Friday, January 02, 2009

Chinook? State Dog?

Seventh-graders from Bedford are the driving force behind a bill to declare the Chinook the New Hampshire state dog.

I am not excited about this development. The Chinook is still a pretty primative breed, and most of these types of dogs don't make great pets. Further, with a very limited gene pool, there is a great potential for genetic defects. It is also a sled pulling dog. The sled pulling versions of the Husky, the real things in the Arctic, aren't the same types of dogs as those you see in the dog shows. I haven't met or worked with a Chinook. I could be wrong. But, I'm probably right on this one... it is a specialty breed that isn't right for most pet owners. When a new breed comes along, the tendency is to oversell the dog, and not be realistic about what the dog is really like... and then they end up abandoned in shelters.

Seventh graders aren't the best resource for making suggestions on what dog to own or not own. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with promoting or creating new breeds.

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