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May 12, 08 Tuesday

I probably should have mentioned this when it was actually recent, but between the time that I started this journal and now, I got glasses. These glasses have been the salvation of me when trying to read stuff written on the whiteboard. But I don't usually use them at home. They're distance glasses. One day when I was staying home from school because of a little bit of sickness, my dad offered to take me to Costco to get an eye test, because I'd told him I was having trouble seeing. There was the obligatory testing of lenses by having me read random letters from far away, but there was also a machine that blew air into my eye to "test the pressure". Then we picked out a frame, and showed this one lady my perscription and the frame I wanted. But I didn't actually get the glasses for a week and a half. My dad told me not to wear them constantly because my eyes would get too used to them and my vision would get worse, but I always wear them at school. And I'm wearing them now! 4laugh

Have any of you seen the top notch dog shows? ....well, pretend you have. They're freakishly competitive. You're dog is practically non-eligible to win unless it's 100% purebred. And the dogs get marked down for the slightest variation from what is considered standard for its breed. If that sounds elitist to you, it dang well is. I've seen classified ads for English bulldog puppies with championship lines that cost 1,800$. (On the other hand, nearly all ads for kittens just say 'to a good home'.) That's more than I'm willing to pay for some painstakingly-bred bulldog when I can find perfectly good puppies and dogs at an animal shelter that badly need a home. It's not the dogs' fault though. My dad has told me about this before. Some breeders are reputable, but too many inbreed their dogs to get the 'purest' genes, breeding sibling to sibling or offspring to parent to get puppies of a 100% pedigree. But this brings out unhealthy, recessive genes and makes defects in the dogs, so they get sick easily, or weak, and highly inbred dogs have lots of physical and even mental defects. But it's not necessary to inbreed a dog to get pedigree puppies. Consider this if you're about to adopt a purebred dog. Make sure you do your homework and get a reputable breeder who raises his/her dogs in good conditions and does not practice inbreeding (I'm Chiro Roseheana, and I approve this message 3nodding )

Also, you know what kind of dogs I like? Mixed breeds. Mixed breeds tend to be healthy and intelligent, but they face a kind of discrimination among some top dog breeders. You know what I would like to do if I could? Host a high-end dog show for mixed breeds only! A dog can't even enter unless it has at least two breeds (but I'd still want the owners to at least know what breeds went into their dog). Instead of nitpicking about breed standards, I'd encourage the judges to judge the dogs on health, beauty, fitness, and training. So bring your favorite schnoodle and your game face!!!! ....I mean, if I could host a dog show. Which I can't. Ooh! You know what someone should do? Cross a dachshund and a chihuahua. It would be ADORABLE.

razz