A Research On Genetic Fitness

For the past couple centuries, dogs have been a large part of human everyday life. We use them as pets, friends, helping hands (paws), etc.; they’ve become an essential part of our lives and we don’t mind that. With a total of 525 million dogs in the world (as of 2012), people have responsibilities of caring for another living creature everywhere. When it comes to picking one of these companions that we know will only be around for a little over a decade (about a tenth of our lives!), people can get very curious about the differences between mixed dog breeds and purebred dogs. While there are quite a number of differences between mixed and purebred, it’s up to dog owners to care accordingly and know what these differences truly mean.

Dog breeding is dangerous because to make a perfect dog they too often inbreed and cause birth defects and other health issues in dogs. Terry Allen, an “In These Times” senior editor who has written the magazine’s monthly investigative health and science column since 2006, argues in “We’re Breeding Dogs to Death” that “neither price, pedigree nor being loved like a member of the family can shield a dog from the pain, breathing difficulties, cancer, panoply of debilitating genetic disorders, mental illness, crippling physiognomy and shortened life span that disproportionately plague purebreds.” The article “Selective Breeding or Artificial Selection” explains that in dogs, the “frequency of being homozygous for rare recessive disorders increases when inbreeding occurs, potentially causing severe

So we should treat all dogs like they are our best friends. We shouldn’t allow the abuse of dogs in puppy mills in our country. Dogs in puppy mills are physically and mentally abused on a daily basis in puppy mills. Confining humans into small rooms in which the sit in their urine and feces is abuse and illegal. It can land someone in prison for years. Confining dogs in small cages in which they sit in their own feces is abuse and is illegal in some states. Unfortunately, it can only land the breeder with a fine and the breeder can continue to abuse the dogs. There aren’t any stories about women being forced to have babies back to back until they can’t produce anymore and then they are either killed or left for dead. There aren’t any stories on this because it’s slavery and is illegal. Swap out the women in this story and put in female dogs. It’s now no longer considered slavery and is legal. The United states allows puppy mills to still stand tall in our country. It is shameful that these inhumane puppy mills get away with so much abuse. The USDA has implemented laws against puppy mills but don’t enforce the laws with stronger consequences. So puppy mills just pay fines on abusing their dogs. The fact that the laws don’t help shows that we need a bigger solution. The United States needs to ban puppy mills for the abuse they inflicted on dogs. All dogs deserve to have freedom to run around, socialize, and play. Dogs are not our slaves. They are

A quote once said by Frederick the Great states; “A dog is a man’s best friend.” There are millions of dog lovers across the world, I’m speaking to many in this class right now, so dog lovers, have you ever thought about this? Imagine walking into a pet store and looking around at all the different kinds of animals, and then your eyes are set on the dogs. You just can’t decide what one you want. One of the main key facts about choosing the right dog is considering where it is raised and many dog owners don’t. Some of the dogs could have been raised in a puppy mill. Puppy mills are a problem in the U.S today. And the problem with puppy mills is the effect they have on the dog itself and even the owner.

English bulldogs are no longer a fit healthy dog, and people are now saying that there is no such thing as a healthy bulldog and their poor health and survival is a result from selective breeding. English bulldogs suffer from almost every possible disease. A 2004 survey by the Kennel Club found that these dogs die on average at an unfortunate age of 6.25 years. Over the years the English bulldog’s physical traits have been breed to the extreme. Their faces have become flatter, the legs have shortened, head is larger and the well-known under bite has grown as seen in Fig.1. Although these traits seem to look ‘cute’ or ‘desirable’ to humans it is having a massive effect on the dog. The shortness and shape of the English bulldog today means that

One reason is that the ¨Dogs suffer rather than give up beloved pets, owners of highly regulated or banned breeds avoid detection by restricting their dogs’ outdoor exercise and socialization¨ ( Breed-Specific) .However, the problem of dangerous dogs will not be remedied by the “quick fix” of breed-specific laws.

