Monday, March 27, 2006
A Hint for Dog Lovers
One of the local LA news stations has been flogging a story over the last few months about illegal puppy mills, and people buying supposedly purebred puppies on street corners for a fraction of their pet store cost, only to have the puppies die of congenital or genetic conditions. The bargain shoppers are paying maybe $450 for a dog; others are paying $3,000 or more, depending on breed.
Here's my bit of advice. You can get a dog in LA for $86, which includes spaying or neutering, vaccination, ID chip, first year's license and optional veterinary examination. Chances are, that dog won't have any inbred conditions, because it'll be a mutt made up of various breeds. And before you put down "mutts" and go off on the delusion that dogs are status accessories, let me remind you of this comparison: we have purebred humans. They're called "royalty", and they're generally fucked-up, subject to all kinds of physical maladies, and frequently insane. Probably the only reason that at least one of the heirs to the British throne isn't a total whackjob is that his father married far enough out of the immediate family to pull in some useful genes.
Hint -- these two are cousins...
That's Tsar Nicholas II of Russia on the left and King George V of England on the right. I think they were the inspiration for the Patty Duke show. Also, living proof that the Windsors/Wettins/Saxe-Coburg Gothas didn't swim too far out of the ol' gene pool.
Anyway, all this puppy mill crap could be avoided and lots of wonderful, loving dogs would be rescued and find good homes if people would just go to the city animal shelters instead of trying to impress because they own a purebred, AKC, pedigreed whatever. Dogs are not trophies. They're family.
I've got two of them. Both came from the LA City Shelters. Neither of them could be more wonderful. Both of them are incredibly healthy and happy. And neither of them is some little fluffy, yappy, hyper hamster-dog with OCD and an IQ of 2. Which is what most puppy mill dogs seem to be in the first place.
End public service announcement.
Here's my bit of advice. You can get a dog in LA for $86, which includes spaying or neutering, vaccination, ID chip, first year's license and optional veterinary examination. Chances are, that dog won't have any inbred conditions, because it'll be a mutt made up of various breeds. And before you put down "mutts" and go off on the delusion that dogs are status accessories, let me remind you of this comparison: we have purebred humans. They're called "royalty", and they're generally fucked-up, subject to all kinds of physical maladies, and frequently insane. Probably the only reason that at least one of the heirs to the British throne isn't a total whackjob is that his father married far enough out of the immediate family to pull in some useful genes.
Hint -- these two are cousins...
That's Tsar Nicholas II of Russia on the left and King George V of England on the right. I think they were the inspiration for the Patty Duke show. Also, living proof that the Windsors/Wettins/Saxe-Coburg Gothas didn't swim too far out of the ol' gene pool.
Anyway, all this puppy mill crap could be avoided and lots of wonderful, loving dogs would be rescued and find good homes if people would just go to the city animal shelters instead of trying to impress because they own a purebred, AKC, pedigreed whatever. Dogs are not trophies. They're family.
I've got two of them. Both came from the LA City Shelters. Neither of them could be more wonderful. Both of them are incredibly healthy and happy. And neither of them is some little fluffy, yappy, hyper hamster-dog with OCD and an IQ of 2. Which is what most puppy mill dogs seem to be in the first place.
End public service announcement.
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