PETA: Like Westboro Baptist Church for people who have a PETCO discount card.
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If they’re going all “AKC wants a master race of dogs”, wouldn’t they want to don Nazi regalia instead?
I suppose bed sheets are cheaper ...
Relevant BBC documentary: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44215931
I’m kind of against pure breeding- many dog breeders are actually dog racists and morons. But we have a pug in our home, so we can’t say anything, other than we got ours!!
Sigh.
Just an addendum here: you will see all sorts of pug literature talking about personality differences between black and fawn colored pugs. This is insanity at the highest levels. The trait is controlled by a single gene in the pug background, and unless the genes right next door to “black” control personality and are all different alleles than in the “fawn” background, there is no basis for this horseshit. Dog breeders can be really crazy and breed standards are of course quite arbitrary in relation to actual canine physiology.
In breeds that get their tails chopped off there will be a ton of bullshit talking about how the tails on that breed are unhealthy or whatever. Just stupid stuff.
I’m looking at an article about an even more hideous event, where organisms bred specifically for the size of their sexual organs are displayed for the benefit of sick individuals who will murder the organisms and sever said organs as trophies.
As yet, there are no reports of protesters at the Flower Show.
Oh, PETA. Without your asinine stunts, I’d have to go talk to Sparticists to get my RDA of cluelessly righteous indignation and misguided passion.
I hate PETA, I really do, and the Nazi comparison is offensive, but there is something to be said for the fact that dog breeding (animal breeding in general) is the last politically correct form of eugenics.
Btw, I love pugs. I just wish they were hypoallergenic:(
*Nazi should be KKK (I guess that would make people that keep goldfish the Nazis then)
the last politically correct form of eugenics.
Well if you look at it that way, the entire concept of agriculture = “eugenics”.
I agree that a lot of dog and other pet breeding is ridiculous, pointless, and borderline abusive to the animals. Not to mention pompous as all hell. But humans have been selectively breeding plants and animals for millennia (grrrr, why does that word look so wrong?). Without this, we would still be subsisting on nuts and berries—except that even hunter-gatherers “bred” food sources, in a rudimentary sense. There’s basically no way to be fully fledged humans without breeding plants and animals. I suppose you could see that as inhumane “eugenics” on a massive scale, but then you’d have to be much more misanthropic than I’ve ever had the energy for.
PETA: An organization that propagandizes to children, attacks people physically, supports terrorism, pushes for breed-specific legislation, and exploits women CONSTANTLY.
And yet people still support them.
“And yet people still support them. “
Because they think there is no other animal rights group as large.
While PETA was cavorting around in KKK costumes, the HSUS was busting puppy mills.
And yet PETA will net far more in donations for their publicity stunt than HSUS will for actually, you know, helping animals in need. What a scam.
(OT except for being dog-related: apparently a shelter in Canada has a Labradoodle for the Obamas that was rescued from a puppy mill. Supposedly negotiations are underway to see if Stephen Harper can give it to Obama when he comes for his first state visit.)
Stupid stunt. I think pure-breeding animals has gone too far, and the AKC has a lot to answer for, but it’s in terms of dalmatians with hip disorders and so on. If one had to create a stupid analogy, a better one would be to dress up people as Russian princes and then have them ‘bleed to death’ to show how inbreeding creates life-threatening disorders.
Because they think there is no other animal rights group as large.
There is certainly no animal rights group as willing to do stupid shit to get TV cameras pointed their way.
Pinko Punko-
the black vs. tan pugs thing- as I understand it, in dogs, the genes for testosterone and other androgens are linked to hair color. When you start out with a wild-type (in the original research, it was artic foxes being raised for fur) that is all the same color, and constantly select for the most docile and compliant ones, you get those- and the also tend to be weird colors not found in the wild type.
Thanks, Punditus Maximus. The slideshow for that Onion article made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt.
many dog breeders are actually dog racists and morons.
I was once on a plane with a dog breeder whose conversation went from extended discussions of her dogs to the kind of racist wingnuttery that made me squirm. Anecdotal, yeah, but memorable. PETA are still dicks.
