Toxic positivity in pet culture.

How can being positive be a bad thing?
That’s a topic I wanted to discuss after seeing the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest being mentioned on the news.

The slogan was conveniently chosen to be about valuing dogs for their character and not for their looks. And I thought, great! Are we finally going to see people speak up about breeding dogs for exaggerated looks and features? About focusing on health rather than some arbitrary breed standard?

Of course not…

The whole contest, and the bit featured in the news, was about valuing all dogs for their character and not for how they look. Basically, trying to deliver a purely positive message about how we should all value dogs regardless of their appearance.

I don’t think you will have a hard time guessing which kinds of dogs or breeds participated, or which breed won either…

Yeah. A French Bulldog… obviously.

Followed by some of the most extreme Frankenstein designer crosses that have ever appeared on my eyeballs.

No mention at all about the detrimental effects of pedigree inbreeding, nothing about the health costs of selecting for exaggerated features. Nothing about the welfare consequences of breeding dogs for aesthetics rather than prioritising health or genetic diversity. Nothing about why some of these dogs are struggling to breathe, give birth, regulate their body temperature, move, or simply live a healthy life.

Just a nice, feel-good message about loving dogs for their character and not their looks, while conveniently making everyone feel good about their own unethical decision to buy a dog from a breeder based solely on its appearance.

Of course, you can still ethically adopt dogs and value them for who they are. But it would be nice if this positivity were used in the right way for once!
Because right now, it’s doing a lot more harm than good.