If someone tells you that his dog has “papers,” nod your head and smile. When he tells you that his dog is a rare, silver-tipped Carthaginian mastiff and that he is one of only three in the United States, nod your head and say something like “Oh, how fortunate for you.” If he claims his dog is directly descended from the personal war dog of Hannibal the Great, listen politely.
But if he tells you that his rare and valuable dog was given to him for a fraction of its real value, you don’t have to be polite anymore. You may feel free to laugh.
One of the great myths about purebred animals is that they have intrinsic cash value. The truth is that the vast majority are not valuable commodities.
Several million people surrender purebred pets to animal shelters each year. When the shelter worker cautions them that there is no guarantee that the animal will be adopted, the owner often says: “Oh, I’m sure he’ll get adopted. He has papers.”
When asked to leave a donation, this owner is likely to be offended and say: “What? But I’m giving you a very valuable animal. Can’t you see that he’s a purebred?”
One reason for the belief that all purebreds are valuable is that a very small percentage of purebred animals are worth fantastic sums of money. If a dog wins the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York, subsequent stud fees or puppy sales can be worth thousands of dollars. The sight of tuxedos, formal gowns and celebrities at a nationally televised dog show causes many people to assume that it represents the norm rather than the exception.
Another source of misperception is the trend of using top dog-show winners in television commercials endorsing pet food. The advertisements foster the notion that breeders of champion dogs live in rustic country estates and just watch all the money roll in from selling their animals.
No one thinks that the breeder probably will make more from the commercial than from selling dogs. Few people realize that competing in the “dog game” is very expensive, and only a small fraction of dog-show people ultimately make big money from their dogs. Most breeders barely cover expenses and may even take a loss.
In this highly competitive field, breeders may become more interested in winning than in breeding good dogs. To improve a bloodline, a breeder might pay a small fortune for a particular dog. While it is assumed that the breeder is focused on animals that will be healthier or smarter than the competition, the breeder might buy a dog purely because it is apricot colored or has a broader head or a thicker coat.
When an offspring of this “breed to win” type of champion is sold, the owner of the pup assumes it is the byproduct of greatness and therefore is very valuable.
The truth may be that the pup’s only championship attribute is an apricot-colored coat. The chance that any other breeder would want to use an unproved pet animal for breeding is small.
Assuming that an animal is valuable because it has a pedigree, a fancy name and looks like a “show dog” is a naive belief.
Most animals’ true value lies in the miraculous companionship and bond that are possible between different species-and they are far better than your checkbook at keeping your feet warm.
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