Posted on 03/13/2006 1:55:37 PM PST by proud_yank
Worried that dog breeds popularized by celebrities, movies and television will become the targets of puppy mills, Canadian and U.S. kennel clubs are asking people to think seriously before buying one of the dogs as a pet.
"Everybody wants a Dalmatian or a bearded collie or a Jack Russell after they see them in a movie," Patti Murray of Ashton, Ont., a member of both the Canadian and U.S. bearded collie clubs, said yesterday.
"But these breeds are definitely not for everybody. They are a major commitment."
Such pleas have been issued before by animal groups, especially since Disney's live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians in 1997 triggered an unprecedented surge of interest in the species.
According to a study by the American Kennel Club, more than 100,000 Dalmatians were purchased in the United States in the year after the movie's release, many of them bought impulsively from unscrupulous breeders.
In the years since, popularity spikes have been recorded for other breeds, including chihuahuas, pugs, Jack Russell terriers, St. Bernards, golden retrievers and Siberian huskies.
Many of these purchases were made without much knowledge of a breed's high-maintenance characteristics, said Ann Midgley of Ottawa, a director of the Bearded Collie Club of Canada. Many dogs ended up in animal shelters.
The latest plea for people to keep their pet-buying impulses on a short leash was triggered by the popularity of two new Disney movies featuring dogs, both among the Top 10 grossing movies of the weekend across North America.
In The Shaggy Dog, a remake of the 1959 film, actor Tim Allen's character is transformed into the family's spunky bearded collie. Eight Below is the story of a team of Siberian huskies rescued from Antarctica's bone-chilling cold.
Although neither movie has yet set off an upswing of interest in either breed, dog groups say it's only a matter of time.
"It always takes a while for the seedy breeders to get into gear," says Alexis Hahn, a New Jersey dog lover who helped start Recycled Russells, a North America-wide organization that finds homes for unwanted Jack Russell terriers, a breed made popular by the television show Frasier.
"Every time Hollywood makes a movie about dogs, some breed gets hurt."
Because it often costs as much as $1,000 to buy a purebred dog from an accredited breeder, "backyard breeders" and puppy mills spring into action to supply the demand for popular breeds.
They sell the dogs for as little as $150 or $200, often mass-producing puppies of questionable lineage in appalling conditions.
Dogs bred in puppy mills often develop personality defects and ailments, including hip dysplasia, bad backs and internal parasites, which can make the animals unsuitable as house pets.
Even healthy animals are often not a good fit for a family unfamiliar with a breed's characteristics and needs.
The long-haired bearded collie, for instance, requires extensive grooming as well as at least one long walk every day, Ms. Murray said.
"I have a 14-year-old dog who needs to run free for an hour every day," Ms. Midgley added. "Beardies are very intelligent and loving, but they are a lot of work."
And while Siberian huskies might be every bit as intelligent and self-sufficient in real life as they are in Eight Below, they don't make ideal city pets.
"I won't even look at anyone who hasn't thoroughly researched these dogs before they come to my place," said breeder Roger Walker, owner of Ottawa's KeeKeWa Siberians, which supplied eight dogs to the TV series Due South and another for Disney's 2002 movie Snow Dogs.
I would caption Charlie's picture:
"Will you bring me a cup of cocoa?"
LOL, I think when I was taking that his attitude would have been: 'What on earth are you doing to me now??'
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