Man, I hate pugs too—they’re always full of assholes who don’t know the loot rules, who can’t play their classes, and you have to explain every step of the instance to—-
...oh, you’re talking about the dog breed. Boy, is my face red.
Pinko Punko and Indy - it’s not necessary to have other genes that are that tightly linked to coat color, mutations at melanocortin receptors and other color genes might theoretically affect all kinds of other hormonal stuff that’s going on, not just pigment production. IOW, pleiotropy.
My first reaction to the title:
“Geez, what kinda luck did he have with PUGs? I’ve had pretty good luck with them.”
Sorry, been playing too much World of Warcraft.
Aaaaand… JCfromNC beat me to it. Oh well, I’ve still had decent luck on them, but maybe I’m just forgiving.
JCfromNC and StarStorm, I checked this post thinking it meant what you’re joking about- if it was Amanda or pam, wouldn’t have assumed WoW, but I can see Jesse playing.
I confess, when I saw “PUGS” in the subject line, I didn’t think of dogs either.
PETA is full of whack jobs, but just this once I will kind of admit that they have a tiny fraction of a point. Inasmuch as the AKC sucks.
The AKC sucks most specifically because you can’t participate if your dog is neutered or spayed. My trainer participates with two of her great danes and it’s a huge hassle when they go into heat and she has to work her butt off and change her schedule to keep them sequestered.
AKC claims that the whole point of its show is to find the best dogs, period, and then have them available for breeding. The breeding part is optional, but the ABILITY to breed is not - sterilized dogs cannot compete.
This is utter bullshit in the face of a serious over-breeding problem and AKC needs to change the rules. The fact that they refuse to is less “master race eugenics” and more the fact that there’s a big market built up around dog panties. I’m not joking.
(OT except for being dog-related: apparently a shelter in Canada has a Labradoodle for the Obamas that was rescued from a puppy mill. Supposedly negotiations are underway to see if Stephen Harper can give it to Obama when he comes for his first state visit.)
What? You mean President of the United States is considering getting a dog that’s a cross between one from the Nation of Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys and another from up here in the People’s Republic of Canuckistan? The wingnuts will have an aneurysm.
AKC claims that the whole point of its show is to find the best dogs, period, and then have them available for breeding. ...
This is utter bullshit in the face of a serious over-breeding problem
If show breeders have created a serious over-breeding problem, this is news to me. The wait for puppies in my favorite breed is up to two years. And this is for “pet-quality” dogs, not “show quality.”
Further, all the breeders I know breed for health and temperament first. The breed club worked with Cornell to find the gene responsible for a disease that was killing some dogs at age 10-11. The gene was found, and susceptible breeding stock are no longer used. Now these dogs can live to be 14 or longer.
The only serious over-breeding problem that I know of is puppy mills who care only about providing a product as cheap as they can, to pet stores that don’t provide health guarantees. Puppy mills raise pups as if they were broiler chickens, which is unacceptable for chickens to be eaten in six weeks, much less than for pups who have at least a ten-year lifespan.
On the other hand God does hates to go raiing on Wow with Pick Up Groups 
PUGs are teh suxxorz
Try bringing a pug to a PUG. This super sweet blue recipe for snausages dropped and the little creep hit need before anyone could stop him.
Don’t hit me!
BTW- Despite the elitist aspect and concerns about dog breeding in general I usually end up watching Westminster for the “aawwww” factor. Guilty pleasures….
That would be greed, not need. Don’t type tired people!
Nope, I had typed correctly before. Okay-just to set the record straight my partner had 4 wisdom teeth extracted and I haven’t slept for three days.
Sorry for the interruption, please continue with the regularly scheduled thread.
Hector, I can’t decide if that’s the most ignorant thing I’ve ever read or if I just didn’t make myself clear.
There isn’t an overabundance of pure-bred dogs that need homes. There is a HUGE overabundance of “mutts” who need homes.
When I, Joe-Blow-Nobody, adopted my dog (from a pound so full they couldn’t accept anymore, despite daily requests of found puppies), I purchased a “how to train your puppy to be good and go potty outside” Puppy 101 book from the AKC. Because they know what they are doing, right?
