No matter the source, a reporter not intimately versed in the topic of an article can only reflect what they are told by experts. Even the self-proclaimed type. To me, this article reflects that.Originally Posted by Mendel's Balls
From the article:
"I was increasingly disheartened with breeding German shepherds," said Manners. "These dogs, like other pure breeds of the show world had been bred for looks, and health was largely ignored. German shepherds, for example, are plagued with 89 inherited disorders."
German Shepherds are used as police/armed forces dogs across the world, most notably here in North America. Their high intelligence, loyalty, ability to take command, as well as many other traits makes them ideal for the job. If they were so defunct, you'd think they would have been out of that game centuries ago. Notably Manners operates a designer dog business. Perhaps he is trying to forge a new, legitimized dog breed... only time will tell. But for this person to take a dump on legit pure-blood dog breeds like that is, I feel, disrespectful and ignorant.
The fact that he'd choose the German Shepherd as an example - a dog used by police and armed forces personnel for centuries - makes his comments highly suspect. I question the motivations for his various swipes at pure-blood animals in this article. For example; I've been unable to find any other source claiming German shepherds have "89 inherant disorders." I didn't just check online, either; I asked my brothers friend who trains dogs (mostly German shepherds) for the police force. She had no idea where that number came from.
You will also notice that Manners didn't mention how many health issues his lapadoodles have. Ah, but they've not been around long enough to really know.
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