Humans may be ruining man’s best friend
By Sara Boboltz, Huffington Post
Our friendly domestic dogs have come a long way from their wolf ancestors, and it’s all thanks to us.
“Somehow there’s this misconception that dog breeds actually exist — like dachshunds are a natural thing in the world,” Louise Murray, vice president of the ASPCA Animal Hospital, told Huffington Post. “We think, there are frogs, and there are chickens, and there are dachshunds. But of course you don’t realize until later that they’re just human constructs.”
We love having dogs around — in fact, between 37 and 47 percent of U.S. households own at least one dog, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That’s about 70 or 80 million dogs overall. And while estimates differ, between one-third and one-half of those dogs are believed to be purebred, born of incestuous pairings. As a result, many purebred dogs are now facing an abundance of health problems, and many of their human companions have begun to question the ethics of it all.