Let me first start off by saying that my family owns a dog that is a pure bred and happens to be a Labradoodle (a mix between labrador retriever and poodle), which is a relatively new breed compared to the history of other breeds.
With that being said, I am all for the breeding of dogs, but it raised the question in my mind; Is creating new breeds of dogs immoral when there are plenty of dogs to choose from already?
As livescience states, breeding of dogs are due to messing with genes. I never thought about this before now, but I find it odd that not many people are claiming the immorality of dog breeding while a majority of people think cloning is immoral. What’s the difference between them really?
For those of you who can remember back to the boring high school science classes, then you probably already know that a gene is a part of DNA. I honestly wasn’t sure so I double checked using this website. That brings me back to the differences between breeding and cloning. While researching cloning, I used this website that says cloning copies a cell containing DNA. Therefore both breeding and cloning manipulates DNA. The difference is one creates a new species (breeding), while another creates a copy of the same species (cloning). So is dog breeding now immoral or is cloning now not immoral? Well as I said above, I don’t think dog breeding is immoral and I also don’t think cloning is immoral, but you can decide for yourselves.
Another point about dog breeding immorality is the fact that new dogs are being created even when there are dogs in shelters waiting for owners. This website is an opinion piece bashing anyone who buys purebred dogs when there are plenty of good dogs available in kennels or shelters. The author even goes so far to call the people who want purebred dogs selfish.
Now I wouldn’t call my family or myself selfish because we wanted a purebred dog, we just happened to love our dog at first sight when we saw her. So does the fact that we didn’t go to a shelter and look for a dog before going to a place that sells purebreds make us selfish or immoral? I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone who does the same thing we did is selfish or immoral. The people who are selfish and immoral are the ones who have allowed the dogs to be put in the kennel or shelter in the first place.
Sources:
http://www.livescience.com/6023-genes-dogs-breeds-discovered.html
http://rarediseases.about.com/od/geneticdisorders/a/genesbasics.htm
http://www.clonesafety.org/cloning/facts/process/
http://quinxy.com/dogs/the-selfish-immorality-of-dog-breeding-buyers-sellers/
Yeah I see nothing wrong with dog breeding, but I also don’t see anything wrong with cloning. In my opinion there are many benefits to cloning that the world should look into.
I love your post! I find it extremely interesting. Despite the surplus of dogs that are in kennels and shelters, I do not think dog breeding is immoral. My reason for this is because allergies affect many people across the world. Being allergic to a dog shouldn’t deprive someone of owning one. That would just be sad. Hypoallergenic dogs are bred to ensure that people with allergies won’t have to be pet-less. For more information about hypoallergenic breeds visit this website. http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Breeds/Hypoallergenic.aspx
I think it’s a little bit loaded statement to say that people who put their pets in a shelter or kennel are selfish and immoral. On a different note, although I do love plenty of pure bred dogs, when I think about, it does have an immoral aspect to it. Dog breeders are tampering with genetics to produce a more desired outcome, which for instance can forfeit a dogs health just to achieve a specific trait. And if someone claims to be such a dog lover, then maybe it is immoral for them to buy a purebred, rather than go to the pound first. I’m just throwing that out there.
You bring up an extremely intriguing question: “Is dog breeding now immoral or is cloning now not immoral?” And I completely agree with you that dog breeding is not immoral and cloning is immoral. As you said, they are completely different: breeding is new and cloning is copying the old. So i see nothing wrong with dog breeding.