dog lovers opinion on latest craze of crosses! (labradoodles, puggles etc!)?

Question

My family own a labradoodle and she is the nicest dog! she is so gently and loving and seems to have got the best of both breeds, i also own a pure lab, but i have heard lots of breeders of purebreeds critize these dogs and others as they think they are ruining the pure breed what does anyone else think?

Answer 1

there have been cross breeds of dogs since man started keeping dogs - you'll never see any of them at Crufts but what the heck, as you've pointed out they don't need a pedigree as long as your arm to be faithful and loving pet.. my dog is a cross with about 100 other breeds but I wouldn't swap her for the world... she's a pedigree mutt and I love her for it

Answer 2

Since dogs were first domesticated man has selectively bred from them to produce the multitude of breeds we have now.

So if you think about it all the current pure breeds originate from cross breeding. The German Shepherd Dog, for example, is a relatively new breed. The first GSD was registered in the late 19th Century and looked nothing like the modern GSD.

The Labradoodle is a new breed and was a deliberate crossing by the UK Guide Dogs for the Blind of a Labrador and a Standard Poodle in order to produce a guide dog which would not shed hair or cause allergies and would retain the working ability of the Labrador.

The only thing I dislike about these dogs is their silly name - I've come across quite a number of them and they are all great dogs but have had different coat types and colour. The difference in appearance is because the 'type' has not had time to establish yet but eventually all Labradoodles will be instantly recognisable as a specific breed with their own distinctive appearance.

They can't spoil the original breeds because the Labrador Retriever and the Standard Poodle will continue as they are.

I'm not quite so happy about the Puggle - this animal has been bred as a 'celebrity accessory'. You can carry them easily and they fit into your designer handbag. I think they are a cross between a Pug and a Toy Poodle and I can't see any valid reason for this new breed - the two breeds involved are perfectly fine as they are.

Incidentally if dogs are allowed to breed without human intervention, as in the case of feral dogs, their progeny very quickly reverts to a Dingo-type. You can come across the same type of sandy-coloured, prick-eared, curly-tailed dog in Africa, South America, the Middle East and the Far East in feral packs.

Answer 3

Miriam brings up a valid point, being there is very few natural breeds of dogs, most AKC breeds stem from crossbreeding with a goal in mind.....herding, field work....etc. There is nothing to disagree with here.

I do not think that these 'designer dogs' will endanger that fate of pure breeds. Impossible. In the past mix breed dogs generally were a result of 'an accident', this never effect the pure bloodlines....neither will this fad.

One of the biggest problems I see with this dogs are when designer breeders state AKC parents. I do not fault the person who trying to make a quick buck on this fad. I blame the breeder of those AKC dogs who sold their pups without a spay or neutering clause.. This comes back to breeder responsibility, these designer dogs start from irresponsible breeders to begin with and I doubt the foundation of these mixes are from a great bloodline.

I also think some breeders who sell these dogs are very misleading to the clients. I have heard numerous owners say ...the doodle dog with become AKC soon. NOPE, it isn't going to happen. There are numerous pure breeds that aren't AKC or have limited by the AKC.

I have also heard owners state these dogs are disease free. NOPE. Just as these dogs can have the best or both breeds, they can have the worst of both breeds. I doubt anyone involved in this type of breeding has done the proper health clearances or even has the knowledge of such.

There is just so much wrong with this trend.

II think a more noble thing to do would be to go to a shelter for a mix, rather than putting the cash in the pockets of the ignorant.

Answer 4

There are good and bad licensed purebred breeders, and there are good and bad unlicensed breeders.
Good breeders look after their animals. They only breed from the best stock. They worm, vaccinate and feed them. The pups are raised properly and have the best possible chance of turning out as stable healthy adult dogs.
The main advantage of a breed is that you have a pretty good idea of what the dog will look like as an adult; its size and build. Plus the average dog will have a temperament within a given range. So you can have a fair idea of how the pups will turn out.

A crossbreed, whether its an animal or a plant, benefits from 'hybrid vigour'. A cross between two breeds will on average live longer and be healthier as long as the parents were healthy.
Mongrels lose the advantage of hybrid vigour. Their health and life expectancy is often the same as for purebreds. Thats not an opinion. The research is detailed in 'Genetics and the Social Behaviour of the Dog' by Scott & Fuller, and it was that research that changed the way the Guide dogs for the Blind work; they switched to using Lab/Retreiver and Lab/Poodle crosses.

