I have tried to use the search bar on this forum with no luck? maybe I'm just useless. BUT i did find a post on another forum about the show.
As they say there are two sides to each story and i just wanted to hear the other side
One thing though, the video says it is Spinabifida but this post does not? which one do people hear believe is true?
http://forum.purseblog.com/animalicious/omg-i-am-watching-crying-pedigree-dogs-exposed-536355.html"This is going to be long!! But, I'm happy to share! I can only speak to the Ridgeback portion, though, and the overall dog show world I've experienced.
For full discloser, I'm very active in my breed, and our dog does participate in conformation, or "dog shows" and various sports.
1-Ridgeless puppies are killed. My experience with breed has been that ridgeless dogs are not killed, but immediately neutered and sold as pet dogs. But, they didn't put the breeders that say THAT in the show. I've never known or heard of any breeder to kill a pup. That said, couple things: Ridgeless Ridgebacks are, by definition, not Ridgebacks. So, that's a fundamental problem. They are not wanted and as a result, they look like hound-pitbull mixes and are picked up by rescues as such. From there, they are often put to sleep as potentially dangerous dogs, or end up as bait dogs in dog fighting rings.
That said, it does happen, apparently. (Not common in the US and less than 1% worldwide). As one breeder puts it:
Quote:
The fate of a ridgeless dog is far less than certain if the first and original owner does not act responsibly, and every breeder knows that you can’t always trust owners to act responsibly. So, as a breeder, if you know that a certain percentage of your ridgeless puppies are going to end up living horrible lives of pain and confusion and loneliness and then be put to death, even if it’s only one percent, you have a decision to make. You can send them out there, trying hard not to think about that one percent, or you can make sure that their lives are short and painless and they never know fear or hunger or fighting. It is an individual decision that no breeder makes lightly. We LOVE our puppies. We ADORE our dogs. Every single time we lose one it is a personal tragedy. So while I may have certain convictions about what I would do, I have a great deal of sympathy for those who make a decision that is different
2-The show said the Ridge on the Ridgeback is a form of spina bifida and genetic fault from inbreeding. THIS IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE. It's hair, that's all. It's a long cowlick. So, the show calling that in and of itself a genetic fault is just lying.
3-The BBC documentary said that Dermoid Sinus (a genetic fault in Ridgebacks) was only found in ridged dogs, but the breeders continue to breed ridged dogs, therefore spreading this genetic defect. Not true at all. Dermoid Sinus is in NO WAY RELATED to the ridge, and ridgeless Rhodesians are just as likely to get this. Also, responsible breeders are actively fighting dermoid sinus (which can be easily removed by the way) by not breeding dogs with it.
So, just on those three things alone, I seriously question the credibility of the show. They flat out LIED on the things related to my dog, so who knows what else was fabricated to make "their point?" I resent them calling my dog a "mutant" when he can absolutely perform the job for which he was bred and designed to do.
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Also, the idea of dog shows is not a beauty pageant. It is to evaluate the dogs based on their function. If you're at a dog show, no one is talking about how pretty the dogs are, but are looking at things like structure, reach and drive, etc. For example, in Ridgebacks -- which were bred to hunt lions, dogs too long in the loin couldn't corner well, and were poor hunters as a result. So the breeders today breed dogs that are ideally suited for what they were originally meant to do -- and most test this theory by participating in performance sports.
My belief is Pedigree indicates what the animal should be…conformation indicates what the animal appears to be…performance indicates what the animal actually is…….
To some other points from that show....such as how the dogs have changed over time. Well, yeah, so have people. Our average height has grown, too, over the course of 200 years. But aside from that, there were some more fundamentals half-truths in that.
The pictures the documentary uses to supposedly “expose” the changes in purebred dogs are totally false. You cannot make statements about a dog based on a photo of a POOR EXAMPLE of the breed! I can go find you a poorly bred long-legged Basset right now in 2008; doesn’t mean that the breed has changed. Also, the bulldog they say is the historic one absolutely isn’t. It's a pit bull dog, not the bull-baiting dog. The skull they used to illustrate the Bulldog skull changes was a grossly malformed one -- not that of a normal moderate Bulldog. Using extremes to validate their points is unethical to me. And they did that repeatedly.
NOW, that all said:
Are there irresponsible breeders out there? Hell yes. And anyone who has bought a dog from a pet store, newspaper clipping, friend, from a sign or someone with a litter in a box in front of WalMart is guilty to contributing to that. And, here's the kicker: If you are buying a pure bred dog and not researching your breeder and/or talking to your national breed club first, you are contributing to the problem.
People need to research their breeder just as much--if not more than their breed. This is the way to get rid of crappy breeders and backyard breeders. And unfortunately, people don't do that.
Responsible breeders make NO MONEY from breeding. In fact, breeding healthy, quality dogs is a money-losing venture for most. Finding and evaluating good homes takes time and energy (for example, I had to take a 6 page questionnaire and undergo interviews before my breeder would give me a puppy.) Food, vet bills, health testing, traveling to shows, performance events, obedience classes, etc all costs money. The show made it seem like breeders just want ribbons and accolades, and the reality it, it's not true.
PHEW, I think I'm done!!!
Did I find parts of this show disturbing? Yes. Do I think part were true? Absolutely? Was this a fair and accurate representation of the world of pure bred dogs and conformation events? HELL NO."
