A (dog) bone of contention

[pomba gira]

I want to say first off that I am all for taking in homeless dogs. Some of the best dogs of my lifetime have been the ones nobody else wanted.

But I have a profound distrust of people who are into sloganeering. When I started seeing "ADOPT DON'T SHOP!" everywhere I looked, I examined the issue more closely.

The sloganeering crowd says that "breeders are bad" - not just puppy mills and backyard breeders, or breeders who produce dogs that can't breathe and/or move properly, but ALL breeders.

They have this idea that we could solve pet overpopulation if everybody would just ADOPT.

The thing is, in my own case, I have the space and resources to care for one dog correctly. I suppose I could get a second, but there would be a quality slide as far as food goes. And if they both needed medical care at the same time, it could be very problematic.

Now suppose I adopt a dog, a young one. During the lifetime of that dog (normally 12-14 years, sometimes less, but often more) MILLIONS of unwanted dogs will languish in shelters and, in many cases, be euthanized.

Is it not better to donate to shelters on a fairly regular basis for 12-14 years? Which helps more, do you think?

Suppose the sloganeering crowd got their way, and there were no more breeders. At all. In a few decades time there will be nothing but "yellow mutts" of unpredictable size, abilities, and temperaments. And the streets and shelters will be teeming with them.

Puppy mills need to be stopped, I PROFOUNDLY agree. So do backyard breeder idiots: "You got a male? I got a female, bring him over!"

But the responsible, knowledgeable breeders who do genetic and health testing, and strive to improve the breed, are vital. And I'm sick to death of seeing them bashed.

My current dog is a Sheltie, from one of those breeders. He is MDR1 negative (it's a genetic disorder that makes certain herding breeds react badly to heartworm preventative meds http://www.animalgenetics.us/Canine/...sease/MDR1.asp) and his breeder proudly included a dose of Ivermectin in his little package I got when I went to pick him up.

All of her dogs are thoroughly tested. They do agility, obedience, and conformation competition. Shelties, being a relatively new breed, have a lot of variation in size. When the breed was being developed, there were crosses with everything from Rough Collies to Pomeranians! Mine was destined to be oversized, that's how I was lucky enough to even be able to afford him - the bigger ones go to pet homes with a spay/neuter contract.

He's beautiful, quirky, athletic and intelligent. I couldn't ask for a better dog.

I chose to go to a breeder because I'm sick to death of the bashing.

If money changes hands, it's shopping.

If the dog is considered a part of your family, it's adoption. I don't care if you paid a million dollars for it and it has a pedigree going all the way back to prehistory.

There are purebreds in shelters, yes. And they are generally from puppy mills. They were born in a cage, not a house, and nobody cared about them or made those important imprints when they were tiny puppies. So they have issues, and their former owners couldn't handle them and gave them up.

My contract with my dog's breeder states that if I am ever unable to care for him, he goes back to her. This is SOP with responsible breeders - the dogs seldom if ever end up in shelters or pounds.

I know about shitty breeding practices, and I am not saying all show people are saints. I saw that GSD who couldn't move properly, I know about the brachycephalic dogs, and yes, I know what they've inflicted on the King Charles spaniel (may those MF's rot in hell). But this does not represent the majority of breeders.

Sheltie people on the whole care about the DOGS. There is not a stray or missing Sheltie that doesn't get shared all over facebook by them - even the drop-eared, funky, mixed ones are on the radar. I often disagree with their politics, but we're in perfect accord about the dogs.

(Dogs might be the last thing holding this country together, lol.)

I'm not saying don't adopt. What I'm saying is show some appreciation to the people who are doing things correctly.

As mentioned in the PC thread, everything should not be "either/or". Life is more complex than that.

And all dogs and puppies should be wanted.

[feranaja]

..paraphrasing my position for 25 years now. I have a stray, a rescue and a puppy from an (extremely ethical) breeder. I purchased my snake, but all my cats, bird and gorse - rescues. I plan to purchase a Birman kitten in the near future, too.


No simple answers, only education, love, respect for animals.

[Habilus]

I'm a cat person. 18 so far.

[feranaja]

All at once?

[petrus4]

I have deleted this. Not because I am attempting to hide from what I have done, (apparently earlier versions of a post can still be seen by admins anyway) but in order to remove something which others may find offensive.

I will not come back.

[feranaja]

so - yeah- just fuck off before I ban you?

[feranaja]

I'm done with this shit.

[Habilus]

Originally Posted by feranaja

All at once?

Yup. I live rural. at one point I had a wounded bobcat living behind my fridge and a tribe of possums visiting+ raccoon coming and going out my busted window. I think they know I take out coyotes with extreme prejudice.

Petrus:
Most men hate small dogs but there's no reason to be so crude. Hell, sometimes they grow on you if they have a personality.

[feranaja]

I apologize for letting my disgust at this BS from petrus show. There were years where we had to listen to his hatred of some poor little cat and now it's a dog. I've put up with the whining, the misyogyny and the self pity for ages and that's fine, but I can't handle anymore hatred of animals. Not.One.bit of it.
I work with other species and witness the cruelty and misery they face every day, and I am not going to stand for it here.But I should not have let my disgust show. Will restore petrus post so the mods can see it and move this whole thing to Limbo.

[feranaja]

I have zero sympathy for dogs at this point.

My mother is currently minding this willful, spoiled little shit of a half-poodle cross. I fucking hate the things, and I have for literally as long as I've been alive. Pitch black, oily, oozing, Plutonian, xenomorph queen hate.



It is nearly 7:30 in the morning here, and it has been barking, whining, and banging on the living room door to get out for nearly three hours; and if I open the door to let it out, thinking that it wants to urinate, it won't move. It just starts crying again once I shut the door.

More than anything else, I hate how much I am demonised by dog owners. I hate the fact that whenever my mother gets one of them, ever since I was born, she always demonstrates that she cares infinitely more about them than she does about any of the humans she is related to, including me. No matter how annoying they are, no matter what they do, they always get more sympathy from their owners. I broke my arm tripping over one of her earlier ones because of it constantly getting under my feet, and yet if I ever complain about them, it's exclusively about what a rotten human being I am, for daring to breathe a word against them.

Please, go ahead, everyone here. Tell me about what a cruel, mentally ill, animal-hating bastard I am. Tell me about how they are just sweet innocent creatures and there is something wrong with me because I don't love them as much as you do. + I have deleted this. Not because I am attempting to hide from what I have done, (apparently earlier versions of a post can still be seen by admins anyway) but in order to remove something which others may find offensive.
- If I really was the sort of monster that dog lovers have made me out to be, I would have given in to the urge that I've been repressing for the last three hours; to go into the living room, pick the damn thing up, and truly show it how I feel about it.