"Progress: Evolution or Excess?"

An unusually plump issue of  Dogs in Review arrived in my mailbox today. This was the 2010 Annual issue, a cornucopia of recent canine social events. The glossy splendor of this latest production was carefully preserved in plastic wrap. The cover photograph revealed the "Dog of the Month", a Scottish Terrier. This stately lady won Best in Show at the Eukanuba National Championship show last month. She stands proudly at attention, with exaggerated  eyebrows spiked out and extending halfway down the muzzle, sharply pointed ears, and an artfully sculpted beard.  

I savor this magazine in the same way that I delight in a dog show. It's a decadent feast of eye candy; a taste of something that overflows with delight and drama; fraught with potential danger, yet, at the same time, so wickedly delicious!



I began to leaf through this latest edition, scanning the usual ads, rankings, and dog show reviews. Page after page of  glossy win photos greeted my eyes. Often, the content of this magazine seems focused more on the handlers and judges than the dogs. Articles are generally centered on politics, judging techniques and interviews of judges and handlers; reviews of various big shows, both here in the US and internationally. Interesting historical articles are usually included.  There are some articles related to health and genetics, but those are eclipsed by show news. Well, after all, it is a dog show magazine....

A series of drawings caught my attention. "The Evolving Cocker"...demonstrating the progress of Cocker Spaniel conformation from 1885 to the present. Other plates featured comparative changes in Labrador and Golden Retrievers, Irish Setters and German Shepherds. The article was entitled: "Progress: Evolution or Excess?"

 The accompanying text was a delightfully thoughtful essay on divergence from ideal and the unfortunate trend of breeding for extremes. The human tendency to select an extreme, stand-out specimen was explained. After all, there can be just one "winner"! Exaggerated examples of the individual components of "type" are selected for, transforming a breed quickly into a caricature of its former self. The natural by-product of the dog show system is an evolution toward excess...so much so that, oftentimes, the original purpose and function of the breed takes a back seat to extreme features, or perfect pompadours and topknots.

The shape of a dog is easily molded and swiftly changed through judicious selection. This fact of life transfers to breeders a responsibilty to carefully protect our breeds. This article reminds us of that duty.



The author and artist, Marcia R Schlehr, is to be commended on one of the most striking and thought-provoking articles to come along in quite some time. Dogs in Review hits a home run with this one! There is a brave strength and boldness in presenting a critique of the effects of our sport within a dog show magazine that promotes said sport. Perhaps this is a hopeful sign for the future of dogs!

Thank you, Dogs in Review, for providing another excellent article of substance! I will not hesitate to renew my subscription. 

The Top Ten List

Swedish Vallhund "Apollo"

SUBJECT: Top 10 things you will never hear an Animal Rightist say

10. Shelter dogs can have problems; they aren't for everyone.

9. Your animals are kind of a mess. I know you mean well so we're going to get you some help.

8. Mandatory spay/neuter is a lousy idea. If all dogs are sterilized, where will the puppies come from?

7. We're firing all the lobbyists and lawyers and we're going to put the money into training animal control workers, improving shelters, and organizing transport programs.

6. We're good at raising money but we don't know much about animals. If you want advice about animal policy, you should talk to an experienced breeder, rescuer, or farmer of that species.

5. Animals aren't human; only humans can have rights.

4. We have too many laws about animals. Most owners are trying to do the right thing anyway.

3. You're such a good breeder I wish you would have litters more often.

2. It's not the number of pets, it's the care.



And at the very top of the list:


1. We're going to be proposing a law to make it easier and more fun for people to own pets.

Walt Hutchens

Timbreblue Whippets

Gandhi; he's no Einstein

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”  Mohandas Gandhi

Wrong, dude.

This is one of those oft-repeated platitudes that is more a feel-good concept than it is a reflection of reality.

• The ancient Egyptians worshipped cats, yet practiced slavery.
• Indians esteem cattle, yet maintain an oppressive caste system.
• Nazi Germany pioneered the modern era of animals rights philosophy, but had no qualms about exterminating eleven million human beings.

Gandhi also stated "Nobody can hurt me without my permission". Hmm, tell that to domestic abuse victims. Tell it to any animal who ends his life as a meal for another. Tell it to victims of the Holocaust.

On November 24, 1933, the Tierschutzgesetz, or animal protection law, was introduced, with Adolf Hitler announcing:

"In the new Reich, no more animal cruelty will be allowed."

Laws were passed prohibiting hunting on horseback or with dogs, and there was a temporary ban on the use of animals in research.

"I love animals, and especially dogs." - Adolf Hitler. January 25, 1942.

Apparently, that sentiment didn't extend to his fellow humans. Hitler linked his vegetarianism with his disdain for hunting:

"I am no admirer of the poacher, particularly as I am a vegetarian."- Adolf Hitler. August 20, 1942.

And there's this:

"But there's one thing I can predict to eaters of meat: the world of the future will be vegetarian." Adolf Hitler. November 11, 1941.

