Dog shows are all about the romance of dogs -- which is to say they are pretty far from the reality of canine genetics today.
One of the things you will NEVER hear at a dog show is the true history of any breed, or the list of genetic defects that have been exacerbated by closed registries.
And yet what a thing it would be to hear the truth!
What a breath of fresh air it would be to hear:
"The German Shepherd was never much of a herding dog and is never found herding today. A herding German Shepherd -- ha - what a notion! In fact this dog is a relatively new breed, created around 1900. Today the genetic stock of this dog is so racked by chronic hip dysplasia that many lines of German shepherds can barely walk. Anyone with an ounce of sense stays away from show lines today, and imports their dogs from working stock overseas."
The Bull Dog would be properly introduced as:
"A game dog once used to catch stock for altering or slaughter, the bull dog was reduced in stature and mutated by intentionally breeding in achondroplastic dwarfism, which is why the legs on these dogs are so bent they can barely walk. The pressed-in-face means the dogs have chronic breathing problems, while the digestive tract is so wrecked that these dogs pass more gas than a Mexican restaurant. You will learn to light matches with a bull dog!
The heads on these dogs are so enormous that almost all the dogs are born caesarian, and in fact this dog would be extinct within 10 years if it were not for veterinarians helping these little mutants into the world.
Notice that nice little pig tail? That is a source of chronic skin infection, and most of the dogs in the ring today will have their tails completely cut off after they are retired from performance -- a way of making it easier to keep this breed after a show ring career."
Someone really should write a new voice-over sound track for a dog show and see if the BBC or Animal Planet might run it -- it would certainly amaze the public to learn the truth about these dogs, from dachshunds to poodles, from Irish setters to Scottish terriers. And there is certainly no shortage of true dog tales to tell!
4 comments:
Dear Patrick,
The exception that proves the rule: http://www.whitecloversheepfarm.com/sh-kennel.htm
Until fairly recently the ur-sheepdog which was incorporated into the German Shepherd could still be found on German farms. It was a combination herding/protection dog like the English Shepherd. I don't know how many remain on farms because -in my view unfortunately - the Border Collie has marginalized all the other European stockdogs.
Donald McCaig
I herd with my German Shepherds... But I could also be "heard" at ringside (quietly) muttering, "I'd like to see THAT dog carry a five pound dumbbell over a 8 ft. climbing wall."
And you're right, although my first shepherds were American bred (back when they were only a couple generations from German imports), my current dogs are all rescues that have mostly working Shepherd bloodlines. Actually, one has to be careful of German bloodlines these days too. Even they are getting too inbred. Czech bloodlines or some of the others seem to be better.
BBC Did it once!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqtgIVOJOGc
Not quite Claudio. That was a documentary by my fiend Jemima Harrison which was partially sparked by this blog post >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2006/05/inbred-thinking.html Story here >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2008/08/pedigree-dogs-exposed.html
Pretty far from what I am talking about which would simply be existing dog show footage with a new voice over telling the true history of the breeds.
Post a Comment