There is no quicker way to get me to anger than to spit out the phrase "Most dog breeds". The reason is that every, and I mean EVERY time someone says that it is 1.ALWAYS in regards to health issues and 2.ALWAYS followed by examples of COMMON breeds -OR- the Neapolitan Mastiff and Dosa Mastiff on the rare occasion. There has never been a general dog owner or dog loving person who has spit out this phrase followed by a rare breed other than the Neo or Dosa. Serious dog people will talk about the health of various rare breeds, but I absolutely can not recall any one of them ever using the phrase "Most dog breeds".
I have then asked people who use the phrase to tell me how many breeds are there. They never respond to the question.
In regards to health, most of the general public then throws out some of the most common breeds there are, like...German Shepherds. Boxers. Dachshunds. These are the breeds they use as examples for the over 300 different breeds and land races out there. The FCI recognizes 332 breeds officially with 11 more provisional breeds. This may not even come close to all that is actually out there. As more and more areas become connected to the internet, more and more people are popping up out of seemingly nowhere with a "Hey, this breed exists".
It is important to realize the number of breeds, because when you start talking about health, it gets muddy. You can't use a handful of popular breeds as examples of "purebreds" having health problems. And you sure as hell can't judge a book by it's cover, appearance is only a part of health in dogs.
Do you realize how many people are disabled but don't look like it? Various auto-immune diseases, heart problems, visual and auditory impairments, cystic fibrosis, etc. The wide scope of genetic diseases in humans, both visual and not?
I've come across far too many people who start talking about health in dogs and they go straight to physical appearance. People point out the Boxer's short muzzle, but two of the biggest problems are cancer and cardiomyopathy. Things that aren't obviously visual from the start. It's backwards thinking, to believe, that you can judge health on appearance.
The fact remains, however, that they still point out popular breeds that they refuse to research because they believe them sickly. Why not do more research? For whatever reason, they want answers given to them on a silver platter, and they accept the first ones they're given because it's dressed up in a neat little, simplistic package. They are given these handful of examples and reasons and use them to wipe the entire dog world with the same brush.
Fact is...no, most breeds aren't that badly off. Yes, all breeds can have genetic diseases occur. However, there is a popularity issue at play. The more popular a breed is, the more likely it is that there's questionable people breeding them, and breeding unhealthy examples.
At the same time, the rarer a breed is, the harder it is to breed away from genetic problems, and this is especially true in breeds that had almost been wiped out, creating a genetic bottleneck. Some of the middle of the road breeds are decently off, but it's not always the case. There's some rare breeds who are quite healthy, there's some popular and middle-road breeds that are as well.
When vets get involved, things get even more absurd. They run a business, they went to school to learn to deal with health related issues. They're not geneticists, they're not often involved in breeding any more, they deal mostly with....health problems. And, again, this becomes a popularity thing....the rarer a breed is, the less likely anyone is going to see it, including vets. So if they're using the examples of "purebreds are unhealthy because German Shepherds"......they haven't dealt with even a large number of breeds. You'd think they'd be more wise to the whole situation.
For the most part, from my crazy research and interest in the vast number of breeds.....most....aren't seriously unhealthy. Problems do occur, there are things to watch for, there may be a few common-ish problems, but typically the issues are not nearly as common as a handful of example breeds.
20 breeds out of over 300 isn't even a quarter of the breeds and landraces out there. On top of it, most breeds aren't "extreme" physically, so, there really is no reason to complain or say that phrase I hate so much..."Most dog breeds".
So stop saying it.
Friday, July 31, 2015
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Dog Breeds And Hollywood Fame
In the movie and TV industry, whether animated or live-action, when dogs have been involved, there has been little to almost no mention to the general public that the simple fact is that these are professionally trained or, in the case of animation, fake, animals, and that you should do your research before acquiring any animal or specific breed.
The fact that no public service announcement of the sort has ever been standard in regards to animals in movie and tv, has caused some serious problems in the past and will likely continue to do so in the future. The general public will often see these trained animals as being typical of the breed, and they end up often liking what they see as they have no idea that it's common place to have multiple animals play a part in a movie, much less the amount of training that goes into these animals so they can play these parts.
The best example of the problem is that many people wanted their own "Pongo" or "Perdita" after seeing 101 Dalmatians, after all those spotty little puppies were just so adorable and would grow into elegant adults! However, the Dalmatian breed was developed to have a fair amount of energy. Those who expected the spotty pups to turn into easy going adults laying by the fire without any training or work, were surprised to find that these were active and athletic dogs! In addition, because of the movie and the sudden increase of popularity, there were dogs being bred to fill the market with little regards to proper temperament or health. It wasn't hard to find partially or completely deaf Dalmatians and those with temperament issues in shelters as they were surrendered by people who could not handle the breed's energy, much less a special needs one. Responsible breeders of Dalmatians were upset, and many Dalmatian rescue groups sprung up as a result. In the first decade of the 2000's, Dalmatian registrations in the AKC dropped by a whopping 90%, as the public interest in the breed died off from the live-action remakes.
