Designer Dogs

[TiaView]

For the past 20 years I have been RESPONSIBLY (health and temperment testing) breeding a rare breed that you will NEVER see in a shelter, or on the street most of the time. Breed preservation is my reasoning...the Pharaoh Hound has been around for ages and has very specific traits. It blushes, it smiles, it has tons of natural instincts you see only in it's unique breed. We have some of the top show dogs in the Country and our dogs are sweet and healthy. We put more care and time into our dogs than most folks put into their families. And if we need to...we take the dogs back in situations where the owner cannot keep the dog.
My point? Shelters are full of dogs that were irresponsibly bred because someone wanted to experiment or wanted a pup out of their grump, or wanted their kids to see the miracle of birth...animals are dying in shelters everyday and responsible breeders are not finding homes to preserve the breed that they have put so much time into (nutritional, testing, genetics, etc.) because of selfish or clueless people that breed just because they can. A dog is not a chicken. If it doesn't get a home you can't just chop it's head off and eat it. There are too many reasons to leave the breeding to the people that will take responsibly for the animals that they produce. I groom tons of designer dogs that were purchased because they don't shed, or this or that reason...they do shed. They don't have an established health or temperment "standard". And folks dump them after paying THOUSANDS of dollars all the time. Those that have a burning desire to breed fluffy should visit some shelters and see where fluffy's pups will end up without proper homework and homes.

 

[RabbitMage]

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This isn't actually true. Let's say you're breeding for "Labradoodles", and you take any random Labrador and any random Poodle without knowing much about their health or their background. There's a good chance the Lab (and it's pups) will develop hip dysplasia. But beyond that there's a chance one or both parents are carrying allergies, cataracts, heart issues, a predisposition to cancer...all things that might be passed on to the puppies.

A RESPONSIBLE breeder knows their bloodlines and has the proper health testing done before they breed. This doesn't eliminate the risk of the puppies developing any of the above issues, but it does reduce it quite a lot.

Your dogs are only as healthy as the breeding stock you start with. Being a mixed breed doesn't magically change that.

 

[TriciaHowe]

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Do you know Bekki Pina? She is my husbands best friends daughter and she shows Pharaoh hounds. They are beautiful dogs! Her 18 mth old male, Uber, is recovering from a copper head snake bite he got last month...

 

[TiaView]

Bekki and I know eachother very well. Her breeder and I are friends.

 

[TriciaHowe]

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What a small world LOL!

 

[BlackBart]

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I had a McKenzie River Husky/Wolf cross from Norman Wells, NWT ....that was free.

I was reading a article from the fellow who started the Labradoodle craze and he said he is full of regrets.

http://www.pawnation.com/2010/05/06...has-massive-regrets-over-the-craze-he-starte/

Designer dogs with high prices, designer horses with high prices. When it comes to the bottom line they are crossbreds.
Then there are the breeders of "purebred" dogs who say they are purebred but not registered. They are selling them for almost as much as registered stock.
Don't people wonder why they are not registered?

 

[bagendhens]

Oh i ADORE Pharaoh hounds, one day...mabe...one day.

personally i have no problem with people breeding to BETTER their breed as long as health tests are done, showing is nice but in my opinion not nessicary, ofa, pen hip, cerf ect depending on your breeds those make a responsible breeder to me no matter what your breeding.

things people have to remember about "designer" dogs.

1: most designer mixes come from puppymills and back yard breeders who DO NOT health or temperment test. puppymill puppies of course are simply this and that and ehy money...bybs may mean better, they love their pet such and such and want puppies with similar temperments so they breed it to their neighbors pet such another thing who has a nice personality...what they dont realize is this is not good breeding practice.

2: these mixes bred to be hypoalergenic...ARNT USUALLY HYPOALERGENIC. for one, people arnt only allergic to dog hair, but dander and saliva so unless youve got a saliva free hairless dog theres no such thing as truly hypoalergenic, the breeds closest to being truly hypoalergenic are the AHT, Xolo, Chinese crested, and PIO, hairless breeds who arnt typically dander breeds, though even these breeds have saliva and therefore can still agrivate allergies.
poodles are non shedding, NOT hypoalergenic, 2 different things...
the idea of mixing a poodle with various other breeds WAS a good one, and well thought out by the folks in australia looking to crealte the aussie labradoodle...they were looking to create a none shedding version of the lab for guide dog work...
unfortunatly they found however that even after multiple generation breedings (labradoodle to labradoodle) some of the puppies were still comming out with SHEDDING coats, the project was adandoned by most though there are still a few breeders with multi generations doodles trying to find a way to prefect the breed.

the rest of the world then saw this effort, and saw a nich, well if there doing it, we can and we'll tell everyone their hypoalergenic and make a fortune.
so many people get sucked in to the doodles and other "hypoalergenic" mixes and end up having to return or rehome their puppy because they still agrivate allergies.

