Tuesday, January 10, 2012

False Conclusions About Mix Bred Dogs

A news paper in Gothenburg, Sweden, published an article today about the names humans give to their dogs. (Far from all dogs decide upon their names themselves, as we Shiba Inus do.) In the article, there are also some numbers on the popularity of different dog breeds. The writer also falsely claims that the most popular dogs are mix-breeds.

It is stated in the article that one quarter of all dogs in Sweden are mix-breeds. The article go on to tell how many dogs there are of the most popular breeds in Sweden.

From this, I conclude that three quarters of all dogs in Sweden are pure bred. This is a huge majority.

You cannot lump all of the mix-bred dogs together and compare this lump to each of the different breeds there are. The mix-breeds do not share more than the species canis lupus familiaris, just like the three quarters of us who are pure bred. A mix-bred dog can be anything from the carefully bred dog whose aim it is to give fresh genes into the gene pool of a small breed, to the stray runt of whom nobody can say what breeds there are in him or her. A mix-bred dog can come in any size, shape, and colour, and can be anything from very healthy and intelligent to very sick and stupid.

You just cannot say that mix-breeds are the most popular dogs in Sweden. They are just one quarter of all of us.

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