“I wish people would realize that animals are totally dependent upon us, helpless, like children, a trust that is put upon us.”  – James Herriot

I have a friend who jokes that when she dies, she wants to come back as my dog, pampered, protected, and well-loved. We laugh about that, knowing many, many dogs live lives of luxury and enrichment with devoted pet parents. But we are not blind to many other dogs living desperate lives alone on the street, used in dog fighting rings, trapped in countries where dogs are eaten as meat, suffering in deplorable puppy mills and countless other cases of dog neglect and abuse. Every individual case of mistreatment is a tragedy for the animal involved and a reproach to the humans allowing or participating in it.

While individual cases of abuse rightly arouse our ire and make us question humans’ status as “best friends” with our canine companions, we need to be thinking more deeply about this issue, asking ourselves: how is our species, Homo sapiens, affecting the well-being of the species Canis lupus familiaris?  Looking at the big picture of species’ health over time, are we treating them as well as possible on a biological level for the betterment of the species? My two main biological concerns are these:

In answer to the first question, humans are failing miserably in supplying our canine companions with adequate nutrition for a healthy life and normal longevity. While it is true that dogs can utilize a higher number of carbohydrates in their diets than their wolf ancestors, this is not a green light for feeding them starches on a regular basis. The great wolf to proto-dog to dog transformation occurred during a time when canine diets were dictated by what they could hunt or scavenge off refuse piles. Their diets would have been a raw protein/fat diet with some carbohydrate scraps. This is still the ideal diet for our modern dogs: raw meat, organs and bones supplemented with small portions of vegetables and fruits and even smaller portions of grains for additional vitamin, mineral and antioxidant support.

Today, with the convenience (for humans) of large bags of highly processed kibble foods, most dogs are eating a high starch diet every day made from cheap grains. These kibble diets are a stress on our dogs’ carnivorous digestive system, leading to degenerative diseases and organ failure. Obesity, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, etc., were rare in dogs one hundred years ago yet all are quite common today. Also, the life spans of dogs have shrunk in the past one hundred years. Some pure-bred breeds, especially the giant breeds, have alarmingly short life expectancies now. Highly processed kibble and canned foods were introduced around one hundred years ago and they appear to be a major culprit in our dogs’ declining health. Yet knowing these facts, most humans continue feeding their best friends damaging diets. What kind of a friend is that?                                            

Feeding any species an inappropriate diet is a sure way to weaken the species into eventual extinction. It won’t happen overnight, but the gradual decline in lifespan, fertility rates and general health is only leading in one direction. And that downward direction spells trouble for our dogs who are completely dependent on human beings for their nutritional welfare. If we want our canines to remain a viable species, we need to feed them correctly, and this is especially important for dog breeders.

Are dog breeders benefiting dogs as a species or harming them? Breeding dogs should be a well-thought-out, passionate hobby for knowledgeable people who want to improve their breed and ultimately the whole dog species. Unfortunately, it has often become a business for callous people whose main interest is money and who have little to no knowledge of canine mental or physical needs. And we are all aware of the sentimental, selfish breeders who raise dogs for their own emotional gratification with little awareness of the problems they are creating through their incompetence. Truly responsible dog breeders are hard to find; irresponsible dog breeders are numerous and toxic to the species they purport to care for.

The majority of dog breeders today do not feed their breeding animals ortheir pups a species-appropriate diet, and because raising a litter correctly is an expensive and time-consuming process, most usually feed a quick-to-fix, cheap kibble-based diet. Pour hard, dry pellets in a bowl a few times a day and, voila, you’re done. This callous behavior sets their pups up for a lifetime of allergies, digestive issues, skin problems, weak immune system issues, etc., that their new owners will have to contend with. When poor nutrition starts early, the detrimental effects on puppies may not be manifested immediately, but those negative effects will eventually surface in costly sickness.  I usually see the results ofnegative dietary effects in puppies at around 2 years of age. If sire, dam and pups were consistently fed a correct carnivore diet, nutritional deficiencies would not arise and species’ health would be maintained.

In their rush to create a perfect dog, pure-bred dog owners are guilty of overemphasizing popular visual characteristics when choosing which dogs to mate together. Pugs’ snouts get flatter, Bulldogs’ heads get heavier, wrinkled breeds get more wrinkles, some tall breeds get taller and some small breeds get smaller. Sadly, many of these unique characteristics do not enhance the health or strength of the breed, making small breeds more fragile, large breeds more cumbersome and accident-prone, short-nosed dogs develop more breathing problems, wrinkled breeds become more prone to infections and large headed breeds are less able to reproduce naturally.

In their book Dogs, Raymond and Lorna Coppinger point out that, “Closing the stud book on a population, in order to promote specific traits, inadvertently and dangerously starts a process of inbreeding. Inbreeding decreases the amount of genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is a source of genetic vitality.” Poor breeders conveniently forget that line-breeding and in-breeding can not only establish certain good genetic outcomes such as an attractive coat color but also cement bad genetic outcomes such as hip dysplasia into their breed. Without genetic diversity, all species will end up withering and eventually dying. This dooms day scenario would be completely caused by human behavior not by our canines.

At this point in time, dogs are a diverse species of every size, shape, color, and with an exceptional range of skills, largely due to human influences. But perhaps it is time for us to step back and encourage less human selection and more natural selection, focusing on healthy patterns of nourishment and positive inherent behaviors. Our dogs’ rare ability to form deep emotional bonds with another species (human beings) sets them apart from nearly every other mammal and ensures our desire for their continued health and happiness. Far surpassing wolves as a successful species, we need to make sure our best friends will be around just as long as we are, because a world without dogs is simply unimaginable.