Goering, a leading member of the Nazi party, threatened to send to concentration camps "Those who still think they can treat animals as inanimate property". Groups regarded as SUBHUMAN (Untermenschen) ranked below even animals, and included inferior races, political malcontents and the socially unacceptable (including perceived animal abusers). We hear this same sort of rhetoric from today's AR crowd, demonizing those subhumans who consider animals their property.

What do the animal rightists of the Third Reich have in common with today's rabid animal rightists? Most assuredly, it is not a love of animals, but rather a deep-seated hatred of humanity.

www.kaltio.fi/index.php?494
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1407954/Thanks-to-Hitler-hunting-with-hounds-is-still-verboten.html

What Planet Are You From, Anyway?

You'd have to be a cave-dweller to miss the media propaganda blitz about Global Warming....er, I mean Climate Change. We have reduced toxic industrial pollution here in the US to negligible levels. Plastic is passe (not biodegradable you know); we've Reduced, Reused and Recycled, so there isn't much left in the way of environmental guilt trips to lay at the feet of humanity. You'd think.

We needed some way to reinforce the basic precepts; that all men are created equal evil, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights responsibilities...but how??

Then, miraculously, someone in a think tank somewhere dreamed up the buzzword phrase Carbon Footprints! BRILLIANT! A very effective campaign was launched to manipulate the masses into cheerleading for alternative energy sources.

Well, folks, it's not just us humans that environmentalists demonize as gross evil polluters. Now pets are under attack as well, for leaving carbon pawprints.

Recent headlines scream:

"Polluting Pets: The Devastating Impact of Man's Best Friend"

This, based on the book "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living" by New Zealanders Robert and Brenda Vale. The authors calculate that a medium sized dog requires over 2 acres annually to generate its food. This, they tell us, is twice the resources needed to drive a 4X4 vehicle averaging 6200 miles per year (including the energy needed to build the car).

"Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat."

Barrett states in his book.

That's right, our pets are greedy, wasteful capitalists, perched right up there atop the food chain along with us, their decadent masters!

Finger-pointing environmentalists also believe that cows produce more dangerous methane than tasty milk or meat. Sounds like a great rationalization for eliminating animal agriculture, doesn't it? Carbon hoofprints, I suppose?

The possible effect mankind (and our animal associates) might have on any sort of climate condition is highly dubious. All this "carbon footprint" rhetoric is a bunch of hoo-ha. And the warnings about carbon emissions ignore a very basic scientific fact; read about the carbon cycle or photosynthesis, and you find that carbon is the very basic element of life!

Here's a definition of "Carbon Cycle":

"It is one of the most important cycles of the earth and allows for the most abundant element to be recycled and reused throughout the biosphere and all of its organisms."

The vast ocean waters absorb carbon dioxide to produce masses of plankton and algae that form the basis of the planet's food chain. Plants use carbon dioxide to synthesize carbohydrates (i.e. FOOD) and to produce free oxygen in the atmosphere, that members of the animal kingdom rely on to BREATHE.

Does that sound in any way toxic or unnatural to anybody?? What planet are these environmentalists from, anyway?

There's even an old joke about two people who are very dissimilar, having in common only the fact that they are both carbon-based life forms.

Maybe some scientists who AREN'T on the government gravy train might fill us in on the real story. Or maybe our legislators might provide us their rationale for wanting to cap and punitively tax our use of energy?

Save the planet? From humans? AS IF our puny human activities could actually influence the earth's climate!

Reality check from the late great comedian George Carlin:

Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We’ve been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we’re a threat? That somehow we’re gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just a-floatin’ around the sun?

The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles…hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages.....The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system.

Now you just can't get more solid scientific evidence than a comedian's routine. I rest my case!

Buzzwords, Revisited.

Just WHAT is a "puppy mill"?

A breeder who has “x” number of dogs and/or “x” number of litters? OK, who

decides how many “x” is? Has anyone noticed that the noose is tightening

and that it takes fewer and fewer dogs to be branded a puppy mill ? Or that

the definition doesn't just mean wire cages, feces, bred till they drop, and

all the rest? It's reaching out and touching all breeders, and it’s

spreading like a cancer. So now California is apparently "overrun" with

puppy mills. How many do you think there really ARE in this state, or even

in the entire country? Most of the true puppy mills are clustered in one

or two midwestern states. Everywhere else? Close to zero.

If you happen to be of the mind that rescuing mixed breeds is what it's all

about, just remember that that kind of thinking leads right down the path to

an end to hobby breeders, who, despite popular belief, are THE major source

of quality, healthy, socialized puppies in the U.S. Their disappearance

will leave a gap that will be filled by imports, smuggled and other poorly

bred animals. Will be? It’s already happening. These are the pets you are

giving to your children, risking disease, dog bites and more. Is this what

you want for your family?

Why is it so hard for people to see that these buzzwords have been

deliberately created to make hobby breeders and those who like dog shows

look like scum?

Here’s another example. Notice I said “poorly bred animals.” I did NOT say

“back yard breeder,” another phrase with - intentionally - no definition.

How many hobby/show breeders raise litters in houses with BACK YARDS...where

the puppies romp and play in the sunshine? Well bred, loving, thriving,

physically and mentally sound puppies?

