Hachi, A Dog’s Story

Here’s the teaser trailer for the movie and below that some of my thoughts on the topic.

I would be fascinated to see what would happen if the best “dog show” dog breeders all decided that they would never take money for a dog. If they showed how much they love dogs by only giving dogs to people who “earned” them through learning training, understanding the breed, and helping out the breeder by volunteering their time. That way, only the best potential owners would get dogs from them.

This might remove the economic reasons for puppy mills. They couldn’t justify charging $1,000 for a dog as well when the best dogs are “free”. It might frame the discussion about what makes a good owner, and make people ask if they are worthy of being a good enough owner for one of the best dogs. It might also set the belief that if you pay for a dog, it’s probably not a very good dog.

A couple of years ago a dachshund won some dog show and was on the view. The owner was clearly a very rich woman. When asked how much she charged for a dog, she said $4,000. But, she told the audience, “I don’t make any money.” Yes, I’m sure after the airline tickets, hotels, restaurants, and the servants that you spoke of that actually do the work that “you don’t make any money.”

Selling dogs for this kind of money creates the attitude that if you’ve got the money, you deserve the dog. And even if the “best” breeders don’t necessarily have that attitude, it’s what creates an atmosphere where puppy mills can breed dogs on a large scale to make lots of money.

But all of the people who buy Akitas after this film will feel they are both prepared for and deserve them because they paid so much for them.