Are mutts healthier than purebreds?

Question

I keep seeing people say this, yet no one has cited any sort of study or proof.

To me, this statement doesn't make sense. With a purebred, you pretty much know what potential health problems to watch for. When you start adding in breeds, to me, that seems like it should add more potential health problems.

For example, one thing german shepherds need to be watched for hip dysplasia. Now let's say I breed it to another dog, say, a rottweiler, which also need to be watch for hip dysplasia as well as hypothyroidism. Those problems don't disappear. Now they are ALL in the mix for potential health issues.
(Health issues taken from: http://www.uexplore.com/health/healthproblems.htm )

Let's use people now. If your mom's side of the family has a history of heart disease, and your dad's side of the family has a history of diabetes, you have BOTH of those potential issues, not neither.

Does anyone have any *real* support that mutts are healthier?

A tidbit on mutts:
http://www.learntobreed.com/mutts.html

For those people talking about "hybrid vigor", do you realize that dogs are the SAME SPECIES.

Selective breeding has developed them into different breeds, but they are still the same species.

A hybrid is a mix of species, not a mix of breeds.

Answer 1

DUCK!!!!

I have asked this question before and gotten a lot of stupid, uneducated, and flat out rude answers, that you would be shocked!

You and I understand genetics. Many people don't. They assume because you are mixing two (or more) different breeds, you are breeding out the faults. They really don't understand the truth!

Answer 2

no i don't really think so. that cross would have a good chance at getting HD.
I think when there is a lot of breeds heniz 57's parnets mutts and so on down the line that there has not been a purebred in since the great great great grandmother was a collie i'd say the chance of some problems might lessen depending on what other breeds are all in it. but they can have the chance as a purebred dog.

the problem with getting the mutt from the farm or the people who let the mother run free is they are not feed good food. when i got the dogs i have now the guy was feeding them special kitty cat food. i took the whole litter from him and kept the 2 runts cause they need tlc and thought they may get sick in the shelter. the others went to the shelter i thought it was a kinder fate then freezing to death, BTW they all got adopted.

my boys mom was a lab mix but she was small. dad????
hunter has had a cyst on his tail. brad has a back dewclaw with out the toe. they seem to be heathy and i can't complain...
scruff (my pic) was a mutt mom was a terrier of some sort. he had secuzres for a bit. the vet was never sure what they were caused by. if it was something he had gotten into but he was weaned off the drugs and was fine. he did have HD. and fatty lumps but thats old age and his kidneneys started to go and he was put down at 16.

but i know a collie mix who is a epylipic(sp the spelling check won't work...). and a chow lab mix with HD. a pit mix who had cancer and a shepherd mix with HD....thats all i can think of off hand that are mutt/mixes.

so a heniz 57 might be better then those 'designer breeds' that claim alot of bs and cost to much and the breeding pair more then likely have the breeds' health problems. the best bet is a GOOD BREEDER pure breds...

i don't know of any where there is prove that a mutt is a healthy dog....us amercian are mutts after all and we still have health problems....lol.

Answer 3

I think the idea definitely started by someone thinking about hybrid vigor. You're right though, it doesn't apply to breeds. To be sure, if a mutt is a mix between two breeds with two completely different issues, the chances of each issue presenting itself is slightly lower (since you didn't get genes for the issues from both parents) but that in no way means that the dog is not likely to have the issues. And if the dog is a mix between two dogs with the same congenital problems (like hip dysplasia) then the chances are exactly equal to those of a purebred.
I love mixed breeds...all of my animals have been mixes of some sort. I don't think that people really think about some of the things they say, however, before they say them. Heck, I'm as guilty as some people on this as well.
P.S. I found a news article talking about the "Designer" dog trend and the ideas people have about mutts (like hybrid vigor) which are not necessarily true. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1302994

Answer 4

Purebreds & mutts are about the same when it comes to health problems. Purebreds have health problems that are known to the breed itself. This is why genetic testing on breeding dogs is so important. A dog bred by a responsible breeder is less likely to develop problems like HD. A mutt who knows , it can have a varity of health issues because its a mix breed dog.

