Author Susan Orlean has written a piece about German Shepherds for The New York Times, but the piece glosses over one of the important reasons the German Shepherd has gone into the shitter.
She blames puppy mills and popularity, not contrived Kennel Club conformation standards and judging, or the failure of the Kennel Club to mandate performance standards to win a championship, or the inbreeding required when a small pool of dogs is brought into a closed registry system.
Having presented us with a half-baked cake, Ms. Orlean proceeds to ice it with a little sugary froth:
"Bad breeding is bad for everyone, and in recent years the American Kennel Club, among other organizations, has done its best to discourage it, and to encourage adoption from shelters, which have, unfortunately, an oversupply of abandoned purebred dogs."
What? Nonsense!
The AKC is fully in bed with the puppy mills and pet shops, and even cranks out special registration deals for them.
And the American Kennel Club is encouraging people to adopt shelter dogs? Nonsense again! The Kennel Club is only encouraging people to buy dogs they can make money off of, and those are registered dogs from anywhere (including and especially pet shops and puppy mills), not the mutts and dogs without papers to be found down at the pound.
And the American Kennel Club is encouraging people to adopt shelter dogs? Nonsense again! The Kennel Club is only encouraging people to buy dogs they can make money off of, and those are registered dogs from anywhere (including and especially pet shops and puppy mills), not the mutts and dogs without papers to be found down at the pound.
The back story here is that we have one more author who has written a book (this time about Rin Tin Tin, see end note to this piece), and she no doubt hopes for a little plumping from the AKC and/or dedicated German Shepherd owners.
At the very least she does not want to piss them off by telling the truth, which is that this breed was destroyed by Kennel Club pretenders and their show ring affectations.
Now, here's the ironic part: Ms. Orlean has made the same Deal with the Devil that nearly everyone does in the world of dogs.
Book authors do not want to park the blame for deformity in front of the Kennel Club's bizarre standards and judging protocols for fear it will hurt book sales.
Veterinarians do not want to park the the blame for disease in front of the Kennel Club's closed bizarre breeding pool requirement for fear it will curtail business.
Dog trainers do not want to park the blame for dysfunction in front of the Kennel Club's bizarre rejection of performance metrics for fear it will discourage referrals.
And what is the result?
The result is the lie that pedigree dogs are in trouble because of puppy mills or "backyard breeder."
In fact, pedigree dogs are in trouble because authors, breeders, veterinarians and dog trainers are loathe to tell the truth!
Instead of parking the blame where it needs to be parked, they whistle past the problem.
_ _ _ _ _
End note added three weeks later: The book is not the oped . The book is better than fine, and does not stray on to the cracked ice that the op-ed does. Susan Orlean's book is written a straight forward account of what happened to the original Rin Tin Tin and the replacesment and bogus ones that followed. It is an interesting tale worth the read! Buy the book, skip the op-ed!
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At the very least she does not want to piss them off by telling the truth, which is that this breed was destroyed by Kennel Club pretenders and their show ring affectations.
Now, here's the ironic part: Ms. Orlean has made the same Deal with the Devil that nearly everyone does in the world of dogs.
Book authors do not want to park the blame for deformity in front of the Kennel Club's bizarre standards and judging protocols for fear it will hurt book sales.
Veterinarians do not want to park the the blame for disease in front of the Kennel Club's closed bizarre breeding pool requirement for fear it will curtail business.
Dog trainers do not want to park the blame for dysfunction in front of the Kennel Club's bizarre rejection of performance metrics for fear it will discourage referrals.
And what is the result?
The result is the lie that pedigree dogs are in trouble because of puppy mills or "backyard breeder."
In fact, pedigree dogs are in trouble because authors, breeders, veterinarians and dog trainers are loathe to tell the truth!
Instead of parking the blame where it needs to be parked, they whistle past the problem.
_ _ _ _ _
End note added three weeks later: The book is not the oped . The book is better than fine, and does not stray on to the cracked ice that the op-ed does. Susan Orlean's book is written a straight forward account of what happened to the original Rin Tin Tin and the replacesment and bogus ones that followed. It is an interesting tale worth the read! Buy the book, skip the op-ed!
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- Related Links:
** Let's Do to Horses What We Did to Shepherds
** The AKC Helps Sell Puppy Mill Dogs for Petland
** The Wrecked German Shepherds of Crufts
** A Battle of Britain in Which the Germans Must Win
** The G in GSD Stands for Gimp
** Shitzhund Work at the AKC
** The Beam in the Eye of Kennel Club Breeders
** Making and Breaking Dogs In the Show Ring
** All at Sea at the AKC
** A Short History of Dog Training
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