I never thought I would be, but against all odds I am a standard poodle stan for life, so I can sympathize with people who really love a particular breed. But jfc this whole thing is just really, really gross. The quotes from the breeders in this article made me rage.
Standard poodles are, IME, really awesome and healthy dogs if you find properly bred ones. I know some of the white poodles can be a bit... neurologically off due to bad breeding, but our black one was all water retriever and family dog, as were the other poodles I worked with.
Which I guess is true for all purebreds, but at least the standard poodle standard is for a healthy dog.
My parents have a chocolate standard, and he's had some problems with hip dysplasia, but medication takes care of it and otherwise he's been an incredibly healthy dog, and really happy and loving.
Standard poodles are awesome! I don't know why they can't seem to shake that foo-foo image. They are intelligent working dogs, like a lab in a curly wig. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the breed has fewer problems in general precisely because they are less popular than labs and goldens. Once a breed gets popular, the puppy millers and backyard breeders move in and it's all over.
I worked at a vet for awhile and yeah, they are. They were all loves and would put up with being poked and prodded by strangers with no problem. No are helping meeeeee? I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE you! Now admittedly, we never saw fighting dogs because nobody would bring them into the vet, but did see wide crosssection of pets. I looooooooooooooooooooooooooove you!
pretty well the only injuries techs ever got from the bullbreeds was accidental scratches from them trying to sit on you or jumping to trying and lick you. LOOOOOOOVE ME! I HAVE A SATELITE DISH ON MY HEAD! I CANNOT REACH YOU! OMG! HOW WILL I GET CLOSE ENOUGH FOR YOU TO LOVE ME! I don't think anyone ever got bitten. small yap-yap dogs were the ones you had to look out for on biting.
The shelter I volunteer at always has a zillion pit bulls and bully mixes and omg if those dogs could actually crawl inside of your skin they would. The only reason I say I'd never own one is that I actually can't handle that level of all-consuming love directed at me. I have hounds. They are much more concerned with a soft bed and full food dish than my opinion of them.
I can't remember what program I was watching (I assume it must have been on Animal Planet or Discovery or something...) (Apparently it was BBC's "Pedigree Dogs Exposed") but they were covering dog breeds with notorious health issues. They spoke about hip issues and showed boxers having seizures, but somehow that spaniel scratching manically at its ears because it could feel the pressure on its spinal column from its brain expanding too far (iirc?) was just the most disturbing thing.
Anything that is bred for generations for appearance with no thought to health is being bred wrong.
Generally, in fact, I dislike aesthetic breeding at all and go back and forth on my feelings about pragmatic breeding (chickens bred/modified for meat that couldn't survive on their own, that kind of thing). I don't like the idea of breeding humans for particular traits, and I don't like the idea of doing it to other animals, either. (Also, given the success rate when it comes to breeding humans for certain dispositions or strength in certain fields, I'm always flabbergasted when people think it'll be so easy to do with other animals. Whenever people talk about the genetic basis for breed temperament, I find myself quite sure that the majority of the difference is in the socialization of the animals and not hardwired. Breed X tends to be aggressive? That's because you've got a bunch of jerks socializing it to be aggressive from puppyhood, not because it's got some innate killer instinct.)
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Which I guess is true for all purebreds, but at least the standard poodle standard is for a healthy dog.
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pretty well the only injuries techs ever got from the bullbreeds was accidental scratches from them trying to sit on you or jumping to trying and lick you. LOOOOOOOVE ME! I HAVE A SATELITE DISH ON MY HEAD! I CANNOT REACH YOU! OMG! HOW WILL I GET CLOSE ENOUGH FOR YOU TO LOVE ME! I don't think anyone ever got bitten. small yap-yap dogs were the ones you had to look out for on biting.
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Here is the special: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhXHFOrBbEc
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Generally, in fact, I dislike aesthetic breeding at all and go back and forth on my feelings about pragmatic breeding (chickens bred/modified for meat that couldn't survive on their own, that kind of thing). I don't like the idea of breeding humans for particular traits, and I don't like the idea of doing it to other animals, either. (Also, given the success rate when it comes to breeding humans for certain dispositions or strength in certain fields, I'm always flabbergasted when people think it'll be so easy to do with other animals. Whenever people talk about the genetic basis for breed temperament, I find myself quite sure that the majority of the difference is in the socialization of the animals and not hardwired. Breed X tends to be aggressive? That's because you've got a bunch of jerks socializing it to be aggressive from puppyhood, not because it's got some innate killer instinct.)
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Although I really, really like how pit bulls look like. :D
interesting article, btw!
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