Crossbreds probably often make better pets than a purebred. The problem is that the type of dog you end up with will still depend on the quality and health of the parents. But with a cross a big difference can be made depending on which breed was the female and raised the pups! Two pug X beagles are going to be less alike than two pugs or two beagles.

I don't like fads in the dog world, when certain breeds become popular it often spells trouble for them as anyone whos got one rushes off to breed them.
I don't think they'll ruin the breeds as breeders won't switch to crossing their show quality dogs. That makes me concerned about the quality of the parents of these crosses.
It won't really change anything except a few people are going to make some money out of selling crossbred pups. Most dogs in rescue centres are crossbreds but few people would donate £300 for a pup or young dog; yet they'll happily pay it to a breeder for a pup with 'papers'.

Answer 5

I don't think its ruining the pure breed. These people are just creating a new type of dog more suitable for todays living. But that doesn't mean the old breeds have to die out. What i disagree with is the prices these so called 'designer dogs' are being sold for. Pedigree dogs have a long history and their breeders put in alot of time and knowledge to improve the breed. Alot of these fad breeders dont seem to care about that..so why should we pay over £600 for what is technically a mutt? who's to say you'll get the best of both breeds? you could get the worst..then all that 'hard work' would have gone to waste. Don't get me wrong..i think breeding an allergen free dogie is great..but breeding them purely to go with whats popular..which alot of them are..is wrong. If they are being bred for a purpose..eg..guide dogs..as with labradoodles..or jackaddodles..to create a small allergen free dog is god..but for any other reason is just plain money grabbing.

Answer 6

The |Labradoodle is not a new breed - it's not a breed at all, its a cross breed. The experiment by Guide Dogs for the Blind was NOT a success & was not continued.
Many of today's breeds were not, as is often stated, produced by crossing 2 other breeds, but developed by selective breeding of 1 type of dog to bring out the desired characteristics to do a particular job. That's the difference from today's so-called designer breeds. They were bred to do a job of work, not to make a quick buck for the breeder & persuade the gullible to part with their hard earned cash.

Answer 7

They are all mutts. Not that they don't make great pets, it's that people are paying huge amounts of money for these mutts by greedy individuals who slap a label on the dog. There is a purpose of purebred dogs, that is to keep certain traits within the breed. Do some research. You will find that a mutt is a mutt because the "traits" of those designer dogs are not carried through to their offspring. Go to the pound and get a dog that deserves a home. They can be just as loving and a good pet.

Answer 8

Gorillagirl, existing purebreds were created with a specific purpose in mind. The creators had a goal of what they needed in a dog for the work they wanted it to do, and they worked toward a goal and did not breed any dogs that did not further their purpose.

These people creating "designer dogs" are not breeding with any goal other than doing a cross that sounds cute, can be given an interesting name, and will make them a lot of money. There is not job that they are breeding for, no standard that they are trying to achieve. It's all about the money.

And for those who want to say that Labradoodles were created to be guide dogs, that experiment was discontinued as a FAILURE because they couldn't reliably produce a non-shedding dog suitable for guiding.

Answer 9

Not every Labradoodle is a "great dog, the best of both worlds".

The biggest problem is that people who breed these MUTTS are not good breeders and the better quality dogs of either breed are not used for crosses.
The other problem is that these "breeders" charge more for the MUTTS than any of the 2 breeds that they came from.

There is nothing to be gained by breeding 2different breed for MORE money, telling people that they will ALWAYS get the best of BOTH worlds, and using poor quality dog to start with.

Answer 10

They are not "designer dogs" they are mutts. Saying that doesn't make they any less lovable to the people that own them, but I would not shell out my hard earned money to pay a breeder of mixed breed dogs when the shelters are jam packed with them.

When you adopt a shelter dog, you can make up your own name for that dog's breed, it's just as fun ;)

Answer 11

the reason people dislike them is that people breeding dogs like Labradoodles claim that they have strains that run true making them a new breed, which they are not

you can't predict even the coat type never mind anything else as to how they'll come out

and people are charging upwards of £400 for them, and whilst they may be lovely dogs (I own a complete mix of a dog ans I love him to bits) it's ripping people off and creating loads of crossbred dogs that owners believe are a new breed