This trend has happened multiple times with different breeds, and since the development of breed rescues, responsible breeders are always worried that their breed will be the next in the spotlight, increasing the need for rescue and foster homes for their beloved breeds to try and save as many as they can. The dogs are the ones who pay the price, sometimes with their own lives, simply because the public fails to understand that movie and tv is not real life, and that every breed has it's downsides that can make them unsuitable for the wrong home. In the future, I hope that the outcry from responsible breeders wanting to prevent their breed from falling into the wrong hands continues to ground and will hopefully encourage the movie and tv industries to encourage research before getting any animal.
In the meantime, with the movie "Max", right around the corner, social media has erupted to try and educate people that while, yes, Belgian Malinois are amazing dogs, this is not a breed for most people. Belgian Malinois can be very driven, and very, very high energy depending on the individual breeder's line. They do have an incredible amount of flexibility, capable of herding, police and military work, search and rescue, tracking, agility, flyball, and much more. This is a breed that can typically work all day and still be ready for action while you're ready for bed. Without the proper outlets and training, which can take a lot of time, money, and effort, the breed can easily become destructive.
And while the breed is highly trainable, it still took 5 different trained dogs to play one in the movie.
My own biggest concern, as someone who loves the various breeds, is that the breed is more popular in the working dog community than the show dog community, and many of the working lines are even more unsuitable for the average household. The pups are often started early on jute tugs to make the transfer to the padded bite sleeves used to train protection work and sports easier, and Malinois use their mouths a lot which leads to their nickname of "Mali-gator". As the working lines are more plentiful, they would be easier for the unsuspecting public to get a dog from. I can only hope that the working dog community also does their best to protect their breed from falling into hands that would not be able to cope with this amazing working breed.
For more on breed popularity due to movies, please see the following links:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140910152512.htm
http://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/behavior-health-news-56/films-featuring-dogs-seem-to-boost-a-breed-s-popularity-691551.html
The fact that no public service announcement of the sort has ever been standard in regards to animals in movie and tv, has caused some serious problems in the past and will likely continue to do so in the future. The general public will often see these trained animals as being typical of the breed, and they end up often liking what they see as they have no idea that it's common place to have multiple animals play a part in a movie, much less the amount of training that goes into these animals so they can play these parts.
The best example of the problem is that many people wanted their own "Pongo" or "Perdita" after seeing 101 Dalmatians, after all those spotty little puppies were just so adorable and would grow into elegant adults! However, the Dalmatian breed was developed to have a fair amount of energy. Those who expected the spotty pups to turn into easy going adults laying by the fire without any training or work, were surprised to find that these were active and athletic dogs! In addition, because of the movie and the sudden increase of popularity, there were dogs being bred to fill the market with little regards to proper temperament or health. It wasn't hard to find partially or completely deaf Dalmatians and those with temperament issues in shelters as they were surrendered by people who could not handle the breed's energy, much less a special needs one. Responsible breeders of Dalmatians were upset, and many Dalmatian rescue groups sprung up as a result. In the first decade of the 2000's, Dalmatian registrations in the AKC dropped by a whopping 90%, as the public interest in the breed died off from the live-action remakes.
This trend has happened multiple times with different breeds, and since the development of breed rescues, responsible breeders are always worried that their breed will be the next in the spotlight, increasing the need for rescue and foster homes for their beloved breeds to try and save as many as they can. The dogs are the ones who pay the price, sometimes with their own lives, simply because the public fails to understand that movie and tv is not real life, and that every breed has it's downsides that can make them unsuitable for the wrong home. In the future, I hope that the outcry from responsible breeders wanting to prevent their breed from falling into the wrong hands continues to ground and will hopefully encourage the movie and tv industries to encourage research before getting any animal.
In the meantime, with the movie "Max", right around the corner, social media has erupted to try and educate people that while, yes, Belgian Malinois are amazing dogs, this is not a breed for most people. Belgian Malinois can be very driven, and very, very high energy depending on the individual breeder's line. They do have an incredible amount of flexibility, capable of herding, police and military work, search and rescue, tracking, agility, flyball, and much more. This is a breed that can typically work all day and still be ready for action while you're ready for bed. Without the proper outlets and training, which can take a lot of time, money, and effort, the breed can easily become destructive.
And while the breed is highly trainable, it still took 5 different trained dogs to play one in the movie.
My own biggest concern, as someone who loves the various breeds, is that the breed is more popular in the working dog community than the show dog community, and many of the working lines are even more unsuitable for the average household. The pups are often started early on jute tugs to make the transfer to the padded bite sleeves used to train protection work and sports easier, and Malinois use their mouths a lot which leads to their nickname of "Mali-gator". As the working lines are more plentiful, they would be easier for the unsuspecting public to get a dog from. I can only hope that the working dog community also does their best to protect their breed from falling into hands that would not be able to cope with this amazing working breed.
For more on breed popularity due to movies, please see the following links:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140910152512.htm
http://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/behavior-health-news-56/films-featuring-dogs-seem-to-boost-a-breed-s-popularity-691551.html
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