I own a mutt, a mixed breed, a half-breed. Well, before you conjure up images of a pound-puppy rescued moments before being put down by lethal injection, let me explain that my mutt cost a bloody fortune and is a member of the now oh-so-chic new breed called Labradoodle. Yes, I know what you're thinking; this is hardly a mutt. It is, in fact, the newest trend in dog breeding; mixing poodles with whatever else they'll be willing or be forced to mate with, adding "-oodle" to the end of the new name and selling it for more than you can get for a purebreed. You have schnoodles, goldendoodles, labradoodles (mine), etc.... The amusing thing is that had a purebred poodle ever lowered himself or herself in the past to mate with a labradore or a golden retreiver etc, the owners would be forced to find homes for a litter of unwanted mutts or they would end up at the animal shelter awaiting certain doom. But now, these mutts are desired and people will pay thousands of dollars for them and even mail-order them, sight-unseen and drive to the airport to pick them up from their flight from their birthstate of Kansas or Montana. (No, we didn't mail order ours. In fact, we literally stumbled upon Jake at a pet store as we were "window shopping." He was there, looking soooooo cute that we made a rash decision and bought him. I don't regret it for a moment but I am trying to justify how it happened that we paid way too much money for a pet dog when there are plenty of them available to be adopted at the animal shelter. I know; shame on me. Fine, get over it.)
The funny thing is that dogs don't have any clue that they are one kind or another. They are just dogs. Their owners, on the other hand, know exactly how much they paid for their canine friend and exactly how many champions are in their dogs pedigree. So, it was with amusement that I came across a certain dog on a recent hike in the beautiful Santa Monica mountains. I was hiking with my family and, of course, our labradoodle Jake, when we came upon another man and his dog. When we got close and I leaned over to pet his dog on the head, I said, "He looks like he has some lab in him." Well, he did look like he was at least part lab! And because Jake is part lab, I was proud to notice it in another fellow pooch. But, apparently, I offended the happy looking-like-a-lab dog's owner who suddenly pulled him from my hand, sneared at me and almost shouted, "He is a PUREBRED lab!" Yikes! I must tell you that I was a professional dog-trainer at one point in my life and to me that dog looked like he had lab in him, but not like he was a pure lab. But, I couldn't help but be shocked at the man's response and apparant horror at my lack of discernment. Thinking about it later, I realized that he must have paid a crap-load of money for that dog to be THAT offended.
When I was a kid, my parents adopted a dog named Kutchie (the name is whole other story) who was clearly a mutt and was found scrounging for food at a trash bin. We loved that dog and I remember crying like a baby when I heard that she had died. I was in college and she had turned 15! But, being a true unwanted mutt, she never had a chip on her shoulder and neither did her owners. We knew she was a mutt and no-one could offend us by confusing her breed or by wrongly guessing at her unknown ancestry. But this apparant labradore (I still think someone screwed someone from outside the family) was way too stuck up. I mean, his owner was way too stuck up. Whatever. You know what I mean!
Once again. wise words, but I see it a bit different.
ReplyDeleteI know money turns the world around but sometimes it used not as it origin meaning, but as a say. as a kind of obligation to something, as a way to announce: I pay for it because I care/ because I'm obligated to the subject and for that I have to give up somthing I have, something I worked for to get. Money is just a form of this thing.
We are obligated to many things in life. It can be a service needed for our lives/home, it can be a child and it can be a pet.
You can give birth to a child free of charge, raise a child with minimum expenses and send him to get education on the streets.
You CHOOSE differntly. The possibility is out there.
Same for pets. you wanted that dog, not any dog. you got to the store and signed on your obligation for his raise, for all the night and days you promise to take him to his walks, for all the food he'll need, for all the times he'll need the vet and all the moments he'll need someone to play with.
Endlish is a terrible language for pets. he is actualy a "it". but our pets are like our kids in many ways. that's way we mostly develop similar feelings for them like we do for loved people around us.
The man with the purebred lab? maybe he was stuck up because all the money he payed for his dog. but maybe it had nothing to do with it. maybe when you said he has a lab in him, he heard the empty cup side of the sentence and saw it as criticism on a pet he loves like a child.
labs have many quality characters and maybe this man was really proud to be the owner/parent of one.
If someone came across you and your family and said he thinks your kid is a good kid deep inside him, or inteligence kid deep inside and you where a person who hears the negetive side of each say (like I guess about that owner), you would think he see your kid as a bad/ not inteligence on the out side (or in part of him) and like any devoted parent you'll be snearing and shouting too :)
Our kids are perfect in our eyes.. and dare the person who undermine it..
Pets can be felt the same way too :)
Einav