Quote:
Originally Posted by
smartorl http:///forum/thread/383977/for-those-fish-and-dog-lovers-out-there#post_3361908
This could be the leading cause of dogs killing their owners (insert smiley).
As an artist, I do admire the skill exhibited but as an animal advocate and rescuer, I don't agree with the whole side of the animal industry that promotes exhibition. I do appreciate all the work that goes into the training of animals with special skills, speed, agility, etc but it also is an outlet for people who exploit them.
As someone who has 5 high dollar earning Thoroughbred horses in my barn that were once on top of the world and then slaughterbound before they were 6 years old, I have strong views. Had the truck transporting my guys not wrecked (they were the sole survivors of 39 horses) they would have met their end in a Canadian slaughterhouse. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them, all are sound to ride even. When we used their lip tattoos to identify them through the Jockey club, it was staggering. They did nothing wrong, they are just the by-product of humans need to compete.
My rat terrier is a rescue that was a breeder cull because the cartlidge in her ear was broken and with one standing, and one down, she was no longer desirable.
I don't see this as exploitation in any way. A HUGE portion of the dogs used in creative are rescues. The majority of us groomers are die hard animal lovers. We don't throw animals away. It is sad the way many horses are treated. People don't treat them as a lifetime responsibility. They are traded in like cars, looking for something more challenging or more fun. but these dogs are pampered lifelong pets that live the high life. I will tell you what, if any of the people doing creative were ever found out to be dumping their dogs because they couldn't compete with them anymore there would be a flogging! I compete myself and adopted a Standard Poodle in hopes of using him for competition. He was 4 months old and I took a chance he would have a great coat. Well, I rolled the dice and lost out BIG time in that department. He has the worst coat, doesn't even look like a poodle for the most part and there is no way I could ever compete with him. He will forever be my dog though, competition or not. These kinds of competitions are nothing like horse racing. Groomers don't go through dogs. They may get new ones, but they just increase how many dogs they have, they don't get rid of the old ones. The groomers that compete often in creative are extremely well known in the industry and I talk with many of them on message baords as well as at the grooming shows. Recently one of the most well known creative groomers lost her poodle to Cancer. She had two others that passed from old age. The number of us that mourned for those dogs was probably well into the thousands because we get to know these groomers and their pets and how much they love them. These are first and foremost, well loved family pets and secondly, dogs they use for grooming competitions. I know a few creative groomers that adopted a couple poodles in hopes of using them for creative and found the dogs didn't care for that amount of table time. They still have those dogs, keep them in short easy clips, and just let them be fun loving dogs. It's the dogs that really seem to love the attention this brings that are used. Not every poodle is cut out for it, just like not every German Sheperd makes a good police dog. It's a selective process. If you ever attended any grooming shows I think you would see very quickly how much these dogs are loved and that these dogs will never be without.
