Reply #106: I personally have issues with breeding for "looks"

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

Obviously, this doesn't extend to cats, because specific breeds of cats aren't bred for a purpose.

But in dogs, I have HUGE issues with breeding for show conformation. It results in lots of health issues for the dogs. I have two rescue Border Collies. Both are from working lines. They were bred to work, and it shows in how they act. People always ask if they're Border Collies mixes (or a heeler mix in the case of Mick), because they don't look like the fluffy, fat "Border Collies" that the AKC is breeding now. The AKC hasn't even recognized them for long at all, and their version is already completely different than the working version. Bigger, fluffier, dumber, more hyper, and less healthy. Border Collies have a reputation for being insane, because they are bred to act that way. It's a shame.

Just like the German Shepherds being shown are totally crippled. My mom has a German Shepherd pup from German schutzhund lines, and it's completely different than the dogs you see on TV. Her hips aren't sloping and lame. She comes from dogs that are bred to do protection work, and crippled dogs just can't do that.