Quote:
If you are calling Dubbing, Docking and Cropping, "maiming" than would Implants, Reductions, Tattoos, Piercings, and any other Body Augmentations that people do to there self be the same.
People do far more, "maiming" things to there selves than what we do to other animals.
Chris
Chris, I'm on your team. I DO dub my show birds. But a fact is a fact. It's maiming for a human choice, the bird or dog in question has no choice in the matter. What people do to their own bodies is their own choice, it's a conscious decision. The only point I am making is it's not done for the animal's best interest, in most cases.
If you feel that way about dubbing, then 1) fight to change your breed standard so that birds that are not dubbed can be shown or 2) don't show your birds. If you do dub and object to it so strenuously, then you are hypocritical for doing so. I, personally, see no reason to dub any bird in this day and age and, with animal rights extremists running rampant, I wouldn't risk it due to the likelihood of being accused of fighting my birds. After all, if you have a spring pole or a treadmill in your yard or home and happen to own an American Bulldog or an American Pit Bull Terrier (or their relatives), then CLEARLY you're a dog fighter--at least according to the extremists. (Note: that is NOT my personal belief, although I do object to spring poles.)
I have dogs with docked tails, which I breed and show. I have never seen one of them experience more than a second of stress when the tails are docked at the age of 2 days, other than them being taken from their mothers for the surgery. I have seen a good share of dogs with their ears healing from being cropped and, if done by a professional, those dogs experience little stress other than adjusting to the contraption strapped to their heads to help their ears stand. In both cases, docking and cropping, there was HISTORICAL purpose for the surgery. Guard dogs had their ears cropped in order to prevent them from being grabbed by a convenient handle--the same reason for many tails being done. (Why not the German Shepherd, then? Because they were historically a herding breed and were selected for the army/police work for their trainability, not their guarding instinct.) In many breeds, when they ceased performing their function, the dock/crop went away. Dalmatians were once a cropped breed, but once they stopped guarding carriages they stopped being cropped. Terriers had half their tails removed so that their handlers could actually grab their tails more easily when pulling them out of holes. Some hunting breeds had their tails docked to prevent injury in the field. Many docked dogs run agility courses and perform incredible athletic feats with no difficulty--even if you feel it's not in the dog's best interest, clearly it's not against it. What *is* in the dog's best interest is if the dog's tail is eventually going to be docked that it be done at a day or two old, from the beginning. After that point, removing the tail becomes major surgery instead of a single snip and one or two stitches to close the skin..
I see nothing wrong with people objecting to docking and cropping, but to put them into the worst possible light (and to say that humans "enjoy maiming animals") is misanthropic and smacks of extremism. Believe it or not, this is (or should be) one of those Tallentyre moments: I disapprove of what you say [do], but I will defend to the death your right to say [do] it." Animal rights extremists are looking for any way to shove a wedge between people who breed and show their animals and those who "merely" own them. It happens all of the time and we're fighting an uphill battle if we're going to keep our right to own or breed animals at all. What we *don't* need are more people who are active in any animal fancy coming out and using such language that would put the fancy in a negative light.
Sorry about being on the soapbox, but last time I was at an agility trial I was sitting in the stands with a club member who uses a purebred service dog. It turns out that she *supports* the Humane Society of the United States* because "there are more bad breeders than good ones out there." I tried to object, but she told me that I "had to know it was the truth, since it was all over the news." I looked at her, down to her service dog, and out to the happy, healthy, well-bred dogs performing amazing tasks out in the ring. I opened my mouth, closed it, and walked away. I haven't spoken to her since. I wonder where she thinks she'll get another Rottweiler in 10 years if the AR extremists have their
way?
