鈥淭he 20 Best Dog Breeds for Runners,” “The 20 Best Active Dog Breeds,” “The 10 Best Hot-Weather Dog Breeds,” “The 10 Best Cold Weather Dog Breeds,” “The Best Family Dogs,” “How to Pick the Perfect Dog for You”鈥 pulled all these article titles off the first page of a Google search for dog articles on 国产吃瓜黑料. We鈥檙e far from the only publication to run a series of pieces like this. But the thing is, any advice telling you to choose a pure-bred聽dog as an outdoor companion is inherently wrong. The best dog,聽for any person, doing any activity, is a mutt.
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How Dog Breeding Works, a Summary
Dogs evolved specifically to live in symbiosis with humans . Modern dog breeding,聽to achieve certain physical and mental traits, however,聽has been around .听
The activity as we think about it today聽was developed in Victorian England, not accidentally around the same time as the modern idea of eugenics arose. As interest in dogs shifted from utilitarian need to companionship both in the home and the field (shooting sports were also booming in popularity), people wanted the same bragging rights about their pets as they did about their horses and聽expensive shotguns. 聽
Of course, you couldn鈥檛 claim superiority in your dog without a classification system for defining said superiority. As specific, desirable traits became codified, types of dogs became named聽and breeders were able聽to charge large sums of money for these animals. After that, there arose聽a need for a system to define and regulate what people were selling. The Kennel Club was founded in 1873 to do just that. With it, the concept that a certain type of dog could be branded as achieving some unique selling point arose. And just like any good product or brand, buying into it was as much about communicating a certain lifestyle, income level, and聽personality to other humans as it was about benefiting from the supposed traits of that breed. Just like today you鈥檇 buy a Jeep to convince everyone that you鈥檙e active and adventurous, back then you鈥檇 buy a fox terrier to demonstrate that you enjoyed the gentile sport of聽animal torture, and could afford to participate in it. All your neighbors were jealous. Britain exported this idea, and here we are today.
Breeding dogs, in its simplest form, is getting two dogs with certain subjectively desirable聽traits聽to mate, hopefully perpetuating those traits in their offspring. By continuing that process over generations, breeders can accentuate those traits.听
That seems like a pretty reasonable goal. If you like friendly dogs, you breed two friendly dogs to make more friendly dogs. The trouble is, that if you want even friendlier dogs, you have to get your already bred-for-friendly dogs to bang, then your even more friendly dogs to do it, then your extra friendly dogs to do the horizontal mambo, and so forth. Before long, if you desire to continue pursuing聽those traits, you鈥檙e left with a limited selection of dogs to play matchmaker with. A study in the United Kingdom found that a population of 10,000 pugs鈥攁 breed bred to be as ugly as possible, go figure鈥.听
What鈥檚 a聽Mutt?
We鈥檙e all guilty of this. When we see a dog we like (which, let鈥檚 be honest, is pretty much every dog), we ask: 鈥淲hat type of dog is that?鈥 And, if you have a mutt, you probably spend a lot of time explaining that it鈥檚 something implausible like a chihuahua,聽pit bull, Australian cattle dog mix.
I hate to break it to you, but it鈥檚 not. While breeds are a product of an unnatural selection process, a mutt is simply a dog in its natural, varied state. By having a threesome, those pure breeds re-introduced genetic diversity to their offspring, creating what is simply a dog.听
In contrast to selective breeding, which sends dogs down a genetic cul-de-sac, mutts are pure,聽natural selection at work. Those animals wily enough to avoid getting their reproductive organs cut off pass along their genes to the next generation of hole diggers, shoe chewers, and cat chasers. Of course, by introducing breeds to the mix, we鈥檝e vastly altered nature鈥檚 plan, and today鈥檚 mutts show a lot more variability than the just-plain-dogs of yore. That鈥檚 actually really cool.听Today, . The biggest differences in size, the widest array of colors and markings, and the most ridiculous hairdos. And mutts have by far the most variations:聽they combine not only the selectively bred traits of their ancestors, but the wildcards you get when those controlled genes find chaos.听
The Trouble with Inbreeding
With so many brands of dog competing to fulfill our need for superiority, we鈥檙e all a bit brainwashed into thinking that the best possible example of a pure-bred dog can somehow be better than not only others like it, but all other dogs, too. It can鈥檛. Pure-bred dogs are actually an inferior choice if you care about stuff like vet bills and not getting bit. Let鈥檚 look at the reasons why:
Mutts Are Healthier
Inbreeding is inbreeding, no matter what you call it. Controlling breeding for desirable traits also has the effect of passing along genetic defects. You see this with hip dysplasia in聽German shepherds, or cocker spaniels and eye problems.听
Google any dog breed followed by 鈥渉ealth problem,鈥 and you鈥檒l confront聽a long list of issues. According to , the list for that spaniel includes: progressive retinal atrophy, catracts, patellar lunation, glaucoma, elbow dysplasia, gastric torsion, epilepsy, caridomyophathy, ectropion, urinary stones, otitis external, canine hip dysplasia, hypothyroidism, seborrhea, phosphofuctvokinase deficiency, entropion, cherry eye, liver disease, allergies, congestive heart, and congestive heart failure. We’re not picking on the spaniel, it’s just a normal example.听
Those aren鈥檛 simply problems any dog may be subject to. They鈥檙e specific problems bred into every cocker spaniel due to the very fact that it鈥檚 a pure聽breed. Any pure breed also 聽and has a聽shorter life spans than your average mutt, in large part due to these health problems. Breeding dogs doesn鈥檛 just get in the way of natural selection, which should naturally work to eliminate these defects, it actively works to make these issues worse by allowing recessive genes to manifest.
