn anything from watching Pedigree Dogs Exposed? If you missed Pedigree Dogs Exposed, it is online, in 6 parts, Terrierman has the links.
http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com

I just read about an expose done by HBO, called “Dealing Dogs” – it’s about Class B dog dealers, bunchers, people who sometimes steal dogs and sell them into laboratories.

http://www.hbo.com
(enter “dealing dogs” in the search – it has links to articles, the video itself, etc.

Would you rather buy a dog from a “Class A” breeder, or a “Class B” dealer?

Ignorant fool. Trusting naive puppy person. Learn and be ignorant no more.

Class A (“A” like in A$$?01ez) are people who breed animals to sell them to research facilities, experimental places, and Frankensteinish laboratories. Their animals are sold to be in the lab, on the slab.

It is worse than you think it is. Pedigree Dogs Exposed did not prepare you for the whole truth.

The truth is that the dogs are bought for experiments, and that the laboratories pay more for some types of dogs than for others.

Class A breeders supply animals bred for laboratories.

If a scientist in studying a condition, he wants animals that are bred to suffer from that condition.

If it is a lethal condition, affected animals sometimes can’t be used for breeding, especially the females, because they don’t always live long enough.

When two carriers are bred, only 1 out of 4 offspring will suffer from the condition.
What do you think the for-profit animal breeder does with the other 75% of the offspring?

What about when the lab only pays $25 for unaffected animals, but the public pays $350 for the unaffected animals? But 2 of every 3 of those unaffected animals, carry the mutant gene.

Everybody is welcome to their own opinion, many people believe that the unhealthy mutations in purebred dogs got there by accident, and spread through the breeds accidentally;

I believe in following the money trail, and I believe that when an industry pays more for mutant dogs than for normal ones, there will be people who deliberately breed for mutations, and middlemen who encourage people to reproduce animals with the desired mutation. It’s what I believe, based on a few conversations, and slips of the tongue by show dog breeders.

Every notice how when you enter “Class A breeders”, you get hits about type B breeders? Even Wikipedia. Taboo?

Is there any law anywhere that says that a Class A breeder can ONLY sell to industry? That they CAN’T sell extras as pets?

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/07/reitman.htm

http://wildwend.blogspot.com/2006/02/sir-maam-your-special-corner-of-hell.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laboratory_animal_sources

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Trained or Gentleman?

If dogs were as smart as people, and could talk, a bird dog, with the instinct to point, could tell you how he felt when he smelled birds, but a greyhound would have to watch pointing dogs, and analyze how they must feel to freeze up like that.

The pointing dog could “look within” his own ‘heart’, the greyhound would have observe, think, observe more, analyze, report.

Instincts matter.

Dogs that are bred to herd sheep, usually have an urge towards sheep, like bird dogs have an urge towards birds, and hounds want to track, and fighting breeds have the urge to be top dog or fight.

Yes, you can train dogs that want to herd sheep to ignore sheep, and train bird dogs to leave all birds alone, hounds to not run off after a scent, and fighting breeds not to fight.

But, if you are a dog breeder, and you sell purebreds puppies as pets, your responsibility is to breed dogs that don’t have to be trained to repress their instincts because you have bred most of those instincts out of the dogs.

Pet sheepdogs who want to herd sheep but live in a city with no sheep, will often chase cars, kids on bikes, or other moving beings. Pet herding dogs should have the urge to chase and nip bred out of them.

Pet Pit Bulls and other fighting breeds should have the urge to fight bred out of them. The people who buy a puppy might not know how to repress aggressive instincts in game-bred dogs.

Unfortunately, what the current infrastructure has, is lots of dog breeders who ignore breeding against un-civilized instincts, and who keep unsocial dogs in crates, or kennels.

The vocal fraction of breeders are often breeding for appearance, mostly antique rural instincts, or as a tax shelter.

You would be surprised how few dog breeders are breeding dogs that actually live loose in the house, live around children, and are bred from the goal of producing good pets. Even fewer of those dogs come from long lines of dogs specially bred for traits that make for healthy dogs that are good pets.

Many dog breeders breed to try to win dog shows, or to try to win sporting events. They breed dogs to win in a competition that uses dogs.

Some dogs are bred for a use, like guide dogs, military dogs, some few of the herding dogs.

Many of the home-bred dogs are where someone went out and bought two show bred dogs, and then breeds them in her home. This is another case of dog trained to be well behaved, not bred to be naturally well behaved. Her results depend on her knowing how to raise and handle these dogs, or her natural ability to project dominance, or not spoil dogs.

Dog can be bred to be naturally tolerant of children, to have a low drive to bark, and to be friendly.

