Never. I will not support an event that gives credibility to the poorly bred, genetically deformed, mutated dogs the AKC likes to crown champions.

Plus, they quit letting Pedigree show commercials asking people to adopt because it "didn't project the emotion they wanted" (paraphrased, I can't remember exactly."

I think it's just because they are so snobby they didn't want any of those dirty old mixed breed dogs anywhere near their TV show.

 

Ha Ha funny! Even though I love watching the dogs, I thought the people are um... strange! They seemed more mutated than the animals! Perhaps the reason they don't let Pedigree advertise is that the show is sponsored by Pro Plan,(Purina). Always goes back to the corporations, doesn't it?

 

Yup, I've been watching. My favorite Amstaff won the breed again this year, hoping she wins the Terrier group!

As for them switching from Pedigree to Purina.. OMG who cares?! They played this commercial during the show last night: Inside Every Good Dog is A Great Dog - Purina® Pro Plan® Commercial - YouTube

I greatly preferred it to the gloom and doom Pedigree ones. Plus, it's not like local SPCA's are going to display the winning dog at Westminster on their websites alongside their adoptable dog of the week.. so why should Westminster do the same? I support shelters, and I also support the purebred dog fancy, nothing wrong with that.

 

I haven't watched it since I was very young, but my housemate wanted to watch it this year. I'm disgusted in general, but this in particular...
Westminster Rewards Cruelty

 

Yep, I'm watching it, well most of it, I forgot the start. However, I was quite taken back that the German Shepherd won the herding group. That dog looked like it could hardly run, nevermind herd cows or sheep. I just think that a dog should be judged for its ability to do the job it was bred for, or at least the job of the group it is entered in.
I am finding it interesting though seeing and hearing a bit about all the different breeds.

 

Well, when shelter dogs have a fancy schmancy dog show that brings a bunch of money to everyone, maybe I'll concede that they should just each do their own thing.

Here's one blog on it:

After 24 years, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has changed sponsors from Pedigree to Purina because the club doesn’t like Pedigree’s very effective “Adopt a Shelter Dog” ad series. The ads, widely regarded as the most effective adoption promotions ever, have helped Pedigree raise millions of dollars that have gone to the cause of pet adoptions. The ads were a redeeming feature of the Westminster TV presentation.

Westminster feels that the commercials are too serious for their broadcast. David Frei, head of communications for the club and on-air voice of the show, told the New York Times, “Show me an ad with a dog with a smile. Don’t try to shame me. We told them that and they ignored us.” Frei added, “Our show is a celebration of dogs. We’re not promoting purebreds at the expense of non-purebreds. We celebrate all dogs. When we’re seeing puppies behind bars, it takes away from that. Not just because it’s sad, but it’s not our message.”

However, the Pedigree ads have been celebrated because they don’t portray shelter dogs as victims, but as unique individuals. The ads’ tagline says it all: “Don’t pity a shelter dog. Adopt one.” Dogs are shown in a kennel environment but not behind bars.

Unlike some well-known fundraising promotions that do show quivering and abused animals to milk people’s guilt, the Pedigree spots are a class act. The dogs are serious and their level gaze doesn’t impose guilt but rather asks the simple, straightforward question, “Will you help?” The voice-over by David Duchovny is equally measured: “Shelter dogs aren’t broken. They’ve simply experienced more life. If they were human, we would call them wise. They would be the ones with tales to tell and stories to write.”

etc.

Westminster snobs snub shelter dogs | The Best Friends Blog

But even more important that that, the AKC has supported the ruination of so many breeds I find them a thoroughly disgusting organization.

 

Shoot its on! I enjoy watching this show to see the different breeds! Ok I have to watch it even now if its a rerun! I guess I was more interested in Angry Boys which just finished haha! I will tune in if its still on!Well, I know they always show reruns though!

