Pets
fromThe New Yorker
3 days agoHow Doodles Became the Dog du Jour
Poodle crossbreeds have become increasingly popular, creating tension between traditional kennel clubs and dog enthusiasts over breed recognition and standards.
The RSPCA has called for the dog show to stop featuring animals that have extreme features such as flat faces, wrinkly skin, short or missing tails, and protruding eyeballs. These can leave dogs at high risk of significant welfare problems, such as being unable to breathe, blink, sleep, play or exercise normally; or painful eye, spinal, skin or dental conditions.
"I don't think that bitch looks fit," a woman next to me murmurs. She's carrying a Louis Vuitton bag, wearing Hermes riding boots, and speaking, of course, about one of the three female Cane Corsos still in the ring. It's not exactly an unwarranted thing for her to say; she does have a dog in this fight. Two, to be precise. The two fitter bitches both belong to her.
The dogs come to be judged. The owners and handlers come to uphold breed standards. And, almost as reliably as the movie references and the best-in-show ribbon, Peta arrives ready to dominate the conversation. If there is one certainty about the Super Bowl of canines, it's that the protest will share the stage with the pageantry. Westminster is an annual collision of tradition, spectacle and dissent, and Peta has become exceptionally good at owning that moment.