The Myth of the Purebred Dog

There is a common misconception that dogs evolved naturally into their breeds today, but that is incorrect. In the beginning, there were wolves and humans, and then, for an unexpected reason, some humans started to domesticate the wolves, not for meat, but companionship. Through the years, these dogs developed more friendly characteristics to be more appealing to humans. They gained floppy ears, became smaller, and morphed into more evenly proportioned bone structures. For example, the common golden retriever has floppy ears and an evenly sized head, legs, and jaws, while the wolf has a large head and jaws, long legs, and pointy ears that stay upright. Over the years, these differences have increased in magnitude, widening the gap between dogs and wolves.

After domesticating the dog, humanity started to selectively breed dogs for herding, hunting, and overall cuteness. Hunting dogs are useful for tracking and thus have very good senses of smell. Herding dogs are selected for their overall aggressiveness and large figures, and cute dogs are selected for their cuteness. The selective breeding process works by having large dogs breed with large dogs for herding dogs and creates hunting dogs by breeding the dogs with the best senses of smell. Cute dogs are made the same way, but unfortunately, dogs that are bred for cuteness are more susceptible to interbreeding than other dogs. Why is that? With hunting dogs and herding dogs, the breeding pool is very large because there are a lot of dogs that are large and have good senses of smell, but with cute dogs, the breeding pool is smaller because the breeders are looking for a specific look. The look of the dogs is often specific to the family of the dog, and to keep the cute dog’s likeness, breeders often breed the offspring of the dogs with their parents. Another reason why dogs bred for cuteness are more susceptible to inbreeding is that, while hunting and herding dogs need to be active to do their jobs, cute dogs just need to exist and be cute. Inbreeding can cause malformations such as hip dysplasia, which means that the hip joint can easily degrade and dislocate. This is very harmful to hunting and herding dogs because they are meant to run around, but it is alright with cute dogs because they are just cute and do not need to be active. This means that the hunting and herding dogs with hip dysplasia would be put down, and the breeders would be discouraged from inbreeding the dogs, while the cute dogs with hip dysplasia would be allowed to propagate, and breeders would not be as discouraged from inbreeding.

Because of these circumstances, modern dogs like the pug are very deformed. The pug has a flat face, stubby legs, and hip dysplasia. The pug’s flat face prevents it from breathing properly, which you will know if you have been around a pug, as they do not breathe but wheeze. The stubby legs prevent pugs from running around and being athletic, and the hip dysplasia complements that as well. Thankfully, there are things that we, as a society, can do to discourage inbreeding. The main one is not buying a purebred dog and adopting from the pound, so next time you think about getting a dog, get one from the pound; they will be healthier, and you won’t be supporting an inbreeding industry.