A couple of years ago, the rhetoric reached new heights with all the speculation about who would become the Obama family’s “First Fido.” Even people without dogs felt compelled to join in the bantering and bickering.
Between my own dogs and my beloved patients, I have plenty of first-hand familiarity with the virtues and vices of the purebred versus mixed breed experience. I can assure you, there are plenty of both! This is why I shrug my shoulders when confronted with people bent on convincing me that their preference should be my preference.
Would I ever try to convince someone that one is better? No way. I’m a big believer in “live and let live” as long as no one gets hurt. Trust me, after raising three children and working with more dog-loving clients than I can count, I’ve learned to pick my battles wisely.
For example, if a client tells me their dog is a German Shepherd yet I see before me an Australian Shepherd, I don’t try to correct my client. I prefer to let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak. No harm done because, whatever kind of herding dog he is, I will treat his diabetes the same way!
Just as in the case of mistaken shepherd identity, I choose not to participate in the battle of whether mutts or purebreds are superior. If I do manage to get suckered into such a discussion, I employ a unique strategy. I encourage the debaters to adjourn their arguments and work together towards a common goal. You see, whether a person prefers mongrels or purebreds, what they have in common, beside their love of dogs, is the desire to eradicate puppy mills, those large scale breeding operations that produce puppies for profit, often under inhumane conditions.
I suggest they use their mutual passion to teach others to avoid puppy mill purchases by never, ever buying a pup from a pet store or online, sight (and site) unseen. I encourage the mutt versus purebred debaters to invest their energies in telling people that by buying online or from a pet shop, they may be inadvertently committing the next 10 to 15 years of their lives to taking care of an adorable, but inherently unhealthy, product of a puppy mill. One less puppy mill purchase is one step closer to their extinction.
What happens when I interrupt the “great debate” with my suggestion? Sometimes I’m viewed as if I am from another planet. Most of the time, my comments prompt some constructive and positive discussion with heads nodding in agreement, at least for a few minutes before the conversation returns to squabbling about mutts versus purebreds.
What about you? Have you ever participated in this great debate?
Photo credit: Chow, Flickr Creative Commons (Llima)
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