I have always wondered how the judges at dog shows are able to choose the winning dog (every dog seems worthy) or what even makes one dog “better” than another. In fact I have always been suspicious of the merits of these dog shows and from my admittedly untrained perspectively they have always seemed wholly subjective, without any real defined evaluation criteria, and just a bunch of nonsense.
With that said a few weeks ago my views were slightly vindicated when while surfing late night television I happened upon the documentary, BBC’s Pedigree Dogs Exposed, which detailed the devastating effect that “show” dog breeders have on their respective breeds. This documentary uncovers the health issues created by the breeding practices used to achieve so-called “breed standards,” and further details how the breed standards do not exist to further the best interests of the heath of the dogs.
In fact these breed standards are created without any consideration for the health of the breed and have effectively created “frankendogs” thatare not capable of their intended doggy purpose of just merely a 100 years ago. For instance, the show/pedigree bull dog can only make it around the show floor a couple of times before complete exhaustion sets in, let alone perform any other sporting purpose. Seemingly, these pedigree dogs have had the “doggy” bred out of them.
Without providing any further comment here, I invite you to watch the documentary yourself – it is available on YouTube, or you can check your local listings.
http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/292/pedigree-dogs-exposed.jsp (Official BBC America Site)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_Dogs_Exposed (Wikipedia Site for more information)