I found this real funny. Obama is apparently thinking of a dog, and AKC got serious in trying to fit him with something. They propose the following choices for the public to vote: Bichon Frise, the Chinese Crested, the Poodle, the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier and the Miniature Schnauzer.
I wonder, why not propose a mutt from the nearest animal shelter? Have these care about the dog overpopulation probem?
McCain does not need their advice, he already owns more than a dozen animals, including, a mutt.
C'mon already
THIS THREAD IS EXACTLY WHY I RARELY POST ANYMORE. I think someone recently asked what happened to everyone, maybe it's all the pointless I'm right and your wrong debating going on? Just a thought. I suspect this comment will be disected too.
that was me...
...and only me. I crossed a boundry if I've discouraged participation and made things hostile for any one (or two or ten) persons. I did wrong and I am sorry:( I'll restrict myself to pic's and info sharing and stay away from the opinion postings. I'm quick to make a debate when opinions are shared (especially when remarks promote false facts) because I value that but I can see how miserable I can be to someone innocently just making a comment. Sorry. Really, thank you for letting me know I crossed a boundry.
Perhaps..
..Obama should visit an animal shelter and let a dog choose him. I guarantee you I didn't go to the pound looking for a Chihuahua, but somehow she decided I was taking her. :)
I hate politics.
Really? How silly, economy
Really? How silly, economy is going to hell but let's put all our resources on figuring out what kind of dog our presidential nominee needs. Absurd.
yikes guys...are you serious????
Obama has said that after the campaign is over he promised his daughters the family will be adopting a dog win or lose. Is a family interested in adopting a dog absurd? The AKC took it upon themselves to suggest breeds since the Obama's didn't have a specific breed in mind. How did you get to ....the Obama's 'directing all our resources'...or 'don't they care about about pet over population'?
http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=3536
read carefully the sentence
In the sentence above, "they don't care about pet overpopulation" refers to AKC. Hasn't it occured to them (that is AKC to avoid confusion again) that there are thousands of mutts in the local shelters and it would be a good example to fix Mr. Obama with a mutt? Or that there are people (and Mr. Obama may well be one of them) that would rather save a mutt than have an AKC-refered rare breed costing $$$? If I were to ask Americans to vote on some list, I would include in the list the most numerous category in the country, a mutt.
?????....
....If you read the above link the AKC says............"Deciding what breed to get is as important as deciding whether to get a dog in the first place," says AKC spokesperson Lisa Peterson. "The first step in being a responsible pet owner is to do some serious and careful research to determine which breed of dog is right for you and your family."....I happen to think that is excellent advice and did not take that personally to mean they were against 'mixes'. Even if you adopt a mutt/mix you should research the dogs needs, personality,ect. Their is big difference in a Pitt mix vs Chi mix.
I am totally lost now
So, if the goal is to have the individual adopters doing serious research what breed they need, how precisely can that be helped by AKC choosing 5 breeds for someone they probably never spoke to? and even more, how can that be helped by millions of americans voting what someone they have no clue about really needs? This makes a mockery of whatever rules you described above...
Regarding AKC and mixes, that's laughable. They are trying to chose between the 158 registered breeds, and mixed breeds are not on that list, I am afraid. But I hear you what you say, I am sure tons of folks would like to have mix between soft-coated wheaten terrier and bichon frise, they just don't know which way it will turn out to be :-)
IMHO, fresh from fights to defeat animal ordinances, such as the one we recently passed in Dallas, AKC decided to embar little bit on a positive image bulding, using the political climate du jour with a touch of a spin. How's that helping the millions of doggies is hard to imagine but if it makes them happy... as I said at the beginning, this was really funny.
You know....
...you became a victim of what my hubby says is my insatiable need to debate. To take an innocent comment, disect it and warp it into a big ole thing is what I do often. I hope I didn't ruin an innocent remark of yours because truly had you posted 'what a fun excerise matching a criteria to a dog breed' ...i'd likely would have said, 'how reckless, every dog is unique regardless of breed, how could you/should you decide..............' ! Anyway, thanks for 'playing' and indulging me:) no bad feelings I hope!
No bad feelings whatsoever
and besides, I never can resist to take a pick on AKC, they make such a good target. I am also surprised that the moderators did not stop this discussion.
the AKC deserves it...
...they should re-evaluate who they give they allow to breed (requiring a plan for unwanted dogs after sale) and they should also, in my opinion, focus more on the overall health of a breed than the appearance. For example, I'd much rather see the AKC more focused on breeding based on health issues than coat colors. Currently, the book is judged by it cover.
If you read the article with link above...
....the dogs recommended by the AKC to to be voted on were chosen because of allergies in the Obama's extended family. They are breeds with a lesser allergy causing/'hypoallergenic' coat. Of these breeds, the AKC article asks which breed would be best suited for life at the White House, air force one, Camp David......ect. Again, this is something the AKC did on their own as a kinda lesson in selecting a breed based on a set of criteria. (which may or may not be the Obama's actual critera). The Obama family and the AKC do not have expectations the 'winning' breed will be the new/ first family companion.
The AKC's primary function is as a registry for pets, show and breeding quailty PURE BREED dogs. They also do education like the Doggie Good Citizen training testing to promote and reward ANY dog/human team for good training manners. I do think the AKC is seriously deliquent (which Jamie talked about back in the tread about the Dallas ordinances) not requiring/ holding breeders accountable for taking responsiblity of the pups they bring into the world should the purchasing person give up the dog down the road. And although there are issues like that deserving of scrutiny and criticism I don't think this exercise in selecting a breed based on the such and such factor qualifies.
What got me to post a response in the first place was that it seemed (maybe I wrongly preceived) the post and responses were hostile toward Obama and the AKC over something innocent (Obama directing 'all our rescources...') and stating the poll was actually going to decide who the Obama's dog would be. There was also some irony to the comment about chosing a $$$ pure breed over a mix. the Dallas ordinance does not allow for mixes to breed (responsible or not) since they HAVE TO BE recongnized and registered with national group.......like the AKC!!! You pass an ordinance that specifies no mutts/ only pure breed...then you slam the registry group who does not recognize mixes??? Now, that's to me funny;)