I find the concept of breeders very intuitively icky. But if we are going to continue to live with dogs (and there’s no reason to think that will stop anytime soon) they need to come from somewhere. Where? Assuming you don’t have a feral dog community, which most places don’t want to have.
And doesn’t it seem better to be able to get a small dog that’ll be happy in an apartment without a lot of space to run around if that’s where you find yourself? I’ve seen situations of dogs that are obviously mismatched to their environment and it is miserable. I don’t see the whole “breeder” concept would be needed if people would be flexible about the exact details of what they end up with.
Over the years I try to stop judging people who have those expensive dogs. I figure it’s like being religious or something; I’ll never really understand but apparently the good outweighs the bad for them. If I were in charge I’d ban dog breeders and religion on the first day and then whoever wanted to get unbanned would have to explain why their project is not bad and be subject to committee oversight in implementation.
This just goes back to my first sentence. People won’t like this, but from an animal rights perspective, the desire for pets to the extent that we are okay with the continuation of animal breeding is selfish. Some people are more noble and adopt dogs because they like to take care of them and have their companionship, but again, dogs are not a need. They are a want.
At best, people want dogs because they like dogs and think they’re cute and fun. Continuing the inherently cruel practice of dog breeding going because we want cute and fun animals to live with us is an example of speciesism.
The ideal outcome is that all currently existing shelter and feral dogs are cared for, then there are no more domestic dogs. There are only wolves and feral dogs who again have a more communal relationship with humans to the extent that if they invite themselves to live in people’s houses or hang out at the corner store, we should accommodate them as best we can with shelter, healthcare, etc.
I find the concept of breeders very intuitively icky. But if we are going to continue to live with dogs (and there’s no reason to think that will stop anytime soon) they need to come from somewhere. Where? Assuming you don’t have a feral dog community, which most places don’t want to have.
And doesn’t it seem better to be able to get a small dog that’ll be happy in an apartment without a lot of space to run around if that’s where you find yourself? I’ve seen situations of dogs that are obviously mismatched to their environment and it is miserable. I don’t see the whole “breeder” concept would be needed if people would be flexible about the exact details of what they end up with.
Over the years I try to stop judging people who have those expensive dogs. I figure it’s like being religious or something; I’ll never really understand but apparently the good outweighs the bad for them. If I were in charge I’d ban dog breeders and religion on the first day and then whoever wanted to get unbanned would have to explain why their project is not bad and be subject to committee oversight in implementation.
This just goes back to my first sentence. People won’t like this, but from an animal rights perspective, the desire for pets to the extent that we are okay with the continuation of animal breeding is selfish. Some people are more noble and adopt dogs because they like to take care of them and have their companionship, but again, dogs are not a need. They are a want.
At best, people want dogs because they like dogs and think they’re cute and fun. Continuing the inherently cruel practice of dog breeding going because we want cute and fun animals to live with us is an example of speciesism.
The ideal outcome is that all currently existing shelter and feral dogs are cared for, then there are no more domestic dogs. There are only wolves and feral dogs who again have a more communal relationship with humans to the extent that if they invite themselves to live in people’s houses or hang out at the corner store, we should accommodate them as best we can with shelter, healthcare, etc.