It IS, selecting a dog for a certain feature or characteristic that you choose to enhance from breeding to another dog who has the same feature or characteristic. Enhance is the key word there.
People have done this so much, that many of the breeds have been changed forever, for the worse. It's really sad that people have done this for their own sense of what they want such as the prettiest, fastest, strongest, biggest, smallest. Aesthetically pleasing is just not a good reason or excuse. The following is a small sample of some of the side effects of these tailored breeding practices.
In blood hounds, it is more desirable to have the most droopy eyes.
The down side? Lots of eye infections.
English Setters have high incidents of hereditary hearing loss.
Larger and larger dogs, have trouble with joint and bone issues and blindness.
The tiny little breeds often have heart problems and suffer from dislocating knee caps
And the poor little bull dog - well, some of them can't even give birth because of the huge head and narrow hips. That's just wrong.
There are dogs that go blind, can't breath properly, or have some sort of neurological problem that makes them obsess about chasing their own tail. It's really sad.
I have a real problem with this. Changing the basic make up of any animal is just wrong. They have manipulated genes to the point of disaster and it's shameful.
The same can be said for accidental breeding's where the result is a mutt. The same health problems can arise. Another excellent point for spaying and neutering.
I found a good site that lists a whole host of problems with almost every breed affected. This was originally a tv program on PBS. If you have dogs, you have to see this.
Just click below:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/dogs-that-changed-the-world/selective-breeding-problems/1281/
Great post, and love that PBS link.
ReplyDeleteso does this mean you're back home from your trip? i hope you're not too affected by the flooding happening in Montana right now! (perhaps you brought the fishing ponds/lakes back home with you...)
ReplyDeleteThanks Samantha! Glad you liked my post. I hope it was useful.
ReplyDeleteHi T!.....Yes, we are back. Just can't seem to get caught up. So many Spring things to do, but the weather IS NOT cooperating. We have not been in or near flooding waters so far. We're on a hill and if we get flooded.....let's just say it would be miles and miles of little towns wiped out. Not likely to happen. But, the Clark Fork River is as full as we have ever seen it. We usually don't get hot until after July 4th. It's hard to tell what will happen. Thanks for stopping by a few times while I was gone. As you know I didn't have access to a computer. Thank goodness! ha ha I'll tell of our adventures later. I saw your "High Stepping Stalker" pic. I saw one of those in California, I believe. It's amazing those skinny little legs can carry that big body!Funny...