Same for my parents I guess.
I didn’t know the phrase “free whelping” until I was reading about some pure breed that was known for being able to give birth without medical intervention, on account of there are some breeds in which it’s fairly common to need C-sections. Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure that being able to give birth unaided ought to be a baseline of health for any goddamn dog in the fucking world.
That’s not even a baseline of health for people, though
Like I get what you’re saying, but if “able to give birth naturally without complications” is your base line of health for what should be allowed to exist, like a third of human women would not be included in that.
Humans are almost unique in the animal kingdom in needing C-sections, due to our overdeveloped brains being almost, and occasionally slightly, too big for our birth canals.
Wolves and most functional dog breeds give birth with no issue at all.
It’s mostly bulldogs and other wide-headed breeds that need assistance, which sounds to me like breeders going way too far on the wide head / narrow hips route of trait selection.
Yeah, if humans were quadrupeds with small heads you could deliver while walking.
Ohh, get that, would you, Deirdre?
Inbreeding dogs should be illegal. If you breed dogs (or cats/other pets), you should be required to submit proof that the parents are genetically far enough apart.
Responsible breeders do. The rest are puppy/kitten mills. We have a ragdoll style cat, for instance, and it has 5 generations of family tree (with reg numbers) in its documentation and contract.
Yeah, my point is puppy/kitten mills should be criminalized under animal cruelty laws, like dog fighting is. Conceptually they’re not that dissimilar: both activities intentionally cause animal suffering for the express purpose of making as much profit as possible.
There is indeed a law to handle animal cruelty in the form of neglect. The SPCA used to perform the investigations in this region, as Special Constables, and bring in the regular constables if there was a case.
Now with 17 different “lost pet” sites sapping donations and awareness from a consolidated shelter setup, any chance of a trained SpC getting onsite to investigate is kinda impossible.
Thanks, rando lost-pet sites!
If you breed dogs (or cats/other pets), you should be required to submit proof that the parents are genetically far enough apart
If you’re deadset on a specific breed of dog that isn’t usually at shelters, make sure the breeder is an AKC member for this very reason.
Dogs in the left still exist.
In my area in the Alps the “patou” are regularly fighting wolves to protect their sheep.
To be fair, I also changed my food, and I also now have diarrhea.
You chose this, just like I did and will continue to do so
The dogs did not
Do you have chicken for dinner with him now?
over at the university of ah… a science.
Yeah this selective breeding to the point where an animals suffers from it needs to become illegal. Birds who have osteoporosis because they lay an egg every day, dogs that can’t breathe because their noses are flat, cows who can barely walk because of how much meat they’re carrying on their bones, cows who are in pain if they’re not milked daily, sheep whose own hair is so heavy it causes them pain, dogs with hip dysplasia because their leg to spine ratio is off. It’s all cruelty for the sake of humans fulfilling their desires. And it’s so sad to see.
Same with the cats with short paws. Some of them barely can move, it’s no different from mutilation.
But it’s so cute how it breathes like it’s constantly struggling for air!
Should’ve used a pug on the right side. They’re not cute, they’re not funny, they’re the current apex of “pointless, disease-ridden breed”.
Yeah aren’t Maltese a pretty healthy breed of dog? (I think thats what that dog is) Inbreeding obviously fucks that up but definitely not a bad breed of dog. I know they have pretty long lifespans.
