WATCH THE NEW VIDEO: "How we improved dogs". It's my new, better attempt at the same thing.
This video took me about three days to make, and I feel I had to do it.
Now, I'm not bashing any breed or dog here, I'm "bashing" the people who own and breed them to be this way.
About the Shar-Pei eye tacking - yes I know it is TACKING, but a one-letter-mistake in a 9-minute video when English is not my native language, I think is quite acceptable.
Oh and about the Afghan hound - I don't know how many times I've got the complaint "That's not an Afghan, that's a SALUKI!", but no, it is an Afghan, and here is the proof:
smg.photobucket.com/user/Pieto...
www.afghanhoundtimes.com/shahz...
The breeds I found pictures of but that didn't make it were the Boxer, Borzoi, Bearded Collie, Dogue de Bordeaux, Dachshund and Irish Setter. Then of course MANY more breeds have changed for the worse, but perhaps I couldn't find a good "before" picture.
And I didn't have more time in the video, anyway, which is why I had to cut a few breeds out, and it still became rushed.
About the "disease-texts" - I know they are just flying by but they are more to prove a point than meant to be read completely. If you want to really read them, then pause the video.
The sources? Books, Kennel Club homepages, breed-specific sites (written by people who really know the breeds)...
Like I said, I have nothing against ANY dog breed.
Just some of the people who own and breed them.
Basset Hound - Awful, and just more of the bad excuses of the show breeders. "They have that skin so they can turn more easily in the bushes" - right... "They have skin folds over their eyes and ears long enough to step on so they should only focus on their sense of smell" - right...
Chow Chow - There's no justification for breeding a dog like that. Where are the eyes? Why the exaggerated coat (which puts some dogs into heat stroke)? Why the straight hind legs?
Shar-Pei - One sad story. Take a look at the Thai Ridgeback Dog - then look at the traditional Shar-Pei. Look at the TRD's puppies - they look like Shar-Pei almost, don't they?
Those are the wrinkles people exaggerated because they wanted their dogs wrinkly as adults too.
AT LEAST 40-50% of SP puppies has to have their eyes "tacked", meaning, sewn and attached to the skin of the forehead or neck, to avoid them getting really bad entropion at a very young age.
How can anyone justify this?
Pekingese - Now... what does the standard say... Oh, yes. "Nose: Not too short", "Muzzle: Must be evident, but may be relatively short", "Hair: Moderately long", "Length and volume of coat should neither impair the activity of the dog nor obscure the shapeliness of body. Excessive coat must be heavily penalised."
Can the Pekingese judges and breeders read?
Mastino Napoletano: What a beautiful dog this was. I say this as an owner of one of the original mastiff breeds, and I would love to have a Mastino, had they existed like they were sixty years ago.
Basically all molossers can trace their heritage back to the roman arenas, but no molosser has owners more keen to illustrate this heritage than the Mastino.
And no other molosser has evolved away from that heritage more than the Mastino. They are but a shadow of their past.
English Bulldog - Probably the dog farthest away from the original shape, of all the breeds on this Earth. Don't get me wrong, some look fairly good, not all are horribly sick, but seriously... as long as dogs with grotesque, oversized heads, narrow hips, horrible hip dysplasia, heart diseases, noses at most one centimeter long, and airways so tight and deformed they constantly snore and struggle to breathe are awarded at dog shows - I see no hope for this breed.
How anyone can breed animals who can barely move freely, breathe freely and mate and give birth without insemination and C-section with their conscience intact is beyond me.
This is animal cruelty.
Animal cruelty which is completely legal, and even supported by lots and lots of people.
I'm going to get even more harsh and say - dog fighting. That's a horrible practice that puts millions of dogs into horrible pain every year.
This is not much better.
Now, like I said in the video, not all of these dogs are sick, and not all of the "good" examples are healthy, definitely not. But - and this is also why I finished the video with a picture of a wolf - the wolf's shape is how nature decided this species is to be constructed.
You can move away from that shape somewhat without it causing any harm, but the farther away from the original shape you go, the higher the cost will be - for the dogs.
There are no excuses for this.