Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.
Love this video. A bit of an oversimplification for comedic effect of course, but essentially true. The problem with purebred dogs (and other domestic animals) is that:
1) Their morphology is abnormal, and 2) They are inbred.
Primitive, landrace, working, and mixed dogs are the healthy ones, not these poor victims of eugenics. The sad thing, people have been pointing this out for decades, but the madness continues. I really hope we're about to turn a page soon.
Excellent. I posted this to my Facebook page and am waiting for all my animal and breeder friends to load up. I am sure you have probably seen the BBC documentary special a few years back, calling out the Kennel Club. It is available on YouTube, I believe.They implemented a lot of changes at Crufts the following year, to the point of denying some winners their place after a vet check. The bulldog was one pulled, but it all may be too little too late.
What about getting dogs back to land race working types? In Afghanistan there are still beautiful working Afghan Hounds (they look like AKC ones without the ridiculous coat), many Eastern European countries still have real German Shepherds which aren't ruined and New Guinea Singing type dogs still hunt with Papuans. There still are "real" dogs out there. I personally don't necessarily want a mutt- as you've pointed out often in your blog the terrier satisfies a need in some people- I don't want just a Chihuahua cross- I want the little hunting dog. I don't necessarily use them to their complete potential but pretty close given where I live. I don't want a purebred terrier but I definitely want a real terrier if you follow me. I bought a real outcrossed Alaskan Husky in the 70s which was an amazing dog. So I don't want purebred but I do want "the real thing". People who buy AKC dogs are usually just buying a false backstory and and a bunch of toney BS. Is there a way to preserve the real working breed/types without ruining them?
I get what is being said. Pretty is as pretty does and that pretty should be determined by function. All breeds would be better served if there was some effort to maintain and demonstrate a purpose. For example, a fine retriever should be "birdy" and be able to cover some ground for a long day of hunting without having a coat that gathers burs or weighs them down in the water. The terrier argument is made often here. There are breeders that are aware of and utilize "coefficient of relationship" to address the inbreeding issue and to try to avoid any saturation of single lines. Not surprisingly, in my experience , at least, the working dog breeders are the most conscientious about the issue.
4 comments:
Love this video. A bit of an oversimplification for comedic effect of course, but essentially true. The problem with purebred dogs (and other domestic animals) is that:
1) Their morphology is abnormal, and
2) They are inbred.
Primitive, landrace, working, and mixed dogs are the healthy ones, not these poor victims of eugenics. The sad thing, people have been pointing this out for decades, but the madness continues. I really hope we're about to turn a page soon.
Excellent. I posted this to my Facebook page and am waiting for all my animal and breeder friends to load up. I am sure you have probably seen the BBC documentary special a few years back, calling out the Kennel Club. It is available on YouTube, I believe.They implemented a lot of changes at Crufts the following year, to the point of denying some winners their place after a vet check. The bulldog was one pulled, but it all may be too little too late.
What about getting dogs back to land race working types? In Afghanistan there are still beautiful working Afghan Hounds (they look like AKC ones without the ridiculous coat), many Eastern European countries still have real German Shepherds which aren't ruined and New Guinea Singing type dogs still hunt with Papuans. There still are "real" dogs out there. I personally don't necessarily want a mutt- as you've pointed out often in your blog the terrier satisfies a need in some people- I don't want just a Chihuahua cross- I want the little hunting dog. I don't necessarily use them to their complete potential but pretty close given where I live. I don't want a purebred terrier but I definitely want a real terrier if you follow me. I bought a real outcrossed Alaskan Husky in the 70s which was an amazing dog. So I don't want purebred but I do want "the real thing". People who buy AKC dogs are usually just buying a false backstory and and a bunch of toney BS. Is there a way to preserve the real working breed/types without ruining them?
I get what is being said. Pretty is as pretty does and that pretty should be determined by function. All breeds would be better served if there was some effort to maintain and demonstrate a purpose. For example, a fine retriever should be "birdy" and be able to cover some ground for a long day of hunting without having a coat that gathers burs or weighs them down in the water. The terrier argument is made often here. There are breeders that are aware of and utilize "coefficient of relationship" to address the inbreeding issue and to try to avoid any saturation of single lines. Not surprisingly, in my experience , at least, the working dog breeders are the most conscientious about the issue.
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