"The Canine As Canvas"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/sports/19grooming.html

“People sometimes say, ‘Oh, poor dog,’ ” the M.C. Teri DiMarino told the audience that surrounded the show area at the Meadowlands Exposition Center. “But their perception is limited to their front feet. Really. All they know is that people are paying attention to them. They love it.”

Is there anyone out there who has met a standard poodle (the dog of choice for this particular medium) who they honestly thought was only self-aware to its front feet? Poodles are some of the most intelligent, perceptive, intuitive dogs--which is why they're so popular. They're problem-solvers. And these dogs apparently don't notice all the hours (25 in one case) they're required to submit to baths and dyes and standing perfectly still on a small table. No, in fact, "they love it".

When my mom was four she gave her cat an "airplane ride" like she loved her father to give her. She picked the cat up by one front foot and one back foot and spun it around in the air. She was convinced the cat loved it, and was confused and hurt when it turned around and bit her foot in thanks.

I'm not going to go as far as to say this dog-sculpting is cruelty. Hair grows back, and these dogs are arguably better off than a standard poodle locked in a kennel ten hours a day and then put out in the yard all night. And animals can grow to enjoy some pretty weird-ass things. But pretending that the dogs both don't notice and "love it" is completely unreasonable.

Oh, and they look dumb.