Are There Pet Dogs In The Future?

[Ward Fowler]

In Soviet future, dogs make pets of YOU.

 

[KimMH]

Puppy survial rates improve exponentially when "Enslaved" by humans. {Cats seem to require no such trade-off} If I was a dog I might not mind so much if it ensured my puppies sruvival and VERY well-being. My dog eats regular well balanced meals (formulated by science guys) and sleeps in warmth away from the elements and sees a doctor four times a year. Most of humanity should be so lucky.

 

[sbk1234]

Kirk had a dog called Butler in Generations.

Played by Shatner's pet dog, Butler.

Whose stand-in was played by JoJo.

I had heard that the dog was originally going to be called something else in the flick, but Shatner wanted it changed to Butler in honor of a dog of his that had passed.
Anyone have a confirmation of either?

 

[WillsBabe]

^ No confirmation, but that's what I heard, too.

 

[StarryEyed]

Puppy survial rates improve exponentially when "Enslaved" by humans. {Cats seem to require no such trade-off}

That's because all these different dog breeds have come about through selective breeding to serve human purposes. They are not products of natural selection. Can you imagine a poodle trying to hack it in the wild? It would be taken down by a chipmunk inside of an hour.

 

[Timo]

What's unnatural about the dog selection process? The fittest survive - and here, fittest means those that best exploit their human servants, best communicate their needs and trade for services. A wolf wouldn't survive for a minute in a human community, whereas a dog excels in exactly that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Redfern]

Can you imagine a poodle trying to hack it in the wild? It would be taken down by a chipmunk inside of an hour.

A "toy" or "teacup" poodle, I'd agree, they probably would not do well. But a "standard" breed poodle? They're pretty dang big, and except for the silly haircuts we tend to give them, their bodies are fairly generalized. Plus, it debated they are one of the smartest breeds. The "standard" poodle would fare far better than some other "specialized" breeds. From what I've read and watched on Animal Planet, bulldogs can't even give birth unassisted. Despite their "fierce" appearance, they'd die out in just one or two generations if "left on their own".

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Nerys Myk]

Can you imagine a poodle trying to hack it in the wild? It would be taken down by a chipmunk inside of an hour.

A "toy" or "teacup" poodle, I'd agree, they probably would not do well. But a "standard" breed poodle? They're pretty dang big, and except for the silly haircuts we tend to give them, their bodies are fairly generalized. Plus, it debated they are one of the smartest breeds. The "standard" poodle would fare far better than some other "specialized" breeds. From what I've read and watched on Animal Planet, bulldogs can't even give birth unassisted. Despite their "fierce" appearance, they'd die out in just one or two generations if "left on their own".

Sincerely,

Bill

Weren't poddles bred as hunting dogs?

 

[StarryEyed]

What's unnatural about the dog selection process? The fittest survive - and here, fittest means those that best exploit their human servants, best communicate their needs and trade for services.

Timo Saloniemi

Well that selection process isn't natural - it's by design. That's why it's been possible to create so many disparate breeds in so relatively short a time. But my point was that the traits which were selected in many breeds are contrary to their survival in the wild - making them unsuitable for anything but human pets.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I always took the part about "enslaving of animals for food" as meaning today's meat factories, where animals are kept in terrible conditions, not good ol' farming.

But why would Riker equate the livestock of the Anticans with "today's meat factories"? How could he tell that the Anticans weren't doing good ol' farming, or perhaps something even more humane, in order to obtain their live food animals? It seemed more like Riker were condemning the entire practice of keeping animals for food.

Or keeping animals for eating alive, as it were. But "we no longer enslave animals for food purposes" does not sound as if it specifically condemned eating animals alive.

I must confess my memory of the episode is fuzzy. You may be right.

It seems a little strange in a futuristic society which still has billions of people they would say you can't have mass animal breeding, but you can go back to hunting on the plains.

Well, I don't think the actual population of Earth have never been established on screen. It could be anything from some hundred millions to ten billions and more. With replicator technology, most food can be of artificial origin. Or, given fast warp transports and stasis technology, Earth can be very food-dependent from colony worlds.

 

[Tom Riley]

What's unnatural about the dog selection process? The fittest survive - and here, fittest means those that best exploit their human servants, best communicate their needs and trade for services.

Timo Saloniemi

Well that selection process isn't natural - it's by design. That's why it's been possible to create so many disparate breeds in so relatively short a time. But my point was that the traits which were selected in many breeds are contrary to their survival in the wild - making them unsuitable for anything but human pets.

So? That really is a moot point nowadays. What about humans? You take a typical human being and put them out in the wild and how many of them will survive? With all the advances in technology, humans ourselves don't really survive alone in the wild. Just look at hospitals. How many people do they save that would die without medical attention? All the people who wouldn't survive without assisted living? Darwin actually said

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most responsive to change."

In our changing world, the wild actually matters a lot less. So in the case of dog breeds there... I really don't see how that ISN'T natural. In a time when pretty much all dogs are domesticated, their line of selection DOESN'T have to do with the wild, it is almost entirely dependent on the popularity of their breeds. That IS their line of selection, there wasn't anything Darwin said about selection coming from how well you survive in the wild. It was all about adaptability, and the environment. Their environment? Domesticated households. Not the wild... I don't think their ability to survive if we let them out in the wild matters any more than if we took a bunch of humans and stripped them of everything they rely on and plunge them out into the wild.