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Animal Person

February 11, 2008
On Canine Eugenics

The timing of the PeTA video about breedism went, as they say, right over my head. I had no idea that the Westminster Kennel Club's annual dog show begins today. It was only when I started reading "Top Dogs Live on, and On, in Progeny" in the "Other Sports" section of today's New York Times that I became suspicious that a story was in full play and I was the last to know.

I'd imagine that the average person would be offended (as the PeTA video suggests) by the idea of pure bloodlines and selective breeding for desirable characteristics (not to mention the reality of trends in desirable characteristics) in humans. What I fail to understand is why eugenics is not just accepted, but celebrated--glorified--when it comes to any other species.

This particular story is largely about a champion Kerry blue terrier named Mick, whose sperm has produced 61 champions. Twenty of the 45 dogs of Mick's kind in the show since his retirement were his offspring. ("Perpetuating the bloodlines of purebred animals is as crucial to the dog business as it is to thoroughbred horse racing. If there is money to be made in showing dogs, it is in stud fees and in puppies like Mick’s progeny.")

A judge and breeder of Norwegian elkhounds says, "True dog breeders live for their dogs, not off of them. The people who show at Westminster are trying to develop a quality bloodline of dogs, and they recognize that they won’t pay for themselves.” I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse. A quality bloodline of dogs? To what end? Why? Do we need more dogs? Do we really need to freeze the sperm of certain dogs in the hope of producing others like them? Why doesn't that sound creepy to most people?

Perhaps this issue, just like all the others relating to animals, has a simple, obvious answer: they're animals. And animals are here for our use. They serve at the pleasure of humans. We fiddle with their genetics, we mutilate them, and we prize them as specimens worthy of our admiration (for no other reason, really). We will continue to allow them to exist as long as we find them worthy of our time and money. And what's worse, we've somehow convinced ourselves that a hobby or occupation like the breeding of show dogs is an elite, highbrow endeavor.

The worship of the purity of bloodlines is disturbing to me whether you're talking about Greyhounds or Caucasians.