The very sad and tortuous reality of pure bred dogs

I am not sure how I stumbled across this report from the BBC in 2008, but it has left me angry and heartbroken for the poor animals. It was a documentary from the BBC on the ugly truth about purebred dog breeding. We have so inbred these poor animals all in the quest for the "perfect" dog that we are killing them. And while the BBC focused on the Kennel Club rules and such, our American Kennel Club is no better. There is no regulation or stoppage of inbreeding.

Inbreeding is breeding a daughter back to a sire, or the son to the dam, or siblings. This was all done in the quest to obtain the perfect features, and traits. And for many many unfortunate pups, early suffering and death.

This was probably the best video link  on it I could find. It is posted on MySpace, and is titled:  Pedigree Dogs Exposed 



Of course there were numerous responses for this documentary. One is posted on Wikipedia ,  and there are several others out there if you Google it.

Again, as in the inhumane treatment of dogs we see through the raids done by the ASPCA and HSUS for puppy mills, here we have a majority of breeders unintentionally creating a devastatingly cruel situation for the pups they produce. Granted, I accept that not all breeders are intentionally irresponsible this way.  BUT there are those out there only focused on the money and refining the breeds.

I also must admit until this video I did not think much about "properly" bred pups. I had owned one many years ago, and while I was very much bothered when the breeder told me that the dam had been bred back to her sire, I never had expected to see my pup suffer as he got older and eventually had to be put down because of neurological issues. Since then I have owned almost all rescues or been given the few I have. I have one dog now who is the daughter of my male, Lil' Shit. If I can help it though I will never intentionally buy another "pure bred" pup. It is not fair to them. And it is wrong to encourage this type of breeding. And cats are no different regarding pure breds.

I guess what I am saying is PLEASE Watch the documentary before you consider buying a purebred pup. And even though they are so cute and lovely to behold, by buying that pup, you are encouraging that breeder to breed more pups who will be devastatingly in pain and ill. And we need to make sure the kennel clubs get the message that inbreeding is wrong. That the dogs you see today are not what they once were originally, even remotely close to what they were.

Please watch the video, here is the link again, http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44215931  Having a purebred dog is no longer right nor a status symbol. Personally I feel that if you support adoption of abandoned and strays, you are saying ever so much more positive things about your character and you as a person than you would if you "had to have the purebred" to show how great you are. Having the purebred for vanity only tells me that you are vain and shallow and care nothing about anything but your image. Sorry, but that's how it comes across.

Again, please take time to watch the video, and care enough to perhaps make the changes needed. It only takes one person convincing 2 or 3 others and each of those convince 2 or 3 more, and it goes on and and make a profound impact. Why are we making these poor babies suffer because of our vanity or what we think they should be? We aren't God, we shouldn't be playing him either.