Eugenics.

This morning, I had to take Nola(my dog) to get a check-up. The vet can be a very daunting place. I just get so focused on what I am doing there, she's going to get her X-ray done, a quick chat with the doctor and we will be out of there. I never anticipate or think about the other people and animals that will be seeking medical care. A month or so ago, we are seated in the waiting area, Nola finally stopped shaking with anxiety and fear of being at the vet, and I opened a Travel + Leisure Magazine to make a quick mental getaway to Tibet. Suddenly the doors flew open, and a hysterical woman caring white limp ball of fur, rushes in screaming about a car. The technician gently took the body from her and tried to revive it. The woman was banging her head into the wall and yelling at herself. The whole room filled with her anguish. Nola even cried softly on the floor. It was nearly unbearable the torment and pain we all could feel. 

Having had that experience recently you would think I would have been prepared this time. Although this time there was no visit from the grim reaper, I was still unprepared. Again, we are seated, I carelessly flipping through magazines, Nola seated, staring down the cat across the room. When a very large, very dirty man enters with his poor, poor dog. Her face was twisted and swollen. Overhearing the technicians, I could tell she had been treated and was back for a check-up, but looking at her I would have thought it was an emergency. It looked like a truck, yes a truck, had slammed into her face. It was contorted, hollow on one side, protruding on the other, a large growth on her snout. I wondered if it was a cancerous growth...Nola just having removed a growth on her chest/belly, I could not imagine looking at my dog with something on her face. 

This really made me go off into my head to analyze dogs, wild dogs, wolves, etc. Dogs don't die of caner out in the wild. Or at least wolves do not. Have humans cursed all of these creatures with inbreeding? What are the real pros and cons of breeding animals like this? Are we giving them good lives or just another form of torment? It has to be better, the cushy pillows, adventures, toys, treats...right???