You personalized my comment, and I didn’t mean it personally for you. I think you and I are friends. I was simply making some comments. We don’t have to agree on this (and probably aren’t ever going to). Things are different in different breeds (I have a very popular breed and I used to have a very rare breed and keep up with that one still through friends and in fact run an email list for it still). Things are rarely black and white, they are generally pretty gray.
I had a friend in dobies, but it’s not a breed I’m intimately familiar with. Getting popular is never a good thing for a breed as it brings in new people who don’t take the time to learn about them before they are breeding and even winning and become what my husband calls “Instant Experts” and unfortunately they can exert a lot of influence on the breed if they happen to do well. But, you can’t ever change things from the outside, except of course the way PeTA wants to change them. So, I’ve stayed involved.
BTW all of the people I know in dogs complain about declining breed health. I am not certain what accounts for it, we talk about it all the time. It could be genetics (I don’t discount this, some lines DO live longer) however, we also diagnose things better, we save dying puppies much more frequently to survive to adulthood, we don’t cull the weak ones and we keep track of our puppies and talk on the internet. I don’t have an answer. I wish all dogs lived to be at least 15, and were perfect, outstanding examples of whatever the person who had them wanted them to be. But that has never been the case. And never will be.
One thing is certain. You and I both love dogs. :)
>One thing is certain. You and I both love dogs. :)<
Here here.
It’s frustrating to read this thread, because of course there are problems. Are we seeing problems because the gene pools of even popular breeds are declining due to the “popular sire” syndrome? Could gene pools be shrinking because we no longer have the luxury of keeping large numbers of dogs, like the large show kennel owners of the last century did? Are we simply seeing the effects of too much vaccination or pollution in dog food?
That said, painting an entire group of people who have essentially devoted their lives to their love of dog-oriented sports is a bit excessive in my view (and I’m not singling you out, Sal).