Ranting about horrible mix breeding between all animals no matter what the animal is

[JaeG]

Some dog breeds have changed significantly over a short space of time as breeders take certain features to the extreme, and not in a good way. My sister has a French Bulldog. He has already had surgery to his nostrils and that procedure will need to be done again soon. The poor thing gets so out of breath so easily. He cost a lot to buy and he costs a lot to maintain with expensive vet bills to help the poor thing do the most basic, natural thing - breathe. He can't even sit like a normal dog.

Every single breed has been created by selectively crossing dogs with particular features until the offspring are standardised in a predictable way. I see no harm in crossing particular breeds for specific purposes such as producing a non shedding dog, which was the purpose behind which labradoodles were created - a guide dog that did not shed like a labrador does and could be used by those with allergies to dog hair.

But I completely agree that crosses that aren't researched or thought out can have very negative consequences and it makes me mad to see them marketed as something special with a hefty pricetag. I have seen ridiculous 'designer' crosses such as a chihuahua crossed with a miniature pinscher. Why? Why would you cross two highly strung breeds such as those? Or crossing a Birman cat with a Ragdoll cat. Ragdolls fur doesn't matt up in the way that Birmans do, so you lose the easy car fur of the Ragdoll by introducing the Birman breed. Why?

But I am having fun crossing our heifers to particular breeds and I'm looking forward to seeing how their offspring grow. They are all dairy/beef crosses, and I have carefully selected, after much research, different breeds to AI them to. And our Wiltshire ewe lambs have a Damara ram in with them, so I'm hoping come springtime (I'm in the southern hemisphere) we will have some 'Meatmaster' sheep to grow on for the freezer.

 

[CharcoalDragon]

AKC registration doesn't mean much of anything. There is no guarantee of physical or mental health. It's a organizational body, not a governing one. A lot of breeds refuse to become a part of it.

There are breed specific rescues because people have chosen to dedicate their life to a particular breed.
However, there's a lot of breed elitism in the dog world, so this can very much be a double edged sword.
If a breed rescue adopts out a Aussie, and the Aussie jumps the seven foot fence, suddenly, the rescue won't adopt out unless you have a ten foot fence. If the Aussie bites a kid, suddenly, the rescue won't adopt out unless you don't have any young children in the house. It can get very exclusive very quickly.
And again, purebred is not wellbred- just because you have two papered dogs, doesn't mean you can produce sound pups. The papers don't mean much unless they have actual health test results on them. People will register their dogs and produce pups just to get another form of paper: $$$

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

The last time I went to a shelter it was in Phoenix. There were rows and rows of mostly owner-surrendered pit bulls and pit bull mixes, mostly in the 1 to 2 year old category, and a handful of chihuahuas with attitude. There were very few dogs of other breeds. Most people don't surrender beloved pets without trying to fix the problem. Genetics play a big part in what a dog is. Enough said. Those dogs were not what I would want in a pet. You can cite the party line of adopt from a shelter all you want, but when I get a dog, it is a lifetime commitment and I want the best possible fit for the next dozen plus years. I also want a healthy pet. Good breeders are the way to go.

 

[chickentrains]

I'd be so much more likely to agree with the behavioral issue argument if (as I said in a previous post) the AKC didn't have hundreds of different breed rescues with thousands of pure bred dogs in them. If pure bred dogs don't have as many issues, why are there so many in breed specific rescues?

Pure bred does NOT equal well bred. THAT IS WHY.

 

[h2oratt]

shelter dogs are great! whats wrong with shelter dogs? I mean i couldn't care less if my dogs are pure bred, and unlike chickens, there no shortage of breeders preserving breeds. If you can, you should get a shelter dog before you try to buy from a breeder unless you are specifically looking for one breed. Saying that mixed breeds/shelter dogs are "less than" other dogs is really harmful to the hundreds of thousands of dogs in kill shelters that need a home. Unless you really want a specific breed, go to a shelter before anything else. Chickens i slightly understand, but i still don't mind mixed breed chickens, or mixed any animal

You can’t even get a “shelter dog” nowadays. Unless you want a badly bred pitbulls or chi.

 

[h2oratt]

The last time I went to a shelter it was in Phoenix. There were rows and rows of mostly owner-surrendered pit bulls and pit bull mixes, mostly in the 1 to 2 year old category, and a handful of chihuahuas with attitude. There were very few dogs of other breeds. Most people don't surrender beloved pets without trying to fix the problem. Genetics play a big part in what a dog is. Enough said. Those dogs were not what I would want in a pet. You can cite the party line of adopt from a shelter all you want, but when I get a dog, it is a lifetime commitment and I want the best possible fit for the next dozen plus years. I also want a healthy pet. Good breeders are the way to go.

I agree.

 

[Chickenslol]

You can’t even get a “shelter dog” nowadays. Unless you want a badly bred pitbulls or chi.

all of my dogs have been shelter dogs, and during the search for my current one we went to about ten shelters. while there were definitely dogs with behavioral issues there were a lot of sweet dogs who had been though a lot and just needed love. sometimes harmful rhetoric like this is the reason most of these dogs won’t get homes. i’d encourage people to give shelter dogs a chance before you judge them, the same way i won’t demonize breeders. (also it matters regionally, inner cities are more likely to have dogs with issues than dogs in suburban or rural areas). my point is, all dogs, regardless of background or breed, deserve love.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I had two dogs that were both adopted (fixed as well, just a note), and I think were not purposefully bred but accidental. They were passed over because of their mix - Golden Retriever and Chow. Chows have a bad reputation with many I talk to, and people were scared of my male because he favored the Chow appearance. What loving, amazing dogs they were/have been (the sister of these two twins passed last year).

On my end, not a rant, just to say simply not to pass judgement on them just because of appearance or breeds.

 

[TenderfootFarm]

Here’s a thread we can rant about shelter dogs and actual great bred dogs by experienced people and why we prefer to buy from thos people and not shelter dogs @DLHOCNT can post photos of what you hate and love about dogs that are mix bred or just purebred I love purebred over mixing breeds

Why is your title about "all animals" but is only focused on dogs? How about a fainting goat bred with a pigmy? No good? And for the love of god, please use SOME punctuation!!!...???

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Reckless crossing is more likely to lead to healthy dogs than excessive in-breeding. So between the two extremes I’d prefer the former.

I’m a big fan of bulldogs. It’s a shame what has been done to the English bulldog through excessive pure breeding and exaggeration of traits. Here’s a pure bred English bulldog from an earlier time:

A modern English bulldog:

So no, I don’t believe in purity for purity’s sake. I believe in breeding to make a healthier end result, which means introducing fresh genes from time to time.

The best bulldogs today are crosses, either fresh crosses or bulldogs that were crossed several generations back.

A couple of mine: this one is an English bulldog F1 cross to a French mastiff and further back also had Staffordshire infused in.

This one was generational, meaning he bred true to his kind and was last crossed several generations previous. His distant ancestors besides English bulldog were American bulldog, bullmastiff, and pit bull.

I’m not a big fan of shelters. Primarily because in modern times they’re mostly repositories for random pit bull crosses that IMHO should be all put down if they aren’t wanted both for safety’s sake and for practicality. Those dogs are physically quite healthy but it’s Russian roulette as to how dangerous they are. Yes, temperament is first and foremost a function of genetics. I’m convinced you can take a dog born with good temperament and make it dangerous with poor raising but you won’t make one born with a bad temperament safe. People seem to find the notion that some dogs are born bad as unfair, as if fairness actually exists in nature. It doesn’t, and yes some or even many dogs are born dangerous.