Fran27 said:
Keller, frankly if you had any experience about it you wouldn't have made that comparison - thus my comment. Kids in foster care have attachment issues most of the time, when dogs usually don't. That's the main reason why it can't be compared. Plus, as far as I know kids are not killed in foster care every year, and there is no surpopulation of kids (except in China). So it's totally apple and oranges.
Amazing to me that you can know this, since my immediate and extended family wouldn't exist in the way it does today without foster care, and adoption from social services. Our old social worker is still a family aquaintance, even though he's not providing any services anymore. A lot of foster kids have RAD, and others have less severe attachment issues. Which is to be expected when kids start out in abusive or neglectful situations, and are taken away only to be shuffled back and forth, never really knowing when they can settle down, and eventually learning that there isn't any settling down to be had for them. Some of the people who went into my extended family are just gone. Who knows what happened to them. You spend time in a flux, kind of being happy, but being afraid to be, and at the same time wondering what these people want from you, because no one does anything for free.
Maybe if people took kids when they were babies (not all perfect babies) they might have had more of a chance. A lot of them were in the system then, but they didn't get good homes. They got to go back to bad biological families or into bad foster ones. A lot of foster kids never get a family, never have stability. Is it death? No, but the destruction of a potential stable human being is has as much worth as the life of an animal in my eyes. And before anyone jumps on this, I know a lot of people turn out fine (pesky personal experience). A lot of them don't though. It's a waste, and it's a shame, and it might not have had to be that way. The reason that I said it was a stretch, is because these kids and shelter dogs are not even on the same level, by any stretch of the imagination, partly because when you screw up a kid, he may never have a normal human life, and because in my eyes, the kid is worth so much more. A dog is a dog, it will live out its life with caretakers. It's not supposed to be like that for a (physically) healthy child. So it won't be a perfect analogy. Maybe I feel this strongly, because it had such an affect on my own life. Any kid, in any country wanting a family, is one kid too many. Not everyone is able take them on, not everyone wants to. That doesn't mean that they don't care, or that they're bad. That is life, unfortunately. Of course, you probably won't believe me, since you didn't when I said I was familar with it the first time, but oh well.
I wonder what you'll characterize this little tangent we've gone on as?
Where are those knowledgable people? As I said, the only breeders I've seen trying to have the mix recognized are also people who sell 50 puppies a year, so it's hard to believe that they really care about making a breed standard and not just about making money. So please, if you have any link about those people who are trying to make it happen, post it, because I have yet to see it.
Well, if I post a link, and you disagree, what good does it do? One group is Tegan Park. I'm sure you heard of them, and you disagree with some of their practices. That's fine, nothing that I can do about that.
Gotta love those so generous people that need to brag about their generosity. It has nothing to do with a double standard though, it's just that for mixes, obviously there is no breed to improve, so there isn't any need to breed them.
Yes, which is why, I brought it up
only, when you decided that me saying that I wouldn't be taking just any dog into my home at this time meant that I didn't care about those shelter animals. It was an attempt to say, "yes, I do care. I do what I can, trying to make a difference while working within the confines of my situation." I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you'd twist it. A lot of you are looking for the worst, even if you have to put blinders on before you can find it. If I got such a high from sharing it, I'd have done it when all the other people brought up shelter dogs, and saving lives in the first place. I brought it up only when I thought it was relevent, and necessary, to show that I'm not some heartless person. I'm sure you still believe that you love animals more than I ever could, and maybe you do. Or that I'm a braggart, which isn't true at all, but what can I do? I wish I had the self control to stop trying, since it's crystal clear that it's not going to help.
That answers my question, there is just no good reason to buy a doodle.
And Foxy, I totally agree, some people will just never get it. I guess that's why we have so many dogs in shelters...
No, I decided not to bother answering, because no answer that I could give would be good enough for you. Apparently you have enough knowledge about my own
life, that you feel comfortable, deciding what experience I have in what areas and that I give cash only to brag about it, so you shouldn't have any problems using your psychic abilities to figure out the root causes of any of my other decisions.
You're clearly on some sort of holier than thou kick in this discussion, and nothing I can say will change that.
One day, I hope that people will realize that folks can be informed on any sort of moral/ethical issue, whether it's abortion, gay marriage, breeding, religion or anything else, and still come to opposite opinions. The state of the world, and the human race will wildly improve if that happens.