A working Border Collie puppy, a show Golden Retriever puppy, and a game-bred Pit Bull puppy, can be bought as a pet, but they all carry a different mix of traits.

A working Border Collie puppy is very likely to grow up too active for most people.
A game-bred Pit Bull puppy is apt to grow up too aggressive for most people.

And, while Golden Retrievers are very popular, and the show variety is NOT breed to have hunting instincts, neither are the puppies growing up to each having one litter, then being fixed. Many of the puppies still come from dog breeders who breed from show winners.

When you see a person fall off the top of a tall building, do you have to wait for him to hit the ground before you realize what his chances are?

People have been looking at dog shows and seeing what the end will be since dog shows started – but no one could stop the disaster before it was too late, and it is too late.

We can’t go back to a time where it could have been done right and give it a good outcome.

We can make for a better future, but it is like waiting until most of the giant old trees are cut down before starting to try to save them – yes you can replant, and in a hundred years, replant again with shade tolerant forest trees . . . but it would have been so much easier to do it right to begin with.

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Wellminster

If you read the short bit on wikipedia about Scruffts, you will read that it is a show for crossbred dogs, which is put on by the British Kennel Club.

I though what would a crossbred dog show in the US be called if it were modelled after Westminster? Wellminster! – a show for first generation hybrid breed dogs!

Or a Westminster for all mix breeds? Mixminster!
For mutts? Muttminster!

How would purebred dog show breeders feel about a dog show where dogs are judge by their dog’s behavior around other dogs and people?

Just look at how few show dogs also have a CDX or Utility dog degree after there name – the info would be in any show catalog, with the obedience degree listed in the dog’s registered name.

Most dogs entered in the obedience part of dog shows are NOT show champions.

And few show champions are also Obedience Trail champions.

Mine is an over-all impression, but you can do the current numbers yourself from show results on line, just look for the titles in the dogs name

-“CD” means Companion Dog, which is the beginning obedience degree. Rally is another obedience event. Agility requires training, and therefore, some control by the owner. But none of these mean the same as being a good pet.

It is possible to have dogs who have obedience degrees, who still have to live in cages at home, because they try to kill each other, try to tear the cat up, bark endless at falling leaves and everything that moves, try to remove legs from children, and “cat in the hat” the house.

Being easily trained (impressionable, easily conditioned) is not the same thing as having been bred with wolfish instincts deleted. These traits are independent of each other.

A good house dog, is calm, loves to be played with but is fine left alone in the house for awhile, loves his family more than strangers but loves strangers too, does just tolerate children but enjoys their attention, has a strong bladder and a strong instinct to not soil the place he lives in, and only barks when there is a real problem.

An easily trained dog is not the same thing as a well behaved dog, and both of those kinds come in intelligent and non-intelligent varieties.

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If you like Pedigree Dogs Exposed, try reading the archives of these two groups – you don’t have to join or sign in – they both have open archive, and allow cross-posting:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/pet-treaty/messages

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_dog_law/messages

Much like Pedigree Dogs Exposed, the archives of both groups are full of posts about the problems within the dog breeding industry.

Pedigree Dogs Exposed was not the first time that people exposed pedigree dog breeding and selling, people have been complaining about dog shows since they started.

Pedigree dogs exposed was the first time that somebody got action for their complaints.

Pedigree dogs exposed didn’t just talk, it didn’t just write, it video taped, edited, and aired.

Jemima Harrison, brave woman, went to dog shows and filmed.

Jemima Harrison, did interviews, and she got the BBC to put her film on the air (TV – telly).

We need to remember Jemima Harrison, and watch her video film, Pedigree Dogs Exposed, so that we never forget, that not everybody is nice, and that not everybody who sells warm fuzzy puppies, are nice warm fuzzy people.

I love the film. I love that finally, somebody was able to speak out for the suffering dogs, and the duped people who bought the puppies, wasted money, and had their family’s hearts broken by breeders who were not producing good pets, but who were producing show dog puppies and then selling them as pets.

If you can’t watch the film in your area, it is on video in 6 parts; there are links over on terrierman:

http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com
(search: Pedigree Dogs Exposed)

Terrierman was also in a film himself about the problems in show dogs.

PDE, Pedigree Dogs Exposed will be on TV tomarrow in America, THURSDAY Dec, 10, 2009.

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After all those years, where breeders (whose own dogs weren’t spayed), made people sign legal contracts to buy a puppy from them – making them have the puppy spayed, now, finally, someone gets around to figuring out that it isn’t just cutting out the dog’s ovaries, it’s cutting off years of her life.

And those rescue people, and the ‘humane’ people? Chop it off and cut it out.

