Do Pure-Breed Dogs End Up in Shelters? Hmmmmm....

Pedigree, Canine and Human

Mark Derr is the author of “A Dog’s History of America: How Our Best Friend Explored, Conquered and Settled a Continent” and “Dog’s Best Friend: Annals of the Dog-Human Relationship.”
The Westminster Kennel Club Show was interrupted last night by two members of People for the Ethical Treatments of Animals declaiming against purebred dogs in favor of mutts. Theirs is the continuation of long battle.

Rising middle classes in the developing world want “Western” breeds, just as Thorstein Veblen could have predicted.

The development of scientific breeding and “modern breeds” in the late 18th century has transformed the genetic landscape of European and American dogs, creating animals specialized in terms of form and function. Initially an extravagance for the wealthy — Thorstein Veblen had pampered purebred companion dogs in mind when he coined the phrase “objects of conspicuous consumption” — the purebred dog became a mass-produced commodity in the decades following World War II.
By my rough calculations, purebred dogs in general are as numerous, or nearly so, as mutts, or “mixed breeds” among our 77 million dogs.

Associated Press/Westminster Kennel Club A Pyrenean shepherd with a rough coat.

Reports from around the world indicate that when the emerging middle class in developing countries want a dog, they most frequently buy a “Western” breed, while ignoring local street dogs — some of them ancient types — because they want the pedigree. Each year, the American Kennel Club adds new breeds from among the 400 or so in the world today, like the little Pyrenean shepherd dog that made its debut at the Westminster Kennel Club show this year.
This need to find “unspoiled” or rare breeds is tied not only to a desire for the next “hot” dog but also recognition that purebred dogs for all their beauty or uniqueness often have multiple genetic problems that are as much a result of the way they are bred as are their appearance and talents. People aware of these problems may turn to mutts or deliberate crosses between popular breeds — Labradoodles or cockerpoos, for example — in the search for hybrid vigor.
Or they make it a point of saying they obtained their dogs from reputable breeders, not from pet stores or puppy mills, which are major sources of dogs with problems.
PETA and other groups and individuals find virtue in taking an abandoned dog from the shelter. But with purebred dogs accounting for 25 percent of those in shelters and countless more with dedicated breed rescue groups, virtue would appear to lie in giving a dog a home.