Natural History

Two bulldogs in 1910:

The dog on the left is likely one of the last surviving baiting-type bulldogs in England. These dogs were deemed inferior in the show ring, and they had been for decades before this photo was taken.

The dog on the right is familiar to us all. It is the “English bulldog” as know it today.

It is the John Bull caricature in canine form.

It was created by the caprices and vagaries of the show ring, not by the need to control recalcitrant cattle or by the need of butchers to have a dog work a cow or steer over before slaughter in order to tenderize the flesh. It wasn’t even created by the gamblers who relished any opportunity to see a dog tear into a bull or bear.

It was created by vanity and symbolism.

And although vanity and symbolism appear to more benign forces, over the long term they have proven just as cruel as the baiting ring. The dogs cannot cool themselves efficiently. They snort and snore constantly from their distorted nasal passages, which will  never know the free flow oxygen. They cannot whelp naturally, and they can’t even mate without assistance.

They exist in this form because some subculture as deemed them beautiful.  Like the foot-bound wives of Imperial China, the dogs are deformed and distorted as a way of showing esteem.

It is really about loving them into monstrosities.

But is nothing more than what the Germans call qualzucht— “torture breeding.”

But it not seen as torture.  It is seen as a virtue. They eyes are close to the obvious realities, and people who criticize their culture are attacked as bigots, animal rights fanatics, or worse.

To have been attacked from that gutter shows nothing more than how desperate the qualzucht cultures are to find logical defenses of themselves.

They attack with venom and invective. They make fools of themselves.

The dogs continue to suffer the cultures that created them, but in those attacks, the morality and reason behind this religions based upon dogs are fully exposed.

There will be a future for the bulldog on the left.

It will come someday.

For now, it is exposed in the raw and naked what really happened to this breed — and so many others like it.

The people who defend the dog on the right have lost their moral high ground. They have lost legitimacy in the harsh judge that is public opinion. They are only just now realizing it.

In the end, reason will win a better future for the dogs. The dog’s status in Western society continues to be elevated, and with its continued rise comes a deep questioning about the ways we relate to this animal.

And as the questioning goes on, many old traditions cannot last.

The newer generations question authority more than ever before. This is a healthy thing for any free society.

And the questioning of authority extends into the dog cultures.

The ideas and institutions that held everything together are now being rigorously asked to defend themselves.

And they are struggling.

Where this all goes, I don’t know.

But I do know that things are headed in a direction that is very positive for the health and welfare of Canis lupus familiaris.

I don’t know how these changes can be stopped.

The institutions need to be willing to change, or they will disappear.

Changing cultural mores are sweeping through.

It is probably not a good idea to fight them.