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 Every once in a while, when I have nothing to write about, I ask someone in a desperate attempt to unblock my writing juices to give me a random topic. Elle Marie happened to be tonight’s lucky contestant, and she wanted me to write about the Spinone.
Now, I’m not exactly a big animal lover. Doesn’t mean I hate them, I just don’t have an attraction or need to have a pet in my life. Heather’s mom’s family has three cats. One of them has five toes, and pretty much acknowledges either me or our son as his owner, much like a dog does. If I were to ever decide that a pet is in my future, it would have to be our five-toed freak, because it’s the only cat I’ve been around that doesn’t send me into all kinds of hives.
I don’t see why I would want a purebred dog like a Spinone.
I don’t get it really, why people try to breed animals to “perfection.” You know what we call people that breed within bloodlines? West Virginian.
Seriously, why do people care so much to make the perfect animal? The last time someone tried to do that, it ended up with World War II.
There are some people I know that are animal advocates, like my friend Britt. I asked her what she thought, because she’s one of the biggest animal lovers I know, and she was like, “I understand the need of it to keep specific breeds going, but I think it really ought to be left to very restricted and continuously-monitored breeders.”
“There are too many random people breeding for profit,” she added, “and then a whole slew of puppy mills and backyard breeders.. and they breed merely for profit and not for the breed, so you end up with hideous genetic health issues and bad temperaments.”
So how do you tell when they are breeding for a breed instead of breeding for the buck? Britt says, “anyone breeding for the breed has been doing it for several years,” explaining they very specifically select their animals for breeding, is very informative, shows their dogs and typically wins, and tend to breed rarely. “When they do, the litter is usually spoken for before its born.”
Isn’t that how the Royal Family is divided up?
In all seriousness, genetics and science and the way we develop is all based on the fact that our DNA weeds out the good stuff and the bad stuff, then sorts everything up so that we hopefully get the best of both our parents. But when you have small villages inbreeding people left and right, the recessive genes become dominant genes only because there isn’t much out there in the gene pool, and that’s how you have people with all kinds of sickness and birth defects.
The same goes in animals, as a purebred animal can be “perfect,” it can also be quite the sickly lil’ dog. “The most healthy dog you can get is a mutt,” says Britt. “A mixed breed tends to retain only the heartier health aspects and weeds out the traditional genetic defects common to their purebred halves.”
So if you want to spend a couple of thousand dollars on a purebred animal, go for it. I’ll be happy with our street-ridden five-toed wonder, Frodo, the coolest cat alive.
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