Ten Things I Will Never Understand

There are some things I will never understand. Here are ten of them:

1. Why do people think a dog can be judged in the show ring?
   Do folks think a beauty pageant is how you find a friend, an employee, an athlete, or a paragon of genetic health?



2. Why is breeding dogs a "sport"?
   Is star-gazing a sport? How about stamp collecting? Crochet? Nintendo? Writing?



3. Why do people think poodles were once found in the wild?
   Has it escaped their notice that feral dogs do not devolve to wolves? It is too much to think that a dog might simply be a dog, just as a coyote is a coyote, and a pigeon is a pigeon?



4. Why do some people think the natural diet of dogs is frozen chicken and cubed beef?
   Are they unaware that the "natural diet" of the dog is rotten food on a garbage heap? Do they not know that the preferred diet of the wolf is the torn rectum of a sick and dying animal? Have they not seen their own dogs delight in eating green grass and excrement? Is it too shocking an idea that bagged kibble might be fine?



5. Why do so many people buy carefully bred hunting dogs, and then not hunt them?
   Do these people buy expensive wines in order to read the labels? Do they buy racing cars to park them in the driveway?



6. Why do some people inbreed dogs in order to express genetic defects?
   Are these folks having children with their siblings in order to see if their own family carries the genes for diabetes, epilepsy, cancer, or hemophilia?



7. Why is a lap dog invented in 1863 called an "important breed," while today's cross bred is described as "just another designer mutt"?
   Do people really believe the potted histories printed in all-breed books? Do they not know that dog dealers have always been with us?



8. Why is a suburban rosette chaser a "canine hobbyist" but everyone else is a "backyard breeder?"
   When push comes to shove, how many of either group health tests their dogs, works their dogs, and tracks the health and work history of their progeny over multiple generations?



9. Why do people ignore the emotional needs of animals?
   How is it OK to keep dogs in Kennels or cages for weeks on end without letting them out? Convicted murderers get more yard time that many of the dogs found in large kennels.



10. Why do Kennel Club breeders think anyone should listen to them?
    Their animals are not healthier than random-bred dogs, and almost no Kennel Club dog can be found at the race track, on the farm, in the field, or pulling a sled. So why is anyone listening to them?