On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 4:06 PM, William Robb <[email protected]> wrote:
> Well, that puts an end to all of the toy breeds, as they were all bred as > vanity dogs. I would agree to that. I understand that initially dogs were bred for various purposes that had to do with what they did for us: pull sleds, hunt, rescue hikers in the Alps (being slightly facetious on that one), swim (ie: the Newfoundlander) whatever. I can live with that. These breeds were started at a time when there were no other alternatives, and it was a symbiotic relationship: they help us capture prey (for example), we provide them with shelter and food. I'm fine with the breeding that went on for those purposes, and to now perpetuate those breeds makes some amount of sense (even though we're now breeding most of them because we like the looks, not for function of the breed). Vanity breeding is a very different story. It doesn't make the breed more robust or longer-lived (sometimes quite the contrary), it doesn't make the animal any happier, it's for our purposes only. Taken to extremes we end up with Persian cats with faces so flattened that their tear ducts are constantly flowing and they have audible trouble breathing. We have ragdoll cats who go limp when they're held so that if a rambunctious child picks them up they're unable to flee or defend themselves. We have bulldogs and pugs with breathing difficulties because of their "desirable" faces. We have hairless sphinx cats who can't take any sort of cold at all. > I see you have very strong feelings on the subject, and while I am not a > person to paint my dog in rainbow colours, I'm so glad to hear that! ;-) > I really do see your view as > somewhat irrational. You're entitled to your opinion, and quite frankly I think we've come to a point where we must simply agree to disagree. I'll not change your mind and you certainly won't change mine. > They really don't mind having this kind of stuff done to them and it's > harmless. > If you want the last word on the subject, I will bow out now and let you > have it. I don't care if I have the last word either. I've said about all I have to say on the matter (subject to new issues raised in the three responses that have been posted since I started typing this <g>) so I'll bow out as well. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
