It never ceases to amaze me why we admire pedigree dogs so much. The pinnacle is of course Crufts dog show, that has helped vets around the world make huge profits due to the care that that have to give to these over-bred animals as various parts of their anatomy start failing. The 'important' bits are things like sloping backs at an exact angle (alsations), faces that look lke they have walked into a wall (pugs etc), legs the length of mushrooms (pekinese) etc. I could go on, but these characteristics are the only ones I know without consulting Mr Google. I suppose the pedigree people (that is, the people who decide on the characteristics rather than people of a certain pedigree) sit down and look at their own pet, and decide that's how a perfect specimen should be. ..or do they take an average? Goodness knows, but however they decide, it creates work for veterinary practises as the breeding process reduces the animal's ability to have a 'normal' functioning body. Having said all that, most (all) domesticised animals have a focused breeding to s certain extent to suit their captors needs, so I don't know why I find it so shocking. I'll stop now.
As for human capabilities, I managed a whopping 14 mile run (whopping for me). I tagged along with Beck and Ed for a slow 4 miles, and when they left me at South Kelsey I felt suitably fresh to go that extra few miles (through Nettleton Woods) to get the 14 in. My legs thought I had done a marathon, but not enough to stop me going out for a 30 mile bike yesterday in the wind so I can probably manage another one next weekend.
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