File: packie the alpaca dog.jpg (3.4 MB)

3.4 MB JPG

Y'all, check out this cool alpaca-dog creature I found in this calendar at work, it looks like a dog, but has a neck as long as a camelid. It must be some type of hybrid, or an AI mistake?

Seeing this cool alpaca dog got me wondering, because dogs are so easy to genetically alter via selective breeding, would it be possible to breed dogs that have hair like an alpaca, or perhaps a goat? A goat-dog would be a huge boon to the textiles industry. As you probably already know, cashmere is one of the most sought-after luxury fabrics in existence, and what makes it so rare is that it comes from goats that can only live in certain small areas of land with a specific diet, and that trying to crowd the number of them leads to the ruin of that land. Meanwhile, a dog can live, thrive and survive pretty much anywhere a human can. We need to industrialize dog fur.

Maybe we're already closer than previously unthought? My sister got a cockapoo 15 years ago, they're now one of the most popular dog breeds, very smart and friendly, and non hypoallergenic. She takes it to get sheared like a sheep regularly. What do they do with the fur? It would probably make great pillows. I know wool is naturally fire-retardant, if cockapoo fur shares the same property, bales of it could be used for domestic insulation.

There could be businesses kinda like a plasma or blood donation centers, but instead of selling your own bodily fluids, you brought your dog, and instead of stealing fluids from the creature, they'd shear them and pay you for it, and then sell it to big mills that would turn it into comfy expensive socks.

What do you guys think?