 

No, I do not watch that sick, disgusting show of extreme animal cruelty. The people who breed half of those dogs are more abusive than someone who'd take a hammer and beat their dogs, in my opinion.
The most accurate description I ever heard of bench shows is the following: "When I watch [dog shows], what I see in front of me is a parade of mutants. It's some freakish, garish beauty pageant that has nothing, frankly, to do with health and welfare."
It's from a movie called Pedigree Dogs Exposed. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it, it changed my world. I already hated people who bred disfigured dogs beforehand but I really had no idea the extent of it. (Be warned that there are some disturbing scenes; dogs suffering horribly from debilitating genetic conditions.)
Pedigree Dogs Exposed Full Movie - YouTube

The dog showing world has a lot to work on. Dogs should be expected to perform at least low-level agility in order to be championed, in order to prove that the dog has not been disfigured to the extent that he is incapable of basic, simple physical activity. Breeds with issues in reproduction should not be allowed to be showed if they in any way were assisted in the process of mating/birthing. Dogs should not be allowed to be shown unless they have had health tests related to their breed done, with favorable results. And pups whose sire and dam have no health testing and at least low-level sporting history should not be allowed to be registered.

 

I just thought that deserved to be said twice. The AKC is a horrible, horrible group.

 

I'm quite a fan of the PDE blog, as well:
Pedigree Dogs Exposed - The Blog

 

I have heard of cats being mutated but what dog breeds are? Or do you mean the cross breeds that are new to the AKC?

 

No, it is the way AKC allows breeds to become so deformed they could never do the work they were bred to do. In addition, the mutated breeding causes all kinds of physical difficulty for the dogs.

German shepherds whose rear legs are so deformed they can barely walk. Flat-faced breeds who suffer all their lives because they can't breathe, exercise, or eat properly. Large dogs who have become so bulked up they have a hard time moving around.

Look at this video of the change in the GSD

 

I knew I loved this forum for a reason.

 

i watched it last night after years of not watching.....

the dogs looked off.....

btw, there are some natural fed, naturally reared dogs in the show...i don't know if they made it to the final in their breed, but they were entered....i believe one is a saluki and one is a clumber.....i don't remember the other ones.

'course, it makes me wonder...i've rescued dogs all of my life....i've had one home bred dog....she only bred once and that was that for her....so i guess that makes her a backyard breeder...

if ever i were to get another dog.....when malia, g'd forbid, passes on.....how DOES one find a breeder who breeds for health, rather than looks?

i was kind of thinking that just once, i'd like to have a bred dog, whose health has more of a chance of being okay, than rescuing these dogs that i have to put 4000. in right out of the gate....which is what bubba cost to have his eyes fixed.....

 

Beats me - Snorkels has been pricey but not Rebel so much, except for ear infections which were caused by food and not by breeding. He is totally functional, and a rescue.

 

I don't know about a lowchen, but with pugs and frenchies it is important to SEE the dogs. Either in person or on a video. You should meet them and see that they can run around without choking on their own soft pallet. Make sure their eyes aren't protruded so far that they're at risk of being injured. Things such as that. With pugs I'd want to see an x-ray of the dogs' spines as well.

 

there are very few breeders of lowchen. what struck me was their lack of health issues...on any grand scale.

thanks for the advice...i shall remember that...

 

Re, there are hundreds of thousands of perfectly healthy dogs in rescue. And if you got an adult, you can often know before you adopt them whether they have health problems. Just like a car, get a vet to check them out.

The breed specific rescues in particular usually know because they know what problems the breed can get. I knew two things about my Dobie - he didn't have cardiomyopathy nor dancing Dobie disease, which are the two most prevalent breed- specific issues in Dobermans.

 

i've done nothing but rescue my entire life. and i'm glad that i've done so. for many dogs.....

just once, i'd like to be a little selfish and get a dog who is well bred.

bubba lost 15% of his vision due to entropion and his lids were mis shapen, so he could not fully close his eyes....i spent 4000. to fix that and there were other problems he had, too.

and i was glad to do so.

but just once....i'd like a dog who comes out of the gate with more of an emotional chance than any dog i've ever had.....had.

it took two years to get bubba to stop being afraid of baseball caps.

malia still cannot stand wind...she came to us from the local ditch in georgia at four or five weeks old.

every dog has had issues...

i just want a dog that all i have to is potty train and leash train and love. i'm tired.