Mutts Are Friendlier
Any published study of dog-bite incidences聽lists . And it鈥檚 probably not the breeds you鈥檇 expect. In the U.K., that bite the most postmen, for instance. And supposedly friendly golden retrievers are notorious biters. Just like breeding dogs to achieve a certain look facilitates genetic health problems, it also exacerbates mental issues. Worse, dogs bred to have the mental acuity for sporting pursuits also need an outlet for their energy and killer instincts. Fail to give one adequate exercise or appropriate stimulation and it will express those tendencies in other ways. Just look at the Queen and her corgis:聽one bit Tony Blair.听
Mutts Are a Better Size
Pushed to size extremes to please vain owners, and dog breeds both suffer from a myriad of health problems. A mutt鈥檚 size is sorta self聽leveling. You obviously still have big ones and little ones, but, freed of genetic shackles, they tend to gravitate towards the middle. Over 20 pounds聽and under 100, a dog鈥檚 bones, joints and organs last longer聽and work better.听
Mutts Are Flexible
Bred to achieve certain physical abilities, pure breeds are often one-trick ponies. Greyhounds, for instance, are fast, but they don鈥檛 have stamina. Bernese聽Mountain Dogs are strong, but if you exercise them too much, their joints will have major aging聽issues. Many of these breeds are specialists. A mutt isn鈥檛. With varied genes and few genetic abnormalities, a mutt is naturally robust, physically and mentally. You鈥檒l find them working as service dogs, you鈥檒l find them retrieving birds, you鈥檒l find them hanging out with kids, and you鈥檒l find them protecting families. What makes them different is that a mutt can handle all those tasks, not just one or two.听聽聽
The Ethics of聽Purchasing Dogs
Perhaps the most important argument against purchasing a pure-bred dog is one of ethics. Do your research, find a good breeder, and you probably can find a pure breed that fits your lifestyle聽and who will be relatively healthy and sane. You鈥檒l love it and be proud of it and people will ask you what type of dog it is, to which you鈥檒l have a proud, certain聽response. But in so doing, you鈥檒l be furthering the suffering of millions of dogs across the country.听
Even if your dog came from a small, ethical breeder, the desire to own pure breeds which you are furthering is responsible for the existence of puppy mills, of which . These operations foster many of the issues described in this article, and are responsible for inhumane conditions and the production of unhealthy animals.听
And聽every dog purchased is a lost opportunity to save the life of a dog in need. More than 3.9 million dogs enter animal shelters in the U.S. each year, of which 1.2 million are euthanized. Each one of those purchased puppy mill dogs could instead have been a saved life.听
As it stands in America today, choosing to purchase a dog is choosing to allow another to suffer and die. It fosters an unsustainable, unethical, inhumane cycle of industrial animal production and disposal. Adopting a dog from a pound doesn鈥檛 just save a life, it also reduces demand for puppy mills. It will also net you a better companion who will be with you longer聽and cost you less money. And one whose聽look will be unique to you, not something someone else can purchase. Love it, be proud of it, and when people ask you what type of dog it is, tell them it鈥檚 a mutt. A dog. Doing so will hopefully make them want to adopt one too.听
Ruffwear and the Best Friends Animal Society are .
Life 国产吃瓜黑料 with an聽Undesirable Mutt
The kind of people who take pride in their pure breeds have told me that Wiley is a pretty ugly dog. Looking at it their way, he is. His head鈥檚 too big for his body, his tongue is covered in spots, his legs are way too short, and his ears are too big. Who knows the deal with the stripes.
I鈥檓 OK with that. Despite his flaws, this is a dog who鈥檚 done 30 miles on the trail in a day, then begged for more. He鈥檚 fought a bear, but he鈥檚 also implicitly trusted to snuggle up to a newborn human free of adult supervision. He鈥檚 as comfortable sleeping under my table in a fancy restaurant as he is off-leash in the mountains. He protects my home, my campsite, and my truck, but is terrified of balloons. He helps me pick up girls, then slowly pushes them out of his spot in the bed after they fall asleep.听
In our three聽and聽a half years together, he鈥檚 cost me a grand total of less than $500 in vet bills. Most of which has just been the standard shots聽or letters from the vet saying he鈥檚 healthy enough to cross the border to Mexico. I expect him to live 15 years or more.听
And all that from a dog who was found covered in feces, laying in a storm drain when he was four weeks old, and who was given to me聽for the grand total of a promise to take him on plenty of walks.听
Plenty of people ask me what kind of dog he is, hoping he鈥檚 something they can acquire for themselves. And they can: there are聽millions of dogs just like Wiley waiting for you at your closest pound. Your mutt will be just as unique. No pure-breed owner can say the same.听