Bernstein Madeline - Designer dogs: an exposé: inside the criminal underworld of crossbreeding

Designer Dogs

DESIGNER

DOGS

an expos

Inside the Criminal

Underworld of Crossbreeding

MADELINE BERNSTEIN

Foreword by Dr. Phil McGraw

Designer Dogs: An Expos
Inside the Criminal Underworld of Crossbreeding

Copyright 2018 by Madeline Bernstein.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be sent by email to Apollo Publishers at info@apollopublishers.com.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Rain Saukas.

Print ISBN: 978-1-94806-206-0
Ebook ISBN: 978-194806-213-8

Printed in the United States of America.

To shelter pets everywhere and to those
who selflessly care for them.

Contents

Foreword

by Dr. Phil McGraw

I have spent most of my life, actually since I was twelve years old, focusing on and studying why people do what they do and dont do what they dont do. Think about that concept for a minute. If you have real insight and understanding into what motivates people, you have the ability to influence their thoughts and behaviorsnot in some nefarious evil way, but just by talking about things that matter to people who care.

That is exactly what Madeline Bernstein does in her groundbreaking, call to action book, Designer Dogs . Madeline talks about things that matter to those of us who care, and we all should. We can all have a role, whether passive or active, in the lives of millions of innocent and loving puppies born in America e very year.

I jumped at the chance to write this foreword because I want to challenge everyone who picks up this book to ask himself or herself, and implore friends and family to ask themselves, why they are acquiring or considering acquiring a dog. There are right reasons and wrong reasons. And your selection of which dog to add to your family is just as important as the decision to get a d og at all.

Be honest with yourself, weigh the decision carefully. If you are acquiring a dog as you would an item of jewelry or to complete your macho image, and you are making your selection based on what is in at the moment because of some movie or because some person you admire has one, here is some advice: do nt do it.

Furthermore, if the dog you think you want is some high-priced designer dog, then acquiring that dog is nothing short of an act of cruelty and abuse. That dog has been unnaturally forced into existence and is very likely unhealthy and unhappy. For every designer dog purchased, a mutt in need of adoption is left in a cage wishing someone would scruff up his ears and take him home.

Thirteen years ago, I had the privilege of adopting my shadow, Maggie. She was an eight-week-old snowball, thought to be a Lab/husky mix. spcaLA found her under a foundation at a commercial building site. I think she grew up more Jindo than anything, but it made no difference. When I picked her up and we got in the car, she climbed up on my shoulder and wrapped herself around my neckand my heart!

For the last thirteen years Maggie has devoted her entire existence on this earth to being by my side. If I go upstairs, she goes upstairs. If I go to the studio, she goes to the studio. If I travel to Europe, you guessed it, she goes to Europe. Thats all she asks, just to hang around where I am. She is the gentlest spirit you could ever imagine, until she perceives a threat to anyone in our family. You dont want to be that threat! She would fight Bigfoot if he had a chainsaw! Just little Maggie, the mutt.

She wont fit in a teacup. She has never been in a movie or a TV series. She cant seem to get both ears going in the same direction at any given time, but she is the best dog to ever stand on four paws. You cannot get her strength of character or commitment mass made in some puppy mill or by some profiteering dog designer that overbreeds in a way that shows he has a weak con stitution.

I said earlier that I am fascinated by why people do what they do and dont do what they dont do. I asked and answered that question before I contacted the amazing and devoted Madeline Bernstein and her organization, spcaLA, and found Maggie. My why was that I wanted to give an orphaned dog a safe and loving home and I wanted a companion to hang out with. I had no idea at the time that I was rescuing my best fr iend ever.

When you finish reading this insightful expos, I pray that you will turn your back on the overbred and unsafe designer dog breeders appealing to the in crowd and go get yourself a real friend, one that nee ds a home.

The world works on supply and demand. When you read what Madeline has to say, you can help dry up the demand by simply not being a buyer. When you finish reading Designer Dogs , talk about it, recommend it, tweet and post on Facebook about it. Lets help Madeline make s ome noise!

Oh, and when you adopt your Maggie, pay the fees for a few more adoptions if you can afford to, so some families without the funds might have a furry f riend too.

Thank you, Madeline. Thank you for caring and never stopping the fight.

Preface

It Started Here

I still hope to be able to make something out of myself, but who can do anything after Beethoven?

Franz Schubert

W hen I was a kid, I wanted two things: a piano and a collie named Lassie. Unfortunately, my parents were just starting out and had zero disposable income. So my father made me a cardboard piano on which I could practice my lessons. In other words, I could hum while my fingers developed muscle memory fo r scales.

The dog was more complex. Every one of my suburban friends had a purebred collie named Lassie, or Laddie if the dog was male. I knew what I wanted: Lassie, not Laddie. Lassie . It had to be Lassie. According to the television show, Lassie understood everything and could do anything.

One day, when I was about eight years old, my father came home with a black and brown puppy, which hed received from a law client who had a litter of them but no funds to pay my fathers fee. Wow, I thought, is this what collies look like when theyre babies? When I realized that it wasnt the dog that I wanted, I was horrified. Clearly my friends had parents who loved them more. Did no one care if I fell into a well? I was the neighborhood pariah with a black and tan mutt and no hope of rescue from trouble. I felt pretty pathetica cardboard piano and a mutt in a world of baby grands and collies. I was just lucky I didnt h ave acne.

I did not understand the high price tag and maintenance expenses necessary for a purebred collie, nor the dangers of succumbing to peer pressure. I didnt know the sad reality of how the high demand for collies contributed to setbacks for the breed, as unscrupulous breeders produced puppies at a rate unsafe for their genetic survival. Instead, I understood that I had a knockoff when other kids had the real thing, and I could only sing myself a sad song on my cardboa rd piano.

Of course, my mutt, Lucky, became my soul mate and was with me for eighteen years. During that time, things changed. I was considered luckier than my city friends, who werent allowed a dog at all, and I stood out as a unique contrarian in a neighborhood of dog owners with upscale, snooty collies. In fact, many of my wealthy Manhattan classmates, who lived in apartments with prohibitions against pets, thought I was the richest of them all, with my real dog in my real backyard. Conversely, my friends in our thenlower-middle-class Yonkers neighborhood thought I was poor and unlucky, as my parents saved up for a piano instead of a collie.