Weims the new "trendy" dog?

[BellFounder]

Has anyone else noticed the vast number of adverts featuring weimeraners lately. Its a little disconcerting, weims are lovely dogs but SO many people are going to see them and go "oooh i want one, they're so pretty" there will be a rush of people breeding awful ones and unsuitable people buying them.
So my question - do you think using dogs in advertising could contribute to the ruination of a previously wonderful breed?

[bigdoglover]

I think the media plays a big part in things. I remember when I was working at a shelter in FL when "101 Dalmations" came out. 6 months later, we were inundated with out of control Dalmations. It was really sad.

[Cassiepeia]

Yes I think ads featuring animals in general causes trouble for the type of animal involved. Cats, dogs, birds, fish, cows, mice, rats, rabbits...what ever it may be. If someone sees them on TV, in a movie or in a magazine they suddenly have to have them.

I think it's, unfortunately, normal for people to be like this and there's nothing we can do. I don't know how breeders handle the increase in calls they get when their breed (no matter the animal) gets it's 15 minutes of fame. It'd drive me nuts.

Cass.

[DFrost]

Being a working dog trainer, I've seen this happen to the GSD, Labrador and Golden. If history repeats itself, it will also happen to the Mal and now perhaps the Weim. People want them as pets, high energy dogs that need jobs. Cute puppies then they do the unthinkable and grow into dogs, who would have thunk it. The only good thing about it, it does increase the number of dogs I have to chose from the local rescues and dog pounds. The bad thing is, I chose maybe 1 of every 25 I evaluate. The odds aren't good.

DFrost

[Novel]

People buy these cute looking puppies that Sesame Street and William Wegman have portrayed to be perfect canine companions. Then the reality sets in and they give them up. Our breed rescues are full of 6 month - 18 month old puppies that outgrew their cuteness and then became destructive hellions. Their owners, having very little experience with this strong-willed, intelligent, very active, companion dog have no idea what to do. If the dog is lucky, it gets shipped to a rescue before its completely ruined, but too many get relegated to outdoor kennels where they undergo actual mental damage from being separated from their humans.
I share pictures of my crew, and Topper has become a wonderful spokesman for the breed. Everytime someone comes up to us and says... Oh what a wonderful dog, I've always wanted one of these, I quickly tell them that it was 2 years of hard work that got us to this point. This dog is with me 24 hours a day. He used to destroy his kennels, bloodying his feet and face. He was asked to not come back to one boarding facility because he would literally bark for 24 hours straight. (We were still novices, and had we not made a commitment to this dog and to the breed, we would have never made it through his adolescence.) He still whines when crated, although we have made amazing improvements. When he was upset he'd refuse to eat. He was underweight for months, and if we didn't get him out to exercise every day he'd chew up anything he could get his paws on. We have invested thousands of hours in that dog, not to mention the time spent with our other dogs... and Topper is well bred. Laney, who is not, has the same issues, with additional temperament issues. These dogs are wonderful, I wouldn't live a day without one, but they are not for everyone, and it makes me sick every time I see their photogenic qualities used to sell food you could never feed them, toys they would destroy in a heartbeat and everything else that no Weim owner would spend a dime on!