Dogs can fail for a variety of reasons. As you might guess, some dogs don’t transition well from living in a puppy raiser’s home to living in kennels and others just get stressed out and fail. The puppy raiser gets the option of keeping a dog that failed. If the puppy raiser can’t keep the dog they can place it in a home. Waiting lists for such dogs are usually several years long! (Moore,

Puppy mills have been notorious for keeping the puppy trade industry alive and as big as it is today. With thousands of puppy mills, both known and under the radar, they provide easy access and cheap puppies to sell at pet stores at inflated prices. While they do keep the business booming and keep pure breeds that may specialize in important roles, they continue to put countless numbers of dogs through terrifying pain. To stop the agonizing torture the lovable pups go through, stricter rules must be applied to these puppy mills, a new license regulation must be used, regular inspections, and awareness of alternative options must be made.

Cook county recently released a new ordinance prohibiting pet stores from selling dogs, dogs that were born in puppy mills. There has been speculation in the Chicago-land area of store-bought pets were acquiring diseases early in their life. In a report from Mrs. Bagby’s 8th graders, 89% of students know someone who has had a dog or cat from a mill. A numerous about This ordinance came after affect from countless complaints that pets are obtaining diseases and dying within weeks of adoption. Julie Wellisch, whose dog was raised in a puppy mill, stated that “My dog has seen diseases within weeks of coming out of the puppy mills. Coincidence? Studies show otherwise. Evidence shows that dogs from puppy mills are more susceptible to disease than

I feel that as long as animal shelters are euthanizing animals due to lack of space, there should not be any breeders profiting from creating more animals. The aspect I do agree with is the difference between backyard breeders and reputable breeders. The most important being that a reputable breeder will have a buyer sign something stating that they will not relinquish the puppy to a shelter. They agree to return the animal to the breeder themselves. Reputable breeders also check the bloodlines of the parents before they mate them. They make sure both parents are sociable animals free from genetic mutations. I do not feel that purebred puppies make the best pets. Purebred puppies are predisposed to every health issue known to their breed. For example, my family owned a purebred Akita, she was the most loyal dog and was amazingly behaved. She also suffered in the end of her life from almost every ailment known to her breed. She began having seizures, went bling and developed hip dysplasia. Mixed breeds are stronger and live healthier

All around the world, dogs suffer daily from not just their owners, but from their own bodies. Inbreeding and extreme breed standards lower the quality of life for purebred dogs (Rooney and Sargan). Puppy mills, despite government crackdown, continue to operate and sell ill, disfigured dogs (Solotaroff). Breeding purebred dogs only for profit and not for the wellbeing of the dog, is unethical, because of puppy mills, dog defects due to this kind of breeding, and dog quality of life.

Humans and dogs have long shared a bond that was based on function. Early dogs that were the least valuable and useful did not make it into today’s time. On the other hand, the most valuable and helpful of dogs remained and created others like them. Ultimately, breed predecessors were produced by breeding the best hunters to the best hunters and the best guards to the best

ASPCA (n.d.) shows that 21 states only make dog breeders follow the Animal Welfare Act from 1966 that allows dogs to be kept in cages for their full life. In the pet store you will normally purchase a dog certified by the American Kennel Club (AKC); according to Friends of Animals, the AKC does not inspect the kennels where the dogs are bred, and “80% of the AKC’s business” (2013, para. 17) comes from pet stores. Friends of Animals posted that “the AKC registered 917,247 puppies in 2003 at a cost of $25 per puppy” (2013, para. 17). Not all breeders are bad: as explained by Dakss (2005), there are good breeders in America, so what prospective pet buyers need to do is to find them. A good dog breeder will meet with you in person and allow you to look at the kennel areas. The kennel area should be clean and smell satisfactory? Talk to the local veterinarian and ask about the history of the breeder’s dogs. Things like this can separate a good breeder from a bad one. Some cities have taken further action to help reduce the number

A puppy mill is a large-scale commercial dog breeding facility where profit matters more than the well-being of the dogs. They disregard the dogs’ health both physical and emotional just to make as much profit as possible. Puppy mills contain hundreds to thousands of dogs in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without adequate veterinary care, food, water or socialization. These animals are stacked in small cages with wire flooring to make waste easier to clean up. Due to the poor living conditions, these poor innocent animals often injure their paws and legs, lose limbs, contract diseases and parasites which cause deafness, blindness, respiratory disorders, skin diseases like mange caused by parasitic mites which causes severe itching,

Those puppies not only miss out on the most important social learning skills, but also have inherited medical conditions due to the close genetic breeding.