In Europe, spaying and neutering is not popular. Maybe we should do it their way, because our system is not working right at all? Maybe, eclectically, we could get a better system by taking the best of all the systems to make one new system.

http://media-newswire.com/release_1107284.html

and wikipedia on neutering (I never looked up neutering on wikipedia, because I have seen neuters done, had neutered and unneutered dogs . . . thought that I understood.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutering

Well, now we know, it is NOT just early (juvenile) neutering and spaying that are harmful.

Maybe we should stop cutting up pets, and retrain the veterinarians to be doctors in a new health care system?

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They LIED!

They lied with their voice, they lied with their pamphlets, they lied with their radio shows, they lied in the newspaper, they lied on TV, they lied on the web, they lied on the phone, their lies fill books.

Look and read it on the web,
If you want a healthy pet,
Everyone spay, use your head,
She’ll be healthy, you can bet!

Two independent research studies show that hysterectomies are NOT useful to the long life of women or dogs . . .

read it – the title tells it:
http://www.procto-med.com/message-for-women-and-dogs-keeping-ovaries-is-linked-to-longevity/

Breeders don’t want to have THEIR animals fixed, they want you to have YOUR animals fixed!

(Report by David J Waters, Dec 1)

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What part of “puppy mill” does the government not understand?

100 dogs, in holes in the ground covered with planks, or tied to farm equipment?

Were they fighting pit bulls or breeding purebreds for profit, or what?

What were they doing with 100 dogs? And earlier this year, nearby 200 dogs were rescued?

Oregon, listen, people don’t need 100 dogs. Really.

100 dogs are not pets. 200 dogs sounds like far too much work for any family. And where do you put the poop from 200 dogs? And the urine?

A show breeder can do very well with her 4 best breeding dogs – the rest can be fixed (spayed/ neutered).

A socially responsible dog club would allow fixed dogs to compete alongside the fertile ones.

If the club they belong to doesn’t allow fixed dogs to enter, then they need to find a new club or work to change the club that they are in.

I am for FAIR limit laws, that restrict the number of unfixed cats and dogs per residence, and/ or per person – so long as those laws do NOT give excemptions to clubs, kennels, purebreds, or people with dozens of dogs.

http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/12/08/crew-sent-to-rescue-up-to-100-dogs-in-rural-ore/

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I was looking for more blogs to read, when I found one that had ads for sloped back (‘banana back’) show shepherds (GSD).

The main arguement of the article seemed to me to be, “How dare Los Angeles treat us like everybody else!”

Maybe my point of view was different because, I had been in a group where this was discussed, and nobody , NOBODY, ever, EVER, said “Those poor pet owners” or “What about the pet owners?” which was annoying because the group was suppose to be about pets, and the law.

The LA law was to make pet owners all have their dogs and cats operated on so they could never reproduce, but was allowing show dog breeders to keep churning out more purebreds. (Voldermort has risen again! and he is in Los Angeles.)

So I’m cruising around today, and I find a site where kennel owners are upset because the law they thought was only going to apply to pet owners was being applied to them.

What goes around sometimes comes around.

The computer went down for awhile and my connection was lost, so no link, not that you’d want to read about kennel owners complaining about having to obey the law.

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Book

I have NOT read this book, but it looks good, maybe Santa will bring me a copy, if I leave him some hot chocolate and cake (because I’m not going to merit it from being good!) -just kidding.

The author is an ex-veterinarian – Matthew Watkinson.

I Quote from an article about the book:

“What about a client who owns a purebred dog with a lot of inherited problems?”

“It’s a potential gold mine.” says Watkinson.

“Unsurprisingly, his statements haven’t endeared him to his peers.”

This link does have ads, but it also has the rest of the article:
http://www.pawnation.com/2009/12/04/why-one-veterinarian-quit-disgusted-with-a-profession-he-once-r/

I hadn’t heard of Matthew Watkinson until a few minutes ago, but now I like him. Tell it like it is! (I once worked for a veterinarian).

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It is amazing how we can think that we have learned so much when we are 16, and then after many many years more, realize that we still only know bits and pieces of anything.

Before I the time that I raised dogs (I don’t anymore), I worked with a woman who raised little dogs. She claimed to be very much into animal welfare, and said that her extensive contract was to make sure that the people who bought her puppies spoiled them with lavish care.

She ‘reclaimed’ dogs who were not being cared for up to the standards she had laid out in her very strict contract and then re-sold them.

But what type of dog did she breed and sell? A flat-faced dog. A dwarf dog bred to have extra short legs. A dog not bred to be free of discomfort.

Yet, if someone else, had made those puppies suffer, she would have been angry.

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