Shouting at the Telly

[bunn]

I just rewound the Crufts that was vaguely playing on the TV in the background to see if it said what I thought it did, and it did.

1) Labradoodles, what great hypoallergenic dogs they are and shortly to be recognised as a breed*

but dwarfed by:

2) Loon presenter1 : 'you do a lot of work for dog charities don't you'
Loon presenter2 : 'yes, I bred my collie and gave 1 of the pups to Mountain Rescue and 1 to hearing dogs for the deaf'*


*hang on, that's a crossbreed. They don't breed true do they? And the allergenic thing is a bit of a gamble because of that. Also it's not the fur that people are allergic to, it's the dander. So if people are breeding crossbreeds hoping they might not shed, it's because they don't like the hoovering.

* because, obviously, there is a huge shortage of border collies. Collies are *never* put to sleep ALL OVER THE BLOODY COUNTRY EVERY DAMN YEAR BECAUSE THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH HOMES FOR THEM!

Now to try to write a polite and reasoned email to the BBC...

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I don't mind them ballsing up the TV show (well, I do, that's quite annoying), but giving the impression that there is a shortage of border collies and that charities need more dogs for their important work is just so criminally stupid and irresponsible that I just want to explode. Or cry.

God knows how many calls Mountain Rescue and Hearing Dogs are going to get from people with collies who have realised they are more dog than they can handle. :-( It's not like collies even make good hearing dogs as a general rule: I am reliably informed that most need more stimulation than the job offers.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

I can imagine. I must have missed that segment while cooking dinner or entertaining roleplayers. That's not the kind of support those charities need!

On an aside, one of my big gripes with the PDSA during the three years I volunteered with them is their policy of not providing spay/neuter services. Presumably this was because it was considered non-elective and they want to focus on sick animals rather than healthy ones, but it felt misguided.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realised the PDSA didn't spay / neuter - wow, that's an omission!

I went and had a look at their website to find out if there was any justification given - and it looks like they have just recently seen the light, which is cheering!

http://www.pdsa.org.uk/pages/page01_11_8.cfm