 |
| This ship was a failure. Let us not celebrate it. |
If you are serious about crossing the Atlantic, you do not start by trying to raise the Titanic from the grave while a million fine ships a year are being burned at the wharf.
The New York Times asks Can the Bulldog Be Saved?
It is a silly question.
Save the English Bulldog?
Save it from what?
Pretenders? Puppy peddlers?
A little late for that!
Besides, the people who now say they want to "save" the English Bulldog are just more pretenders and puppy peddlers. Who do they want to save the English Bulldog from? Why, from people who are just like themselves!
The English Bulldog is not a species created by God, but a Kennel Club creation designed to lay about the house and die young.
In that sense, it is a perfect dog, combining the lazy owner's need for a dog that does not want to take a walk around the block, with the dog dealer's desire to sell a replacement product a few years down the line. No wonder this is a top 10 breed in the AKC!
The selection for defect here is entirely intentional: a flat face, narow hips, a massive head, short legs, a heavy body, deeply wrinked skin, and a pig tail. The result is a dog that cannot breath well, cannot walk well, has a hard time having sex without a helping hand, and cannot give birth without surgical assistance.
And, of course, it is a dog that has had no work since the beginning. The modern English Bulldog is about as closely related to stock and pit dogs as the tea cup Chihuahua is to the Artic Wolf. Neither one could consumate a relationship with it's supposed ancestor! The purpose of this dog is sale and vanity, and that is as true for today's slightly modified versions as it is for the old.
You want a REAL bulldog? A truly healthy and functional model? No problem. We kill almost a million of those dogs a year in this country, but if an American Pit Bull is put in the right hands (people with stable lives, real jobs, fenced yards, and a desire to excercise and teach the dog on a daily basis) they can become well-loved pets.
Bottom Line: The bulldog is wreckage and there is no saving it, nor should we even try. If you are serious about crossing the Atlantic, you do not start by trying to raise the Titanic from the grave while a million fine boats a year are being burned at the wharf. Only a fool tries to save a fantasy while reality is being killed at his feet.
.
.
It is a silly question.
Save the English Bulldog?
Save it from what?
Pretenders? Puppy peddlers?
A little late for that!
Besides, the people who now say they want to "save" the English Bulldog are just more pretenders and puppy peddlers. Who do they want to save the English Bulldog from? Why, from people who are just like themselves!
The English Bulldog is not a species created by God, but a Kennel Club creation designed to lay about the house and die young.
In that sense, it is a perfect dog, combining the lazy owner's need for a dog that does not want to take a walk around the block, with the dog dealer's desire to sell a replacement product a few years down the line. No wonder this is a top 10 breed in the AKC!
The selection for defect here is entirely intentional: a flat face, narow hips, a massive head, short legs, a heavy body, deeply wrinked skin, and a pig tail. The result is a dog that cannot breath well, cannot walk well, has a hard time having sex without a helping hand, and cannot give birth without surgical assistance.
And, of course, it is a dog that has had no work since the beginning. The modern English Bulldog is about as closely related to stock and pit dogs as the tea cup Chihuahua is to the Artic Wolf. Neither one could consumate a relationship with it's supposed ancestor! The purpose of this dog is sale and vanity, and that is as true for today's slightly modified versions as it is for the old.
You want a REAL bulldog? A truly healthy and functional model? No problem. We kill almost a million of those dogs a year in this country, but if an American Pit Bull is put in the right hands (people with stable lives, real jobs, fenced yards, and a desire to excercise and teach the dog on a daily basis) they can become well-loved pets.
Bottom Line: The bulldog is wreckage and there is no saving it, nor should we even try. If you are serious about crossing the Atlantic, you do not start by trying to raise the Titanic from the grave while a million fine boats a year are being burned at the wharf. Only a fool tries to save a fantasy while reality is being killed at his feet.
.
.
2 comments:
Hear, hear!
The same is true for many extreme breeds, like the Pug, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and that experiment-gone-awry, the Labradoodle.
Just stop breeding them... The problem will soon cease to exist.
And then there are those breeds that, physically extreme or not, have diverged so far from the original, useful type that they are useless parodies of a working dog. They are inbred and beset with genetically inherited diseases that blind, cripple or make them deaf - The Collie, the German Shepherd Dog, the Bull Terrier and the Dalmation to name a few.
I for one, will never buy another AKC-bred dog. I like dogs too much to see them destroyed by the whims of fashion.
Geonni, you have many points but none of the breeds you mention, save maybe the pug, can claim as much utter deformity in the name of fashion. Useless parodies of a working dog can still make wonderful pets. Sadly, the poor wheezing, snorting, waddling beast whose teeth don't even meet in a functional bite can't claim that.
Post a Comment