Answer 5

Many people say so, but personally I couldn't site any actual statistics. I do know that some of the indiscriminate breeding that has been done (at least in the US) has contributed to the negative health issues....many people want to breed their brand X pure bred dog as soon as it is able with no concern for healthe problems that might not show up till later, greatly increasing the chance that you are breeding two dogs with HD, allergies, whatever, and producing a whole bunch of new pups with problems that uninformed people are more than willing to buy because they have "papers", then they can't wait to breed them. Yet another reason that most police departments don't want to purchase GSDs or Malinois bred in this country.....

Answer 6

I honestly don't know if a study has ever been done or could be done, but I have cited the same. Some people are open to learning and seeing the other side of a discussion, then there are those that there just isn't any cure for stupid.

No one knows the mortality rate in births of 'mutts', because very few people care! We don't know the rate of inherited diseases and disabilities in mutts because the combinations of breeds to create mutts are endless...... We see lots of 'healthy' mutts because the less than healthy died or were dumped, no one spent much money to save them or to correct their problems. They just got another dog. Any puppies born with problems were left to die or were disposed of.

Answer 7

I am not a dog breeder, so take this for what you think it's worth.

My understanding was that pedigreed dogs are bred to reinforce certain useful traits. Those might be for hunting or sport, or for judging in the show ring. Some undesirable traits get reinforced also, but those are accepted if the dogs do well in the desired areas. This is why some breeds are known to be susceptible to certain problems, like the dysplasia you mentioned. The inbreeding techniques reinforces both desirable and undesirable traits.

With crossbreeds, there is less chance of this happening. If you cross a shepherd with another breed that doesn't have the tendency towards dysplasia, you reduce the chances of this occuring. It doesn't eliminate the problem, but reduce the occurrance of it.

Of course, this sort of cross-breeding doesn't do anything for diseases that aren't genetically based.

Answer 8

Hmmmm...

I can't see how anyone could "prove" this. My dad swears that mutts are healthier, have better temperaments, etc. and yet his own 8 year old mutt has needed knee and hip surgery on both her back legs within the past 5 years. (She is possibly shepherd/husky/border collie.)

Two of my dogs are mutts (a Rott/Aussie and a ??? mix) and both are doing fine, thank goodness.

I'm not a breeder but from what I know about genetics (and I do at least have a biology BA) a dominant trait is much more likely to be passed on than a recessive trait, and good breeders are very selective about whom they breed together, to decrease the chances of passing on certain characteristics.

However, I would imagine that a "mutt" is generally the result of careless, uneducated, and/.or unplanned breeding in the first place, so the pups' genotypes are left to random chance. Unhealthy dogs are given equal opportunity to breed!

But I would love to see evidence, if anyone has any! :)

Answer 9

I think it's a myth. I see too many mixed breed dogs with problems to support the "hybrid vigor" myth.

We got several labradoodles in the rescue where I used to volunteer. Interestingly enough, these were very expensive dogs surrendered to our rescue because the dogs still shed. (and that was why they were dumped.) Of the first 5 that came in, 3 of them were allergy dogs. Many Labs are allergy prone and apparently these "breeders" didn't screen their "lines" for allergies.

We also had one golden doodle with Hip Dysplasia. That wasn't screened for either.

Now I'm talking about produced Hybrids, not "natural" mutts...

But I see so many dogs, and so many of them in shelters have all kinds of problems. I don't know if they are dumped in the shelter because they are sick or get sick because they are in the shelter. So my view of this may be skewed.

I do believe that with certain breeds, the inbreeding had damaged the breed though. Labs are a very good example. Too many BYB are breeding labs and thats why you see so many with hip problems.

I know I've contradicted myself a little bit but, I don't think Mutts are IN GENERAL more healthy than purebreds. All I can say is what I've seen in the rescue community (mainly with labs). Well bred labs are healthy. BYB labs seem not to be.

Answer 10

The myth is created by the simple fact that purebred dogs are routinely tested for genetic defects, so we hear about them. Mixed breed dogs with the same problems are routinely euthanized, so we hear about all the poor dogs being put to sleep instead.
The problem with the "hybrid hyper" theory is it is a one generation thing. As soon as these animals are bred the problems become magnified and the second generation pups are prone to more problems instead of less.
If people would take the time to learn how Mendelian works before they tried to breed anything most problem could be eradicated in one generation.

Answer 11

Of course mutts are not healthier than a well bred dog from a responsible breeder.
The reason people make that claim is because the sleezy breeders that sell the designer dogs tell them that lie and they believe it. There are no health test or genetic screenings done on mutts so no records are kept on the health of mutts, which is why people believe the lie.