PEDIGREE DOG FOOD VS. WESTMINSTER DOG SHOW

Okay...so this is going to be a serious and long blog for a minute.  I don't know how many of you watch the annual Westminster Dog Show but I know I do tend to watch it not every year but every so often.  To watch all of these beautiful cream of the crop dogs strut their stuff and I always wish my dog was so well behaved like them.  Granted Zoey is not a pure bred but even if she was she would probably go take off running through the arena and just embarrass me for sure.  No matter how much training she would have, she does whatever she wants to do.


So let me get back to the reason of this blog.  My co-worker brought this fact to my attention that for many years (at least 20 to be exact), Pedigree has been a sponsor for this dog show.  And every year they air their adoption drive commercials during this event take a look at the one from last year below:




The Westminster Dog Show decided it would be a good idea to drop Pedigree as one of their sponsors because the commercial is too sad depicting stray and abandoned dogs and the kennel club shared a different vision.  A different vision???  Is this because most of these abandoned stray dogs are mutts, mixed-breeds and not pure bred and would never be able to be a part of the dog show ever!  Sad right????  But yes....this is reality people!  Now there is nothing wrong with people who raise pure bred dogs and there is nothing wrong with this annual dog show.  But what are they trying to say?  BUY a pure bred dog that can be a minimum of $2,000.00 from a really good breeder but NOT adopt an animal who just has been abandoned or abused by irresponsible owners (not all cases) and put out on the street.  This really doesn't make any sense to me.


Out of my last three dogs two of them were adopted and saved from an animal shelter and two of them were pure bred.  So you can find pure bred dogs in an animal shelter, they may not have their papers but they are still pure bred.  First we have Sandy who was a pure bred Pomeranian and such a beautiful dog (wish I had a picture to post) but very aggressive.  Why?  Because he was constantly abused in the home he was in, but my family took him in and he was the best family dog...granted we had to secure him when people came over but the first year of his life was constantly being beaten and we were the first family to show him some love and continued to love him even with his flaws.  Unfortunately Sandy was hit by a car in 1995 and passed away, this was just 6 months after my father passed away and we think Sandy was searching for my dad...they were partners in crime.  And boy do I miss them both.  


Then we have Muffin, my precious little girl

(She was 16 years old in this picture)

Muffin was a pure bred American Eskimo, another sad story she was constantly beaten by a male that lived in the household on a daily basis for the first 6 months of her life.  The first six months of the life of a dog are the most precious.  So I brought home a dog who was very attached to me and very over protective of me.  Also she did not like any men in the beginning, but with love and care she learned to tolerate a few of them when I taught her that not everyone is bad and out to hurt her.  I was able to have 15 1/2 beautiful years with my beautiful "pookie bear" but had to let her go on November 27th, 2010 she was just too old and wasn't eating or drinking.  It was hard...but the last 3 months of her life she perked up a little bit when  her little sister came into her life.

Checking out her new little sister Aug. 2010

These sisters loved each other

Granted as siblings they didn't get along all the time but Muffin perked up when I brought Zoey into the home.  

Now we come to Zoey...granted Zoey didn't have to endure any of her life in a shelter but if I didn't decide to bring her into my home she probably would have gone to a shelter.  Zoey is a mixed breed she is a Chi-Apso! (1/2 Chihuahua 1/2 Lhasa apso)  So Zoey is fortunate that she came from a loving home to a loving home.  And she is pretty spoiled

This is the day I brought her home...how can you not love this face????

Yes...she is spoiled and a diva but how can you not love this face????

This is Zoey now...still adorable...again how can you not love this face????


So in ending this blog my point is sure the Westminster Dog Show does have the right to their own opinion...but SHAME ON THEM!!!  Does that give them the right to HIDE alternatives for people who cannot afford a pure bred dog and to save the lives of dogs (and cats, let's not forget about cats too) in shelters?  Granted...I don't feed Zoey Pedigree dog food, but I applaud them for getting the word out there to ADOPT, ADOPT, ADOPT with their annual Adoption Drive every year.  And another thing, they have been doing this for several years and now this year the Dog Show decides they don't have the same vision? Why because mixed breeds are of a lesser class to them?


Be aware people, pure bred dogs are great and can be loving dogs...but please adopt first when you can...there are millions of animals in shelters that are great loving dogs, and alot of shelters only deal with pure bred dogs as well if you really are set on having a pure bred dog.  If I didn't adopt...I wouldn't have been able to share my life with the three most awesome dogs of my life!!!!  I know this is kind of long...but I just had to get this off of my chest.  


Also...SPAY or NEUTER your animals if you can't handle the responsibility so we can keep the population of unwanted animals off the streets and out of the shelters!


Well until next time....