Dog Mutts/Mixes Thread!

[Mortenson1987]

These are my 8 month old puppies, they are Dobie/Lab mix. I adopted them in may from an animal shelter 2 hours from where i live. The one with the blue collar is Zeus and the red collar is Thor.

 

[dainerra]

i would think so, as long as the dog has undergone the normal aggression testing,most mixes are healthier than purebred dogs because of hybrid vigor,

actually, there is no such thing as hybrid vigor in dogs. the majority of breeds have the same issues and not all issues are recessive anyway.

http://www.instituteofcaninebiology.org/blog/the-myth-of-hybrid-vigor-in-dogsis-a-myth

hybrid vigor comes from crossing different species such as horses and donkeys to make mules

 

[dainerra]

with shelter dogs, you are taking no more risks than you would from buying from an iresponsible breeder. With the added bonus of saving a life.

 

[henny1129]

@henny1129 your dog olive could very well be full blooded, it's kinda hard to tell without a picture of the dog standing properly but she does look beagle-y , my family raised them for years . I assume she has a white tipped tail, 99% of beagles do And her ears should just reach the tip of her nose. She should also be under 15 inches tall at the shoulders if so it sounds like she is. If she's over 15 she's some other foxhound. Cute none the less

Thank you for this information! She does have a white tipped tail, but I've never really looked to see how far her ears go down and I've never measured her. I will do this though and try to get a pic of her standing up, she's quite lazy! I honestly don't care if she's purebred or not, it's just something that I've wanted to find out......I don't understand how she ended up in a shelter for the first place, especially if she's purebred.

 

[DutchBunny03]

Good to know!! We got Arminius from a shelter. He is almost 10 and still has puppy-like energy!! Mutts usually live longer than purebreds. Do you think Arminius is part German shepherd?

 

[1cock2hens]

actually, there is no such thing as hybrid vigor in dogs.    the majority of breeds have the same issues and not all issues are recessive anyway.  

http://www.instituteofcaninebiology.org/blog/the-myth-of-hybrid-vigor-in-dogsis-a-myth

hybrid vigor comes from crossing different species such as horses and donkeys to make mules

I did read your link and to me it looks like it says hybrid vigor does exist in dogs to an extent:-/

 

[DutchBunny03]

From experience, hybrid vigor exists to some extent. Mutts live longer than purebreds. It is the same in most animals, because of the inbreeding involved to create a certain trait in the type.

 

[dainerra]

a responsibly bred dog is healthier than a randomly bred mutt. irresponsible breeding with no research often involves using dogs that are related in some way. "I have a boy and a girl" (frequently with both of them bought from local breeders) is often the only criteria a backyard breeder needs to put 2 dogs together. Local populations from those type of breeders quickly become intermixed and you have a population of dogs that are related at some point in their pedigree. These type of dogs are most likely to have issues.

however, randomly mixed breed dogs aren't "hybrid" - you are simply increases the chance that there are no common ancestors. But, if you have a lab mixed with a GSD (for example) you have pups that have the same chance of hip issues, heart issues, cancer etc since those problems are common in both breeds.

When it comes to making mixes on purpose, you run into an even bigger problem. No responsible breeder of labs, poodles, etc etc will sell a quality dog with knowledge that it will be used to make mutts. So, the "breeder" either buys a pet quality dog and breeds it anyway or they buy from a backyard breeder who is more likely to have poor quality breeding stock to begin with. So you are starting off with parents that are more likely to have genetic issues or carry the genes for issues. And since many issues don't have clinical symptoms until the dog is older and has already been bred, you don't know unless you have the testing done. And that's something that those breeders don't do.

 

[1cock2hens]

@dainerra sorry friend I'm not buying what you are selling , agree to disagree ヽ( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ )v

 

[dainerra]

"hybrid vigor" is a scientific term. it means a very specific thing. yes, some mixes are healthier than their counterparts. But at the same time, how many people test their dogs for issues if they aren't seeing any symptoms? purebred dogs from responsible breeders often are, even those sold as pets. In many cases, the breeder refunds part of the purchase price for having the testing done. And all dogs that are considered for breeding are tested, no matter if they are showing symptoms, by responsible breeders.

The GSD pictured above never limped a day in his life. No one would have known that he had absolutely horrible hips, to the point where the edges of the socket had actually ground into a sharp point. He did show a few symptoms at around 8 years old, only after hard exercise - things that most would have simply chalked up as old age. But because his breeder encouraged him to be checked, I knew it was there.

a form of what is generically called "hybrid vigor" does exist in dogs. but it is from outcrossing unrelated dogs. If dog A (subject to diseases T, U, and V) mates with dog B (subject to diseases X, Y, and Z), none of the puppies will have those recessive issues. But they can carry for all of them So if any of those dogs breeds with another that carries for any combo of those, the pups can have not 3 issues but 6. it's not that the "hybrids" are stronger. Simply that the recessive genes weren't in both breeds so those particular pups don't have them. But since so many issues are common in multiple breeds, those pups aren't any healthier than any randomly bred purebred.
it's simply rolling the dice. irresponsible breeding is the same, rolling the dice but often with a deck that favors disease not health.