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Selective Breeding

Submitted by bpmccarthy on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 19:49

Breeding animals has been a part of human history for some time now, going back to agriculture and the introduction of dogs into human culture. Dogs in particular have been subjected to a lot of selective breeding, which can be seen in every breed of dog today. All dogs have the wolf as their common ancestor, which may lead one to wonder how we got to dogs like the dachshund, or the pug. A species of dog like the pug are actually suffering due to our high level of selection. Pugs are thought of as cute because of their small, pushed-in nose. What many people don't realize is that due to this phenotype, dogs like pugs, boxers, and bulldogs have a lot of difficulty breathing as well as other health problems. While the selective breeding process has produced dogs that look cute to us, these dogs have serious underlying health issues that affect them throughout their entire lifespans. People should consider the lives these dogs live and how uncomfortable they might be due to their "man-made" morphology. Selective breeding may be good in some cases, but can have very detrimental effects in other cases.

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