Oh that makes me so furious!:madgo:
I don't know if this is a very good letter or even very accurate with information. But I scrambled this out just now and emailed it. Tell me what you think. It's really too long, but that's typical of me. Uggg.
I don't know if this is a very good letter or even very accurate with information. But I scrambled this out just now and emailed it. Tell me what you think. It's really too long, but that's typical of me. Uggg.
To whom it may concern:
I am writing to you in response to your slam against purebred dogs, using the term “hoity toity.†The canine “pageant†to which you mockingly refer, is not just a beauty pageant. Conformation shows are for a purpose. I’ll explain: Purebred dogs were developed for many, many years and selectively bred so that these various purebreds would all come out fairly uniformly and be patterned to excel in specialized work. For example: A German Shepherd Dog was bred to herd sheep and protect them. There are many herding breeds that are good at various types of herding. There are livestock guardian breeds, such as the Great Pyrenees that was designed to blend in with sheep and guard against wolf attacks. There are hunting dogs of various types, some better at going into very cold water to retrieve ducks, some better at upland hunting. There are hounds, good at what they do which is rather independent of their owner…they don’t work closely with their owner but can tree animals without instruction from their owner. There are terriers that get rid of disease causing vermin.
Now, before breeding any dog, certain criteria should be met. Health, including genetic health testing, striving to eliminate genetic maladies which compromise the health of dogs, temperament testing, conformation should be very important because without correct build, health problems can result.
Who is to decide which dogs are worthy of being bred, which dogs will keep to a breed standard, which outlines what conformation they should have as well as what kind of temperament is conducive to this particular breed and the job it does? That’s where these shows come in and judges experienced with the breeds rate dogs as far as adhering to the breed’s written standard. Only the best should be bred so we can keep all these pure breeds uniform and able to do the jobs they were bred to do. That is the point of conformation showing. There are enough purebred dogs to suit anyone’s needs or wants. So, haphazard breeding should be eliminated and only the reputable breeders who know the science behind good breeding should take on this task.
There’s not a thing wrong with mixed breed dogs per say, unless someone wants some specific, specialized traits to suit his life style. He may not find that in a mixed breed or it could be a lot of guess work. Mixed breed dogs appeal to many. I’ve had some myself. My son has a lovely mixed breed dog. But if all that were allowed to exist were mixed breeds, we’d lose all the wonderful purebred dogs we have and mixed breed dogs would keep breeding (or we’d lose all dogs) and eventually, there’d be only one kind of dog…a melting pot of all and specialized temperaments, physical ability for various skills would be lost. Mixed breed dogs are not typically bred by reputable breeders and health testing is not done. It is a myth that mixed breeds are healthier than purebreds. They can still have these genetic maladies since they derived from purebreds somewhere back there. People breed these designer breeds which are mixed breeds, not a pure breed and you see often times very poor temperaments. And there are irresponsible breeders who do the same with purebred dogs. Not every breeder is a reputable and responsible breeder who knows what they're doing. Don’t clump lousy breeders with responsible breeders striving to improve and maintain quality purebred dogs.
Not being an expert with the science of this, I can not say what all the implications could be if people were to outlaw reputable purebred dog breeders and your “hoity toity†dog shows. But I know one thing. It could be disastrous.
This kind of uninformed, ignorant blasting of something you know nothing about is, this misinformation thrown out at the public is incredibly irresponsible and damaging. I hope you make some kind of retraction.
I am writing to you in response to your slam against purebred dogs, using the term “hoity toity.†The canine “pageant†to which you mockingly refer, is not just a beauty pageant. Conformation shows are for a purpose. I’ll explain: Purebred dogs were developed for many, many years and selectively bred so that these various purebreds would all come out fairly uniformly and be patterned to excel in specialized work. For example: A German Shepherd Dog was bred to herd sheep and protect them. There are many herding breeds that are good at various types of herding. There are livestock guardian breeds, such as the Great Pyrenees that was designed to blend in with sheep and guard against wolf attacks. There are hunting dogs of various types, some better at going into very cold water to retrieve ducks, some better at upland hunting. There are hounds, good at what they do which is rather independent of their owner…they don’t work closely with their owner but can tree animals without instruction from their owner. There are terriers that get rid of disease causing vermin.
Now, before breeding any dog, certain criteria should be met. Health, including genetic health testing, striving to eliminate genetic maladies which compromise the health of dogs, temperament testing, conformation should be very important because without correct build, health problems can result.
Who is to decide which dogs are worthy of being bred, which dogs will keep to a breed standard, which outlines what conformation they should have as well as what kind of temperament is conducive to this particular breed and the job it does? That’s where these shows come in and judges experienced with the breeds rate dogs as far as adhering to the breed’s written standard. Only the best should be bred so we can keep all these pure breeds uniform and able to do the jobs they were bred to do. That is the point of conformation showing. There are enough purebred dogs to suit anyone’s needs or wants. So, haphazard breeding should be eliminated and only the reputable breeders who know the science behind good breeding should take on this task.
There’s not a thing wrong with mixed breed dogs per say, unless someone wants some specific, specialized traits to suit his life style. He may not find that in a mixed breed or it could be a lot of guess work. Mixed breed dogs appeal to many. I’ve had some myself. My son has a lovely mixed breed dog. But if all that were allowed to exist were mixed breeds, we’d lose all the wonderful purebred dogs we have and mixed breed dogs would keep breeding (or we’d lose all dogs) and eventually, there’d be only one kind of dog…a melting pot of all and specialized temperaments, physical ability for various skills would be lost. Mixed breed dogs are not typically bred by reputable breeders and health testing is not done. It is a myth that mixed breeds are healthier than purebreds. They can still have these genetic maladies since they derived from purebreds somewhere back there. People breed these designer breeds which are mixed breeds, not a pure breed and you see often times very poor temperaments. And there are irresponsible breeders who do the same with purebred dogs. Not every breeder is a reputable and responsible breeder who knows what they're doing. Don’t clump lousy breeders with responsible breeders striving to improve and maintain quality purebred dogs.
Not being an expert with the science of this, I can not say what all the implications could be if people were to outlaw reputable purebred dog breeders and your “hoity toity†dog shows. But I know one thing. It could be disastrous.
This kind of uninformed, ignorant blasting of something you know nothing about is, this misinformation thrown out at the public is incredibly irresponsible and damaging. I hope you make some kind of retraction.