Me saying that pugs should not exist is not a condemnation of the pugs that are already in existence. If you have a pug by all means love and care for it. The issue is that we should stop BREEDING them. Stop bringing more dogs into existence that can barely perform the basic function of *breathing*. Pugs (and many bulldogs for that matter) have been bred to be “cute“ at the expense of being able to effectively intake air. People like them to have flutter faces because it gives them more humanlike expressiveness. Screw that. They’re not humans. Don’t fuck up the way their faces are supposed to work because you think it’s adorable. Shift the focus to breeding cute, HEALTHY dogs, and let the overbred ones die out naturally without bringing more into the world unnecessarily.
We shouldn’t be breeding dogs at all at this point, not when we lack the will or resources to look after the ones we already have. Rescue centres are at breaking point all over the world, hundreds of thousands of dogs are being killed despite being perfectly suitable for adoption, all because we’d rather buy a puppy than adopt a dog who needs a home. Love the animals you have and give them the best life possible, but please considering adopting your next one.
Good news on that front, OP! German breeders are beginning to try to fix the breed and make them healthier and decidedly not deformed. They’re called “mops” or “retro mops” I believe.
(The not deformed one is the retromop obviously but I figured a direct comparison would be good here.)
Much better though, no? I sincerely hope this catches on more. People need to smarten the hell up and stop finding deformities cute because they’re not.
As for what @acti-veg said up there, that is a bit too generalized, even a bit too extreme. I am a huge advocate for adoption (both for pets and for children!) as I pretty much grew up in my local humane society since I’d tag along with my mother a lot when she went to work there, however breeding isn’t bad by default and neither is seeking a purebred puppy, so long as you make sure you’re buying from a dedicated and responsible breeder.
There are just times when buying a purebred puppy from an established line is much better than taking a chance with a shelter dog. For example, the next dog I’m going to be getting, I want to train as a service dog for my anxiety. While I’m sure there’s some dogs in the shelter that could potentially do this job very well, it would be risky to attempt to figure out which ones could. There’s also such things as working line dogs which are significantly healthier than dogs bred just for conformation, both in body and mind.
Basically, it all boils down to what you want to do with your dog. You should definitely adopt whenever you can however there’s no shame in buying a puppy from a respectable breeder so long as the line is healthy, especially if you need a dog for a specific reason (hunting, herding, guarding, service work, et cetera).
EDIT: That said, I should clarify – fuck designer breeders. Stop paying hundreds, even thousands, of dollars for a mixed breed dog that you can easily find in a shelter or something similar enough. Not only is it a bad idea because you’ll never know what you’ll actually get in any way (for example, goldendoodles are not hypoallergenic – some of them are, but many are not – just get a bloody poodle), but a lot of designer breeders are backyard breeders and even puppy millers. If there’s no reason to breed a dog besides from public demand (no working reasons for example) then they’re just doing it for the money and I’ve unfortunately had a lot of experience with designer breeders as an old boss of mine worked closely with several of them. Just go to a shelter if you want mixed.
That’s definitely a step up from breeding normal pugs! I’ve never heard of them, I like their name lol.
In my opinion responsible breeding is acceptable in certain circumstances like service dogs. I was previously also looking into a psychiatric service dog and finding the right personality through a shelter was extremely difficult. Personally if I still wanted one I would still rescue one, but I totally understand why most people don’t and think that’s fine.
Other than unique situations like that, you can usually find a dog of whatever breed you want through rescue groups. Of course by going through a breeder you know more of what you are getting, but adoption should always be looked into first. There’s rescue groups for specific dog breeds that often come from people who bought them breeders and then got rid of them. Most rescue groups are able to get a good idea of the dog’s personality if that’s the concern. Some even perform tests to check things like how they act around children, cats, and other dogs.
If rescuing a dog is simply unrealistic for your circumstances, then getting one from a responsible breeder is fine. My problem comes from when people could easily rescue one but choose not to, which is what most people do.
Exactly! I agree wholeheartedly! I’ve actually seen people say it’s too expensive to adopt a rescue dog and then they turn around and buy a designer breed which makes absolutely no sense.
It depends on your location but from my experience dog adoption costs $250 to $450 which includes all up-to-date vaccinations, neutering/spaying, and sometimes even micro-chipping. That designer breed puppy though? They might cost $150-$250 if you find a really cheap breeder but they often cost way more than that, don’t necessarily come with their shots, aren’t neutered/spayed, or micro-chipped. Buying designer breeds and even from responsible breeders (who do vaccinate for sure) is a hell of a lot more expensive than adoption.
Honestly, it’s just a silly and illogical misconception. I don’t know where people got that idea from. Even the $50 beagle puppies you can sometimes find in my area would still require hundreds of dollars for vaccinations and neutering/spaying, unless of course you just don’t want to give them proper veterinary care and in that case, you shouldn’t be getting a dog to begin with.
Sorry for going off again. I’m just very passionate about doggos.
Site Title 