 

The potty training part would put me off, for sure - if I ever got a dog from a breeder it would have to be an old one.

I guess maybe I've just been lucky. Rebel is my dog with the most emotional issues, and compared to other people's stories he is a piece of cake. I've never had a dog from a puppy mill. I think dogs that are unsocialized as puppies may never be "normal." And since most of my dogs have been mixed breeds, I've not had alot of physical problems to deal with. Snorkels is my only dog that's been really sick and that's because her teeth rotted, not because of her genetics.

As for the wind - I'm with malia! I cannot stand the AC blowing on me in the car. I hate wind more than any other weather. Probably because I spent alot of my life in West Texas where it blows for three months straight in the spring, hard. Some woman who lived out there and went insane because of it wrote a book. I empathized.

Everyone has the right to get the dog they want. If you got a puppy, you could at least start them on raw early and maybe not have to go through what you went through with your two.

 

Cliffdog and Xelil, Do you think the AKC is to blame or maybe just the public? Like I said I don't know much about purebred dogs other than Weimaraners but a friend of mine wanted a Himalayan cat and she traveled over 1000 miles to find one with the pushed in face. No local AKC breeder at the time would register them here. Poor thing it could barely breathe and she was told she could never take it on a plane. She insisted it was unique and wanted to be "different". All's I guess I am saying is maybe the general public is to blame as well. Why punish some of the beautiful purebreds out there. Oh and of course they aren't able to move well in the dog shows or like there ancestors, have you seen some of those owners at dog shows? Wow, they put that show "Toddlers and Tiaras" to shame!

 

The people who own the dogs are the most at fault, because they want the freak shows. but the clubs sanction them, and the AKC allows them to be registered.

I have long thought that a dog should ONLY be allowed to show in conformation after it has proven itself to have the ability to do what it was bred for.

And my poor doxies - those pictures cliff showed are so true - they've gotten longer and lower to the ground to the point where jumping on a couch or going up stairs puts them in danger of paralysis. No dog should have to go through that.

 

I watched last night, and will watch again tonight. It was cool to see the Xolo place so well in group, that was a great looking dog.

My rescue/mixed breed dog has a long list of issues, despite being very moderate in type, he is not sound in mind or body. $500 to adopt him, $500 for surgery a few months later, and hundreds more spent trying to deal with his mental issues. And I've only had him for a year and a half.

My purebred Chihuahua is nearly 5 years old and yet to have a serious health issue. Her teeth are not great, but have not actually caused any problems. I spent $950 to get her (CKC limited registration).

Would I get a rescue again? Probably. Would I get a dog from a breeder again? Definitely.

 

I would predominantly blame the KC and AKC, yes. The breeders are of course to blame as well, and I'll tell them that square to their faces (and have, when I attended an AKC dog show near New Orleans to participate in a SAR demonstration) but they are "victims of the system". For instance, look at that working Basset I posted. The owners of such dogs do not show their animals in the AKC because healthy, moderate, functional dogs are not what wins. The AKC only rewards those who are willing to breed to extremes, even if that means a detriment to the breed's working ability, health, or temperament. So you do what you are rewarded for. If breeding a dog with no face, bug eyes, a crooked spine, and a lifespan of 5 years is what wins ribbons, that's what you do.

Of course I'd like to make it abundantly clear that I'm not saying ALL kennel club breeders/handlers are bad. I love people who both work AND show their dogs. That to me is how you produce the ultimate dogs who still fit the breed standard.

 

xellil.....bubba did me in.

i was happy to pay the money to fix his eyes. no matter how good a breeder is, some slip through. i get it. nothing is perfect.

but the emotional baggage ...well, let us say that seattle pug rescue had me on speed dial.

he was 2. he was not house trained. he had no manners. he was scared of everything. on and on and on. he might as well have been a puppy only worse.

he's a wonderful dog now, but i've aged twenty years.

every dog had something....usually we can fix or mitigate the physical, but the emotional? nobody can ever tell me that dogs don't remember.

so if i ever get another dog and it's a big if.....it will be from a breeder whose dogs are social....i want Liz to breed lowchens or frenchies or pugs. she would get it right.

all i have to do now is clone Liz and get her to like those breeds.

