Cate and I saw a really cool Nova episode tonight about Dogs. Mostly they talked about how dogs came to be so varied when they are all descended from wolves. Interesting stuff.
However, when they got around to 'Pure Bred' dogs it became very interesting to me. For instance, the idea of the pure bred dog originated in the Victorian era and was unashamedly racist in nature. The Victorian elite were, in a sense, projecting their ideas about humans onto their status symbols (their pets).
My favorite scientist from the show, Ray Coppinger, stated that it is time to give up the 'master race' mentality to breeding. With the medical problems these practices have spawned, its not hard to see that its bad genetic science, and bad pet ownership. With no offense to my pure bred dog owning friends, I totally agree. With the staggering amount of euthanasia we perform on dogs each year, its a wonder we put up with it all.
Posted by dmason at June 1, 2004 09:44 PM