Reading through this, I was kind of annoyed that the author hinted at the fact that today's English bull dog was a bull baiter ("But they didn’t quite look like the jowly little gremlins waddling around the world today. Can you imagine any bulldog you’ve ever met taking on a bull?"). While in fact bull dogs were much more like today's American bull dogs. Further down, there's a picture of an English bulldog with the caption "An American bulldog named 'Spike'."[1]<p>I find it curious that an article about dog breeds incorrectly identifies an English bulldog as an American bulldog. A simple google search of the two breeds shows the very clear differences.<p>1. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/13829224774/in/photolist-8UQVVH-8LXY33-4PdxXP-oUiF89-8rdeVc-8UU1eW-bVsgNW-8xVUh3-oso5br-4P9T7c-gGirxx-gGhK2p-4Pdy3H-4Pdy9T-6ED8NY-4Pdy76-6LcrRv-8rgn7b-8rdeTx-n53oHU-n51GLk-n51H8n-n51yCi-anD6XS-88DC3p-7iDf9j-7izk1Z-6U9ZNP-h4WWBV-8qongJ-8J3XjX-8eP3So-ctmiXj-4jMmtM-9vvEqP-5iVyse-ctmJxG-nRftRW-5eS3ps-4mYarR-WgfJM-jiGGyA-4t7x3C-514PZ-5edaCW-7SLx7C-qCQXh-6viK6J-4kLdXp-dU9ioW" rel="nofollow">https://www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/13829224774/in/photo...</a>
Strange that he mentions a 101 Dalmatians film in 1985. I can't remember that and wikipedia knows nothing about it:
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_and_One_Dalmatians_%28franchise%29" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_and_One_Dalmatians...</a><p>The 1961 film was actually rereleased in 1979. That fits better with my childhood memories.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSF3qlTNbOA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSF3qlTNbOA</a>
In some breeds you will still find breeders who, although they are breeding AKC registered dogs, are breeding for function rather than form. Retrievers are the obvious example - there are hunters who are using those dogs for their original purpose still and breeders looking to satisfy them. Unfortunately, in some breeds there is a divergence between "show lines" and "working lines", and a lot of judges are looking for traits that aren't really present in the "working lines" or much more exaggerated in the "show lines". This isn't so much a problem in the breed that I'm in - the dogs are bred just as much to excel in the lure coursing field these days (and, in Russia at least, for running down actual rabbits and other small game) as they are for the show ring. It might be that the breed's relative unpopularity is in some ways an asset - it's not found in either the top 10 or the bottom 50 breeds. Probably because keeping these dogs is not for the faint of heart.
Side note: the article contains quite a few language mistakes, mostly missing small words like "of" or "for":<p><i>>This is probably a side effect over breeding</i><p><i>>you can find plenty of dogs that were simply disappeared economic reasons</i><p>These mistakes are very easy to miss while scanning an article fast, as I (and presumably many other people) are nowadays wont to do with the enormous overload of information on the net.<p>I would not be surprised if these words would much less used in the middle-term future.
There's a v amusing sketch about Crufts and the rise of the dog show by John Finnemore:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG0BGqOKer8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG0BGqOKer8</a><p>I've tried to talk friends out of getting problem breeds such as bulldogs, considering so many dogs are left in shelters, but to no avail. To breed an animal to extinction for fashion is an extremely odd thing to do, when you think about it...
Dog breeds are a weird artifact. I don't view it as a bad thing that so many of these human-created breeds are going "extinct". Actually, they go pseudoextinct. The animals do fine, they interbreed with the general canine population and their descendants are mutts. If you've ever met a dog, they're quite OK with that. They have no concept of "breed" as far as we can tell and, if they do, they probably find mixed-breed animals more attractive (not that dogs are selective in that regard). We should be OK with it, too. Mutts live 2-3 years longer and are, unless you're after a specific aesthetic or breed profile, generally better dogs.<p>I wouldn't mind, honestly, if the practice of breeding animals for profit went extinct. We have too many good animals who are killed in shelters for no good reason. (We should stop that too, preferring TNR, but one issue at a time.) That's far more heartbreaking than the possibility that some weird-looking creature that wouldn't exist in nature and requires almost cruel human interventions (see: English Bulldogs, who now require C-sections) will not have descendants, or will have descendants of a more hybrid nature (pseudoextinction).<p>I think that dog breed is such a thing because of confirmation bias. So many people say, "oh, I got a French Bulldog and she's the sweetest thing ever" or "my Golden is smarter than I am" and I'm sure that they do have great dogs... but I have awesome cats and they're just regular mutt cats. As long as the animal is properly socialized, mixed-breed is best if you're just looking for a good pet.
PIT OF DESPAIR, Birmingham, Tuesday (UNN) — A South Somerset Atrocity Terrier named Soberhill Black Medik Markenbrow Beatrice Vraibleu has beaten 25,000 canine rivals to win Best of Show at this year's Crufts in Birmingham.<p>The event, held in the Gladiator Pit at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre, attracted more than 143,000 freak-show ghouls and failed concentration camp doctors.<p>Soberhill Black Medik Markenbrow Beatrice Vraibleu is owned by top breeder Diana Mosley-Mengele, 48, of Gloucestershire. "It is unbelievable. This dog has done so well. It is the greatest accolade you could wish for. We may have to think about retiring him now because there is nothing left for him to do. Of course, we can't breed from him, because the genitalia have been entirely bred out of the line in order to allow the extra legs to grow in."<p>Second place went to a one-year-old pit bull terrier called Thatcher, who, in a virtuoso display of the breed's skills, ate one of the judges.<p>Dog breeding in the UK is concerned with every detail of a dog's appearance. "The perpetual haemophiliac bleeding from the snout must trickle along approved lines," said Miss Mosley-Mengele. "In addition, the lifelong whimperings of pain must be pitched between 3000 and 5000 Hertz. I had to drown four bags of culls on this point in the last month alone."<p>Other events in the Arena yesterday included the Flyball Team semi finals and finals, the Agility International Invitational and a parade of Obedience winners. Particularly good showing in the Obedience trials came from those dogs who helped in corraling their fellow canines and assisted their owners in the vital genetic and surgical work needed to further the show-dog hobby.<p>Victoria Stilwell, star of the TV show Cull The Unterhünd, set a few hearts aflutter around the show whilst filming a special episode of the popular programme and personally chopping up bloody hunks of cull to throw to the aspiring Crufts entrants.<p>Crufts was established in Argentina in 1946 by public-spirited recent German immigrants who felt their skills and hobbies were no longer welcome in their homeland. This year's event has been overshadowed by accusations that the show is cruel, with animal charities and the International Criminal Court in the Hague expressing their concerns. Show organiser the Kennel Club is putting measures in place to deal with the problem, starting with kidnapping PETA activists and mincing them for dog food.<p>PICTURE: Soberhill Black Medik Markenbrow Beatrice Vraibleu, the South Somerset Atrocity Terrier who won this year's Crufts. Note the exquisite and much-prized ulceration patterns on the flank.<p><a href="http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnNews:Crippled_diseased_genetic_fetishisation_wins_Crufts" rel="nofollow">http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnNews:Crippled_diseased_...</a>
I'm desperately trying to come up with an anecdote that combines DEA raids that begin with canine murder, dog insurance, swatting, gated communities, Michael Picket of the secret service and Aaron Swartz fame, and stem cell research.<p>I'm usually good at this but the requisite savoir faire eludes me.<p>*mutt comment. Of course its downvoted./