How many of you have struggled to keep a straight face when presented with a “fact” about your breed from a person who has never owned one, but you’ve been in the breed for years. How many of us have encountered the dog expert who says “Burmese Mountain Dog” instead of Bernese Mountain Dog? If you’ve been in dogs for any length of time, we bet you’ll have heard some beauties. Among the gems we’ve heard over the years:
• If you tie up the hair of a long-coated breed, the dog will go blind;
• German Shepherd Dogs must only be trained in German because they don’t understand English;
• Bully breeds can “lock” their jaws;
• Long-haired breeds need to be shaved down in the summer;
• One of our personal favorites: Mutts are always healthier than purebred dogs (a University of California/Davis study stuck a pin in this balloon back in 2013);
• Another person favorite: 25% of dogs that enter American shelters are purebred. The National Animal Interest Alliance’s Shelter Study found that number to be closer to 5%.
We love all dogs, whatever their ancestry, but we especially appreciate the predictability, diversity and heritage of purebred dogs. The last two “pearls of wisdom” aren’t very funny at all, and the more we can do to spread the correct information, the better for our breeds. That said, it’s a Friday night as we write, and we’d like to end it with a chuckle. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry over what passes for breed knowledge, so take a moment to share your favorite one with us, and we’ll all laugh and cry together.
Image of a “cynocephalus,” a man with the head of a dog who can understand language but has no ability to speak.