Pay attention, people! Responsible breeders already know the animal rights

extremists, are out to get us, you, me, ALL of us. And that if left up to

these people, these groups, pet owners are a dying breed, so to speak.

Their bottom line, their dirty little secret, is that we should not be

allowed to OWN animals, period. Those same buzzwords are redefining the

nature of dog ownership so as to deny us our constitutional right to own

pets. Additionally, by creating the widespread myth that we have a huge pet

overpopulation crisis in this country, they are able to promote and sponsor

laws designed to make dog ownership more and more difficult. When difficult

becomes impossible, they will have achieved their goals, and by the time you

finally look around and wonder where all the dogs went, it will be too late.

“Puppy mills,” “backyard breeders,” “hoarders,” “guardians,” “adoption,”

“rescue,” “furkids,” and of course, the biggest lie of all, “pet

overpopulation.” It's bad enough that THEY (animal rightists) use the words,

but as long as we (dog owners) keep repeating them ourselves, and even

worse, applying them to those within our ranks, we're just hammering another

nail in our coffin. Look beyond your family room, your local shelter, even

your local state. See the big picture, follow the trend, and see what’s

really happening.

The enemy is not we who truly love animals, we the people, we the pet owners

of America. It is not US. The Humane Society of the United States, PETA,

and similar fanatical animal rights groups too numerous too mention. THEY

are the enemy.

When it comes to the care and ownership of your pets, accept nothing,

question everything. Every buzzword, every WORD, out of their mouths is

intended to manipulate and destroy us.

DON'T HELP THEM DO IT!

Blahg

Normally I don't blog just to blah-blah-blah. There's already plenty of that sort of activity out there in cyber-land! I like to ruminate a bit over an idea before I put pen to paper....er, I mean cursor to screen....and produce something that not only holds interest for the reader, but will also challenge some of the currently-held precepts of modern dog culture.


But as I am slowly released from the grip of the flu, and rejoin my canine companions, I feel the urge to shout joyfully to the heavens. So here is my jubilant howl..Woo-Hoo!  I once again have Time 4 Dogs!

Now, who can remain "blah" with faithful friends beside you, raptly anticipating your recovery?

Blahg?! No more!

Just Say "NO" to Terrorism

A guest blog from Diane Amble....thanks Diane! Beautifully stated.


I am aghast at the sugestions that WE fanciers provide and support ANY kind of model dog breeding laws!


Have you NO IDEA what "they" (unfriendly, clueless legislators with
heavy influence from ARs) will do to your "Model Law" before the vote?

They will slice it, dice it and poison it until it is your worse nightmare!

You THINK YOU can stop that from happening to your "Model Law"?
And let's say by some miracle you get it voted into law without any change, which would be a miracle in and of itself... then what about the next year and the year after that?

Are you willing to defend your "Model Law" every year after year as the ARs carve at it?


What happens when your friendly legislators are replaced? And they will be, nothing remains the same.


This same thing was DONE in Colorado. And the people that helped put it into place REGRET REGRET REGRET


because now their own regulations are being interpreted against them by AR influenced authorities!


The only law that should be passed is one that protects the right to dog breeding free from persecution by animal rights fanatics.

WAIT! Oh, there is one already called AETA--- Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act!!!

And WHY IS IT NOT BEING ENFORCED at every level across the nation????


The ARs are VERY afraid of that Federal Law and it is being used in some cases already, mostly arson and bombings, but not as broadly as it should!


YOU should be demanding that your State authorities call in the Feds to enforce this law at every violation!


Every raid, every time a pet shop is FORCED to close, every time terrorists walk the halls of your State legislature buying influence for their criminal rackets to control every aspect of animal and food production as well as environmental laws that stop free enterprise dead in its tracks. Each of these affronts to free enterprise is killing America's economy and robbing her of JOBS and the American family's ability to provide for their own.

Wake-up and smell the ----


These fanatics will not stop until WE STOP THEM! We need to use the AETA against them in every case. We are lucky it even mentions dog breeding! Thanks to the efforts of MoFED and others that have been in this fight long before we were awakened.

The AWA (Animal Welfare Act) ALREADY addresses animal husbandry and the breeding practices of raising dogs. If this were applied to all breeders, you can kiss having your puppies in your house GOOD-BYE!


In fact, you will ALL need to BUILD kennels and keep your dogs IN THEM! Sound good? Would your zoning laws (also illegally gotten) allow the building of such?

How about considering demanding that the US and State Constitutions be UPHELD, giving us the right to FREEDOM, the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS and FREE ENTERPRISE?

Anything less is COMPROMISE and negotiations with TERRORISTS.

If you are afraid to answer your door or who may pull up in your driveway

... you are a victim of terrorism. The first base for terrorism is causing dissension and fear in the populace whether real or imagined. The second is disrupt free enterprise and thereby, the economy so that the government and law and order begins to crumble.

There is a very good reason that the FBI and Homeland Security has identified HSUS and PeTA as suspect domestic terror organizations. Read the Federal documents posted at www.hsussucks.com






JUST SAY NO TO TERRORISM.






Diane Amble


JOIN CALIFORNIA ANIMAL VOTERS ALLIANCE


at www.cavotersalliance.com


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