Essay On Dog Suffering

It’s impossible to deny that humans have a special relationship with dogs, especially with reports of increasing dog ownership all around the world. It’s also just as undeniable that this “special” relationship is not always good: it can also mean borderline abusive treatment and taboo practices committed against them.

It’s easy to demonize these obviously cruel practices, so easy to point fingers when you see the heartbreaking state of these suffering dogs. But though these practices are vile and disgusting, there are less obvious abusive practices; and unlike these obvious signs of suffering, they are often masked behind glamorous locks, award-winning stunts, and the blinding spotlight.

When you look at dogs competing in shows, strutting down the

“However, it is because AKC members genuinely love dogs that they need to step up and remedy the harm they are causing.”

The AKC has breed standards that aim to regulate the acceptable characteristics of dogs who want to join its dog shows. But beyond that, these breed standards become suffocatingly set in stone for other purposes too; it also becomes the standard for small-time breeders, pet stores, and prospective pet owners too.

It wouldn’t be much of a problem if the AKC’s standards promoted the natural characteristics of certain dog breeds, but instead, it seems to promote “surgically mutilating” the dogs to satisfy its seemingly aesthetic-oriented standards.

For instance, Blake reported that Miniature Pinschers are required to have surgical mutilations including chopping off tails and cropping ears so they can be considered acceptable for shows. He explained that there is no real purpose to these other than to make them look similar to their distant cousins, the Doberman Pinschers. That’s way too much pain and risk for the sole purpose of