I know we've posted before about some of the issues we at VBB Central have with breeders in general. I also know we've posted before about a particularly lame "wolf breeder" whose website is so painfully moronic that I can't even bring myself to link to it again. That said, Retrieverman has done a great job of pointing out some of the problems with that website here.
Anyway, so, my point is that a lot of people just seem to have a lot of ignorance and confusion about animal genetics. Case in point, my friends: MAN BUYS TOY POODLES, DISCOVERS THEY'RE ACTUALLY FERRETS ON STEROIDS!
Ironically, the original English-language publisher of the story gets it wrong too, with their headline reading "Man gets shock of his life when he buys two toy poodles for $150 only to be told by a vet that they are actually GIANT RODENTS pumped up with steroids to look like dogs"....sigh. Ferrets are in the order Carnivora, not Rodentia, and are mustelids, not rodents. I'm just saying.
That's hilarious! Are we sure this isn't an April Fool's Joke??
ReplyDeleteLocally we have a 'wolf hybrid' breeder, I've seen two of the puppies thus far. They look like Malamute crosses, and that's what we call them. Because in my state, we need a special license to work on wild life, which is what a wolf hybrid is considered.
ReplyDeleteI also tell the owners that in order to OWN said animal, they also need to have a license.
What alarmed me isn't the fact that one of the owners wanted to breed his wolf-hybrid when she was an adult because, "I spent a lot of money on her, so I'm going to breed her to sell her pups." (which, don't get me wrong, is alarming in and of itself...)... but because he was instructed by the wolf-breeder that the best way to ensure that his wolf-hybrid did not become aggressive was to HOLD HER DOWN on her side/belly and PRESS ON HER lightly to keep her there.
His little girls, aged 4 and 6, iirc, could hold down the puppy and she doesn't object! So obviously it's working.
I tried to explain to him that wouldn't necessarily work, but I think he thought I was trying to pull a fast one on him or something.
I wonder what conditioner they used on those ferrets...
ReplyDeleteWhy do I have images of John Cleese trying to return it at a pet store?
ReplyDeleteMy laugh of the day involved trying to explain to the owner of two new puppies why he shouldn't breed siblings together. He told me that he thought they'd become "super pure breds" (nevermind that he bought the puppies from an ad in the newspaper and wasn't even completely sure which breed they were). I informed him that that was not the case and unwisely attempted to explain genetic disease to him. After a few minutes of blank stares, a light went on and he said "oh so it's like when cousins get married and their kids come out all crazy and stuff".
ReplyDeleteI replied, "Yes, exactly but worse!"
The Argentinean market for pet dogs must be driven by the flea market/jockey lot crowd if they think their consumers are dumb enough to mistake obese mustelids for poodle puppies.
ReplyDeleteI once thought I was buying 'roided ferrets, but wound up with poodles on meth
ReplyDelete