But the does dogepardo really exist? Camouflage like a leopard and sociable like a dog? The boom in searches on Google means we need to clarify. Even though genetic experimentation is at levels that are sometimes difficult to imagine and human beings have enjoyed selecting dogs to create new breeds for a long time, no one, at least for now, has created the dog leopard.
So the dog does not exist.
The social case of Nonsichimica
However, there is a female dog who has become famous because of her human friend Luca Scazzi, a barber, who dyed her to look like a leopardcreated the social profile for ‘Nonsichimica’, published a series of videos of the dog and goes around firmly saying that what we see is a dog leopard, a cross between a dog and a leopard.
A very successful mockery (which copies the case of the GQ dog).
Coloring the dog, the trend of Artistic Grooming
Clarified that it is a dyed dogcan we talk about mistreatment? Speaking of mistreatment, Italian law establishes that:
Anyone who, cruelly or unnecessarily, causes injury to an animal or subjects it to torture or behavior or fatigue or work that is unbearable due to its ethological characteristics is punished with imprisonment (Penal Code – art. 544 ter)
There is a video in which the “dog’s” skin does not appear to be healthy, but we don’t know if this is actually the case and if the colors are the cause.
The colors used should be non-dangerous, as generally happens with what is called “artistic grooming”, that is, the fashion of coloring dogs and cutting their fur to give them “creative” shades and shapes, considering themselves artists.
But which dog would choose to go to the “hairdresser”?
How to tell if a dog feels pleasure or discomfort
What misleads us, when we talk about animal welfare, is the enthusiasm and trust that dogs place in us: the fact that they allow themselves to be coloured, or that they lead their lives even if painted, does not mean that they enjoy going to the groomer and be tanned in ways that make them appear distant from their natural appearance.
Unfortunately, it is easy to confuse pleasure with surrender without reacting to the practice they are undergoing: when they pull their ears back and lick their muzzle or yawn or scratch themselves several times, when they have their mouth open and their tongue out, but it’s not hot, for example, they’re telling us they’re in trouble.
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What is dog hair for?
For us, hair now has a mainly aesthetic function, which is why we color and cut it.
For dogs, hair has a thermoregulatory and skin-protecting function, shaving and coloring them means negatively interfering with the natural balance guaranteed by the hair.
Letting dogs be and be dogs should be the goal of anyone who lives with a dog: not to dress or paint it.
They trust us and it is our responsibility to offer the dogs activities that are in line with their needs as a species: and no, getting colored is not their necessity.
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