Theater of the Soul

I guess I gave the impression in this post that I’m a dog snob or something, but that wasn’t my intention. Unlike cats, I love ALL dogs: large, small, yappy, serious, mixed breed or purebred…I am a dog woman through and through.

I’ve been lucky enough to have spent all of my life being owned by dogs and/or working with dogs. I believe that many dog people, such as myself, view the AKC as the worst thing in the history of domesticated animals. They preach conformation rather than breed health, temperment and usage. AKC registration has become synonomous with quality to people who don’t know any better. Under the AKC breed standards, we’ve ruined almost every single dog breed ‘officially recognized’ by them. You can’t buy a decent german shepherd anywhere in the United States anymore. Sure, they may LOOK like beautiful dogs, but between the health problems and temperment problems, you’re looking at spending thousands of dollars in vet bills or lawyer bills when the dog bites someone. The same thing goes for every popular dog breed that the AKC recognizes.

My point in the first post was that people are being conned into spending an assload of money on dogs with a fancy name, when you can go to any shelter or rescue group and find the same dog for a minimal adoption fee. Take the money that you’ll save and buy some fucking obedience classes if you’re so worried about the behavioral history of the dog. Anyone with a basic understanding of genetics will tell you that mixed breed dogs ARE usually healthier than purebred dogs. I totally understand that if you take a labrador retriever and breed it with a poodle (two of the MOST inbred and overbred dogs that exist today), you’ll get offspring that are far healthier than either of it’s parents. You MIGHT even get the low-allergen coat of the poodle combined with the happy-go-lucky attitude of the lab. Yes, the offspring will make wonderful pets…but WHY would anyone pay a breeder or petstore up to 10 times as much than they’d pay a shelter or rescue?

One email that I recieved attempted to explain to me that, since poodles don’t shed hair or dander, poodle crosses are better for allergy sufferers. She was told this by her breeder. I’m going to dispell that myth right now (and will wait patiently for all of the hate mail from the breeders/snake oil salesmen). I was a dog groomer and kennel manager for 5 years and can tell you from experience that ALL DOGS SHED. There is no such thing as a hypo-allergenic dog. Some dogs shed to a greater or lesser degree than others, but if it’s got hair or skin, it’s got dander. Allergic reactions have more to do with the allergy sufferer’s tolerance to the amount of hair and dander put off by each individual animal than with a supposed hypo-allergenic coat.

Another email expressed sadness over my ‘bitterness and dislike of hybrid dogs’. Firstly, I’m not bitter. I’m dumbfounded to realize that people are actually falling for the hype. I really can’t fathom it. Secondly, I don’t dislike dogs of any sort. But really, people. Let’s not call them ‘hybrid dogs’. They’re MUTTS, plain and simple.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with calling them what they are, except for the fact that people can’t get away with charging $1000 for a ‘mutt’.