"Designer Dogs"?

Question

Is anyone else annoyed that people are cross breeding dogs and giving them cute little made up names and selling them for hundreds of dollars when the same dog can be rescued from the pound or resuce groups? It makes me mad that people are intentionally breeding these "designer" dogs when so many die in shelters every day.

To Dog Trainer: I am not saying anything againts breeders in general. If you are responsible and take care of your dogs and the puppies then i commend you. What i have a problem with is people that take two different purebreds and breed them to try and create a new breed and charge hundreds for them when you can RESCUE one from the pound. If you are breeding purebred puppies for the love of the breed and to advance that breed that is great. But breeding "designer dogs" is just adding to the population of the shelters.

Answer 1

Basically the "Designer Dog" thing is just a scam trying to rip off the uninformed public. No responsible breeder breeds mixes so these dogs are coming from backyard breeders and puppymills. The parents aren't even good healthy specimens of the breed with good temperaments for the most part. So folks are paying huge amounts of money for poorly bred mutts with higher than normal chance of health and behavioral problems and since the "breeder" has no interest in the dog after the check clears the bank they aren't there to to help when the problems show up and a high percentage of them end up in the pound.

In answer to the poster above no responsible breeder breeds outside their breed and creates mutts. If you have a problem in your line or your breed then you do testing and only breed dogs with passing test results to reduce or eliminate the problem. You support research being done to find the exact mode of inheritance and DNA tests for the problems.

Answer 2

1) A small mutt. Mixed with two or more small breeds. 2) Because you're paying a lot of money for a mutt from a breeder. These "breeders" have no idea what they're doing, don't care about their dog's health, and are only adding to the overpopulation problem. You could easily get a lovable dog from a shelter without paying a lot of money and saving a life. 3) By going and checking them out. Are their dogs happy? Is the place clean? Do they know about the breed? Are they trying to better the breed? Do they show their dogs? Did they get all the genetic health tests done on the puppies and parents? Are they AKC (or other) registered? Can they help you pick a puppy out of the litter that would be good for you? Can they educate you on how to take care of the breed? All those questions need to be answered properly.

Answer 3

I agree but as long as people keep buying them then the bad breeders will just keep on doing it maybe the shelters should start doing like these breeders do give them some cute name and over charge after all the shelters have these same mixed breeds that breeders are selling I went to petfinders the other night you would not believe what people have let mix with chihuahuas they look so deformed and you know that if it has a chihuahuas small size heart and a big breed body that as it gets bigger the heart will not be able to support the dog so it dies before a year old it is just so sad that people just don't care about the health of these poor dogs

Answer 4

Purebred dogs that are so popular today were once mixes of two breeds. It is through interbreeding that new breeds develop. Not all designer dogs are from puppy mills or backyard breeders and not all designer dog owners are nieve or stupid.

I own a designer dog; a Bichonpoo. I didn't buy her because she was a designer dog. I bought her because she met all the criteria that I was looking for in a small breed puppy. I bought her after going to dozens of shelters and checking online for adoption of small breed puppies. When I couldn't find a small breed puppy at a shelter or online that met my criteria (I had many regulations to meet to satisfy my landlord) I started looking at pure breed dogs. The cost was too much for me. In the course of my research I found a small breeder that bred Maltipoos and Bichonpoos from home. The cost was considerably less than that for a pure bred dog.

Esperanza is one of the sweetest, most gentle and intelligent dogs. She is 16 months old and being trained as a service dog and therapy dog; I have multiple sclerosis. I wouldn't trade this dog for anything. My only regret over buying a designer dog is always having to defend both my dog and my decision to purchase her.

Answer 5

As an owner of three purebred AKC registered shelties, designer dogs thing is a scam. People believe that these mutts are actually a breed even AKC registration. I have nothing against mixed breed dogs. What bothers me is these people intentionally breed two different breeds and sell them for big profits. That's sick. I know a lot of "designer dogs" owners are going to hate this, but these dogs are mixed breed dogs and they are not special, just like any mutts.

Answer 6

Yes it kills me too, these dogs used to be mutts and now people are shelling out hundreds of dollars on a mutt. It's one thing to breed a purebred it's another to mix breeds and expect people to pay just as much for them as a purebred. You can't show these dogs, they aren't registered with the AKC or even the CKC, so why spend that much money for one?

I have a blue Weimaraner, there's nothing special about a blue it's just dark gray as opposed to the recognized breed of silver. I can't show a blue as the color is called illegal blue. Yet there are breeders out there that are selling the blue's for twice what they are selling a silver. It's ridiculous, you shouldn't pay more for a blue than you do a silver but they are out there. Which tells me that there are either a lot of uneducated future dog owners out there that will pay a lot of money for either a blue weimaraner or a "designer" mutt, or there are a lot of uneducated back yard breeders looking to make a quick buck and think that there are a lot of people out there that will fall for it.

Answer 7

It's all about supply and demand. If the public weren't so crazy about them then the breeders wouldn't be selling them. But if you think about it all dog breeds started out by the mixing of breeds Check out www.akc.org go to the breed info on any type of dog and it will say what was cross bred to create that particular breed. Whats sad is the price of dogs compares to the price of a good used car. Does anyone remember the good old days when a dog became pregnant it was called an accident and you prayed you could give them away!

Answer 8

It seems that some people see a mutt, and think it's SO CUTE that they decide they can simply make their own new breed by breeding these same two different breeds that the dog they loved came from.

Trouble is, because they think it's so cute, they also think it's valuable and charge more for these, which is highly inappropriate. If they created a breed that would be a breed in and of itself, that would breed true by breeding to of those designer dogs of the same designer type, then they'd have more reason to consider them special, and maybe even charge more for them. But they have NOT been developed into breeds that will breed true, so all you get is a high dollar MUTT!

It makes me shake my head in disbelief.

Answer 9

I don't know who's worse...the idiot BYB's who insist they're doing the noble thing by breeding 'fancy' mutts....or the idiot people who buy these dogs for hundreds of dollars and then refuse to call them by their real name...MUTT.

I was at Barnes N Noble the other day and they had books on Goldendoodles, Labradoodles, and Puggles. How do you make a book on a dog like that? There is no consistancy! No consistancy with fur, tempermant, size, appearance....I could go on and on. Let's just say I was pretty disgusted.

Some of these so called 'designer dog' names make me laugh out loud. Check out the website I included!

Answer 10

It's one of the most ridiculous and unethical things I have seen. Breeding mutts on purpose?!? Who would do that?? No one that I know.. Only people that are looking to make a buck would breed mutts.. Irresponsible and unethical people.. People who pay purebred prices for a mutt, need some mental help.