When Success Matters

8 Replies to “When Success Matters”

1. I’m sure the Humane Society will fight against any common sense such as this.
   It’s about the dogs…not the humans doncha know?

2. Some breeds are highly suitable for certain jobs and also seldom turn up in shelters. Golden Retrievers and Samoyeds have a high rate of success as Therapy Dogs (my area of expertise) and they are rarely dumped at shelters; if they need new homes there are breed specific rescue organizations. The big advantage to identifying specific breeds for specific jobs is that while dogs have individual personalities, they do have common traits of the breed and known health risks (cancer in Goldens for example). Of my ten lifetime dogs, one came from a shelter but five are/were “rehomings”. A nice, rational article.

3. Racists! Dogs are all the same; we need a state mandated education program to ensure they can all achieve the same success.

4. Walter F…don’t be silly, every one knows BLACK dogs are more equal!!!!

5. The reasons why the “rescue” dogs won’t work as service dogs is similar to why ghetto people seldom make very good tradesmen, if you can pry them away from their laid-back lifestyle.
   It’s about temperament.

6. Rescued dogs don’t make good service dogs? Not true.
   Ever since I rescued my Great Glengarry Moosehound, Jerome, he’s been servicing everything he can find.

7. Some are smarter than others-
   http://www.eonline.com/news/497886/watch-the-smartest-dog-in-the-world-steal-chicken-nuggets?cmpid=par-121113-outbrain-paid-links

8. All polite, fair, reasoned responses. Kudos. However, the possible negatives of purebreds were never addressed. Also, “responsible breeding” was never defined. Our dogs are and were mutts, from shelters. Compared to 9/10 of the other dogs we meet, say, at the dog park, ours tended to be friendlier, healthier, stronger, smarter, had better stamina, were longer-lived, were more adaptable, had NO breed-specific health problems, and got along well with other animals, including humans. Not bad for “mutts”, though they would not be perfectly suited as guide dogs. We’ve come to the conclusion that either a)there really is some truth to the “hybrid vigor” hypothesis, or, b)many purebreds are way, way too inbred for their own good. So naturally my question to the breeders is, “besides x-raying hips and so forth, what precautions have you taken to avoid excessive in-breeding, with all its potential negative effects?” BTW, there do exist some functional “breeds” where dogs are bred NOT for a certain appearance, but solely for being good at what they do (such as the “American sled dog”, which may or may not look like a husky, or lab, or something else, but they ALL sure as hell love to run and pull. They are frequently out-crossed, which would horrify many “purist” pure-breeders). Maybe someday we will finally get to the point where we stop breeding monstrously unfit and unhealthy animals, and breed for what we NEED, whether that is a “for-a-particular type-of-work-dog, or simply a family companion. One can only hope.