3: these mixes when not created with the upmost testing are NOT healthier, because theres no such thing as hybrid vigor when it comes to the domestic canine...they are all the same species, a malti-poo is NOT a hybrid by a mix...a WOLF x DOG is a hybrid, a COYOTE x DOG is a hybrid, a DOG x DOG is NOT...so there not automatically healthier.
mixing can induce vigor in a breed with a small gene pool if its done right, but to do that theres more health testing than ever to ensure that the stock being introduced is healthy and will ADD to the existing gene pool in a beneficial way...
taking a breed prone to hip dysplasia and trying to decrease the risk through healthy breeding practices is a wonderfull idea, but using another breed prone to hip dysplasia will not better the breed...

if someone wants to create a REAL "malti-poo" and are doing so by taking a poodle and doing all the relevant helth tests from health tested lines and known GOOD background stock, and taking a maltese and doing the same, then more power to them...there doing it right...
but overall this isnt how it goes, instead its joe from down the street wants his poodle to have a litter of puppies cause shes so cute, and fred has a realy cute maltese thats intact...and tada "malti=poos" we can sell them for $1000!

thats the problems i have with it.

so to recap, breeding mixes RESPONSIBLY by health testing and aiming to better the origional breed...fine
breeding mixes willy nilly like is commonly practiced=bad!

 

[texasgal]

Capitalism -- free market.

A product is worth whatever some sap is willing to pay for it ..

I really think I have less problem with so-called "designer dogs" than I do with pupply mills hap-hazardly breeding (many times) poor quality purebred dogs and selling them to (and through) petstores that sell them at RIDICULOUS prices because they have papers ..

These dogs are usually poor quality (as breed standard goes) and have multiple health issues.

Then folks get this "Mixed breed dogs are healthier than purebred dogs" mentality because the pet store purebreds are inferior.

It all hurts the responsible purebred dog breeder, that (should) put thought into every mating .. knows the history and health of every animal .. and is breeding for a specific purpose -- dogs that will herd, or do agility, or companion temperment, or the showring ..

Ya gotta hand it to them, though .. they are taking advantage of the demand right now .. and breeding those "designer dogs" and capitalizing on it.

Ironically, they destroy thousands of throw away dogs a day that would fit the "designer dog" description ... we, as a society, can be so wasteful ....

 

[darkmatter]

My dog of many years (now RIP) was a Newfoundland X Border Collie cross. Got him for $20 as a puppy, seems he was an accident. Loved that dog, didn't have any predation problems when he was on the job. Trained him to just sit and watch the chickens, he was 'ell on Raccoons and groundhogs and anything else encroaching on the place, but loved people---not a guard dog for people, just varmints. If it was possible to economy clone a dog, I’d clone that one.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
I had a McKenzie River Husky/Wolf cross from Norman Wells, NWT ....that was free.

I was reading a article from the fellow who started the Labradoodle craze and he said he is full of regrets.

http://www.pawnation.com/2010/05/06...has-massive-regrets-over-the-craze-he-starte/

Designer dogs with high prices, designer horses with high prices. When it comes to the bottom line they are crossbreds.
Then there are the breeders of "purebred" dogs who say they are purebred but not registered. They are selling them for almost as much as registered stock. Don't people wonder why they are not registered?

Actually, you don't need put the 'wolf cross' into the equation when speaking of Macs, as anyone that has them knows that their heritage is wolf (and a bunch of other breeds) so to say they are a Mac/Wolf cross is a misnomer.

And of course it was free, it's a MUTT. Just as mine are.

You're right about the registering, it only costs (correct me if I'm wrong) a few bucks to get that piece of paper. So why not? Now, I can stand up for that end a little, I had a purebred Yellow Lab many years ago, and I had his pedigree... folks were giving him away, they had never sent in the paperwork and now it was too late. So Buck COULD have been registered if not for the procrastination of the original owners. He had a pedigree to DIE for... champions on both side in both show AND field. He was a great pet