PETA U.K.’s ‘Dog’ged Fight Against Racism

What do breeders breed—besides dogs with crippling congenital defects?

Canine racism.

PETA U.K. recently unveiled its new “Boycott Breeders” ad just in time for the Crufts Dog Show—an event that, like the Westminster Dog Show in the U.S., encourages the false and dangerous belief that some races breeds of dogs are superior to others.

About one in four pedigree dogs is born with painful and life-threatening genetic defects—including hypothyroidism, demodectic mange, epilepsy, cataracts, allergies, chronic ear infections, and hip dysplasia—all of which have been handed down through generations of inbreeding and selective breeding. And pedigree dogs aren’t the only animals who suffer because of the breeding industry. Every time a dog is purchased from a breeder, another who has been awaiting adoption in an animal shelter, longing for a home, dies. It’s a fact: Breeding purebreds in a world in which millions of animals are homeless is pure heartlessness.

Written by Logan Scherer