#dogs were accessible and had a degree of legitimacy because of the british nobility | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

awkward-teabag · 2 years ago

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I can't believe I just saw someone defending brachycephalic dogs. They're not ethical and you can't just "ethically breed" brachy dogs that don't have problems. It might be able to be done, assuming all brachy dog breeders agree on it, but these are dog breeders we're talking about.

Breeders who line-breed to rapidly exaggerate traits.

Breeders who don't care if a breed can only give birth via surgical intervention.

Breeders who can't bother socializing their pups.

Breeders who are adamantly against out-crossing because they're into "blood purity".

Far, far, far too many debilitating illnesses are treated as "features" of breeds because dog breeders (at least show breeders, who are the main drivers of what the public sees and the public thinks is normal) can be a terrible group of people who care about status, money, and were one of the places where eugenicists went post-WWII.

A group of people who don't consider the suffering of animals they breed can't be trusted one iota to do a bunch of extra tests to eventually, maybe, have an "ethical brachy" dog breed.

#and i'm not kidding about eugenicists flocking to dog breeding #farmwives were the driving force and biggest supporters for eugenics in canada #well into the 70s and 80s #because 'if we can breed animals for traits why not do so with humans?'#dogs were accessible and had a degree of legitimacy because of the british nobility #and dog generations are a lot faster than cow or horse ones #so people could see their goal in their lifetime and firmly secure it #not to mention the litter sizes increasing the odds of at least one of them fitting one's standards #there are of course some great breeders out there #but usually they breed for the breed itself and any show-quality ones are a bonus #or they're working lines so health and functionality takes priority over form #also i'm not even sure you could breed an 'ethical brachy' dog #you would need to get lucky on so many mutations and those sorts of mutations #tend to impact other parts of the animal #e.g. scottish fold cats don't have only folded ears #their ears are folded because of a mutation that affects cartilage thus causes joint issues and pain #but the main thing people see are folded ears and a lower energy breed #(lower energy because they're in pain and/or too much movement causes pain)#some extremes just aren't possible #or if they are are definitely not ethical #and an animal's well-being >>> your sense of aesthetic

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