 

xellil.....bubba did me in.


every dog had something....usually we can fix or mitigate the physical, but the emotional? nobody can ever tell me that dogs don't remember.

I agree. I do believe it's like children - when something bad happens at a very young age, it's hard if not impossible to get over it. I've had dogs with problem behaviors (like fear of thunderstorms or fireworks) but no dogs like Bubba. Rebel is probably my closest to a dog that's been traumatized, but I think he had a good childhood. As an adult, he lived a few years isolated in a back yard that caused some issues but not like if that had happened to him as a puppy.

Well, and snorkels. god knows what happened to her. The terrible neglect, of course, but she seems mostly ok. She keeps her fears to herself. I even had her "read" by a pet communicator who told me she could see nothing of her past. I did it because Snorkels was so aloof from us for so long, I couldn't figure out why we weren't making her happy. As it turned out, it was just time she needed (quite a bit of it).
I won't, however, put her in a cage because she sat on death row from Friday to Monday with no food, water, blanket, or potty break. I feel sure she remembers that.

People think I make such a sacrifice by getting older dogs but it's really a selfish reason. I don't know that I am the right owner to a puppy mill dog, or a dog that's had alot of trauma as a puppy. And normally I work all day while hubby is home with the dogs - he's not interested in dogs that drive him nuts. Most dogs, by the time they reach 8 or so, are not going to have any hidden problems.

Sometimes I do dream of picking out the perfect puppy, the exact dog I want, from someone who has taken extra care to make sure they will be healthy and socialized. But then I think of a PUPPY - ack! No thanks. I didn't like puppies even when I was young. Rebel is pretty close to the dog I always wanted, and Snorkels is a gift from heaven I never thought of in my wildest dreams. I don't like little dogs.

And i know if Bubba could talk he would thank you from the bottom of his heart for making him into a good dog

 

I think the blame falls mostly on parent breed clubs because they're the ones who ultimately create and enforce the breed standards. I do think that the akc is still to be blamed for such garish beauty pageants for dogs.

 

I rewatched the basset on Westminster last night. I CAN NOT imagine that dog tracking anything, anywhere for any good amount of time. He trotted across the green and then tried to sit down when his owner was trying to set him up...

 

I agree that that dog probably would never track anything, just wanted to comment on the sitting part. Sako has sat in the ring, and it's certainly not because he's tired From what I saw with the Basset, he thought the handler was asking him to sit. Which is what happened here with Sako (it's at around 2:13 if you want to fast forward):

LOL. Judge gave him the sit command, so he listened! Little brat.

 

Well, I sure do love my freak show dog

 

LOL, me too

 

To each his own! I don't support genetic mutations that cause pain and suffering in dogs many of them are cute... If you don't mind serious deformities and short lifespans, I can see the appeal.

Personally I'l stick to animals that have proven to be healthy and capable of basic physical tasks.

 

To each his own! I don't support genetic mutations that cause pain and suffering in dogs many of them are cute... If you don't mind serious deformities and short lifespans, I can see the appeal.

I'm looking at Murph right now, he doesn't appear to be in pain....looks pretty content. Frenchies aren't all serious deformities and short lifespans...just depends on the dog.



Weren't you one of the people who supported ear cropping??? So you support human inflicted mutations on dogs that are also just for appearance, that causes the dog pain.

 

They may be treated well, but when they're so deformed that their own death is a blessed relief, I'd call that abuse no matter how they're treated, LOL. Not to mention how FAT showdogs are kept, as if they didn't have enough problems.

 

Regarding the fat comment. I noticed that last night, especially with the pug.

 

I don't think that applies to ALL breeds though.

A lot of french bulldogs are perfectly fine and just need to be watched in heat. Same with pugs, bostons, etc. Just depends on the breeder you go to.


I think the worst off is the english bulldog, who pants just trotting once around the ring. I am NOT okay with what has happened to that breed and think it's really sad.