The spay/neuter section was chock FULL of dire warnings that if you neuter Fluffykins, you’ll never be able to compete at the AKC, and it’s a very seductive siren call for the new owner to think, “Well, hell, that could be a fun hobby - dog competitions. I better wait on the neutering thing.” And the next thing you know, Fluffykins has impregnated 8 dogs around the neighborhood, and there’s now nearly a hundred puppies that need homes.
Nearly all of them will be euthanized.
THAT is why the AKC is evil.
And if you did misunderstand me on the over-breeding issue, Hector, I apologize for the snark. But I thought that everyone in America was aware of the spay/neuter/overbreeding issues that animals are facing right now. It’s bad.
The AKC does suck for a variety of reasons. The no spay/neuter requirement for conformation, the purebred requirement for agility/herding events, the breed standards that encourage health problems, the fact that they oppose any legislation of dog breeding (meaning they protect good breeders and the puppy mills) etc. etc. None of that, of course, exonerates PETA for their chronic stupidity.
a Labradoodle for the Obamas
Sorry, but that’s just stupid. Although labradoodles are MARKETED as being “hypoallergenic” I don’t think there’s any evidence that they actually are. Apparently lots of labradoodles are surrendered to pounds when, surprise! Junior’s still allergic to them.
Labradoodles are produced pretty much exclusively by backyard breeders and puppy mills precisely because they are not an AKC recognized breed—in fact they are mutts the equivalent of which I could find at my local pound any week of the year, except the ones at the pound might die because they’re not adorable puppies being slickly marketed. So I hate the whole labradoodle thing in general, but I REALLY cringe at the thought of the Obamas adopting one and the resulting inevitable popularity and demand for the “breed”. Tagging on “because they’re hypoallergenic!” just makes it that much worse.
If they’re going all “AKC wants a master race of dogs”, wouldn’t they want to don Nazi regalia instead?
I suppose bed sheets are cheaper ...
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Sorry PETA, I even hate the whole concept of breeding that the AKC ascribes to. Pekingnese and Pugs with faces so short they have to have corrective surgery removing huge chunks of their soft pallette just to breath properly. Once grand and athletic German shepherds reduced to dragging their hocks on the ground so they can have that perfect roach back. Bulldogs that can’t reproduce without c-sections, and the list goes on and on.
Yet, PETA, your credibility is even worse.
This past weekend I was out with some friends and there was a “anti-fur” PETA demonstration downtown, and I suppose the irony of the fact that half of them were wearing leather shoes escaped them. Uggs; the official shoe of the anti-fur demo.
(I guess cows and sheep just aren’t as cute as rabbits and chinchillas?)
Man, I hate pugs too—they’re always full of assholes who don’t know the loot rules, who can’t play their classes, and you have to explain every step of the instance to—-
...oh, you’re talking about the dog breed. Boy, is my face red.
As the kids say, ROFLMAO. The first thought I had when I saw the headline was “and that’s why I don’t PUG”.
I’m going through WoW withdrawal, someone spot me $30 so I can get right.
Hypatia,
I got into the no fur / no leather thing once and was told - although I don’t know how true this is - that the leather had come from cows slaughtered for meat and that it was stupid to waste the leather. Obviously, this was from a non-vegetarian who didn’t have problems with eating animals, as long as they were bred and slaughtered as humanely as possible.
They were against fur, however, because the fur of rabbits and chinchillas and such is not a byproduct of an animal that otherwise would have been slaughtered anyway.
I guess it’s kind of like an American Indian “we use every part of the buffalo” mentality - if you’re going to eat the cow, wear the leather to avoid waste. If you’re NOT going to kill the rabbit anyway, and you’re “just” raising them as a decoration, then you’re needlessly slaughtering animals.
I dunno, I can see a certain side to that issue. But then it seems you could equally campaign for people to wear fur but just eat more rabbit.
PETA is protesting because the AKC killed two dogs. Meanwhile, PETA bought a giant freezer for the expressed purpose of euthanizing animals and publicity called for Michael Vic’s dogs to be killed. I guess when you become a demagogue, you get your irony gland surgically removed.