Normally I blog about my own dogs, trialing, training and school. This post may seem a little out of character, but I was so troubled by this video I could not help myself.
I am a fancier of purebred dogs. I own 3 of them, as well as a mixed breed dog. My double digit dogs are largely sound with the occasional stiffness. My almost 14-year-old mixed breed is definitely in her golden years, even having had an OCD lesion in the hock as a pup.
Videos like this make me so very sad. Yes, "slo-mo" might change the way things look. Yes, restrained forehand movement due to the leashwork could change the way things look. But nothing... nothing... can make the dog at 2:53 look like he will be sound for a long day's work... or even alive as a 12-year-old.
Conformation standards have a place. My purebred dogs have been selected for temperament, soundness and health. I looked at many, many dogs before buying my dogs. Perhaps I've just been lucky. But if this is what happens to a breed when a written conformation standard guides breeders to select for THIS... and judges to put it up... I'm speechless. I'm sad. And I now better understand why some people are ready to attack me when they realize I have purebred dogs I paid for, while other dogs died in shelters.
1 comment:
really good post ... totally agree ....
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