Breeding for certain "rare" colors is bad?

Question

I was told that if you get these "rare" colors in breeds, that they are worth more money. This isn't true?

I was told that breed standard is just for snobs that don't like the other colors that are special and rare in their breeds, that is why they aren't included. These rare colors make the dog MORE valuable, not less. Isn't that true? Isn't it just the AKC snobs that are trying to control everyone else's dogs?

What do you think?

Answer 1

No... certain colours are not recognized for different reasons. They aren't ' rare ' they are undesirable. One person doesn't sit deciding what the breed should look / act / perform like.. It's a group thing. People don't want to accept white for example, there is a reason and it is undesirable, not rare..

Plus if you just start letting in anything and everything, why even have a standard? Just change the standard according to what people are producing? No sense having the standard.

Answer 2

While I do agree with you that there are snobs in the dog world, I don't think the standards set forth by the AKC are/were done in a snobbish way. There are reasons for the standards and that is to create healthy, strong, reliable dogs.

I don't know what breed you are talking about in particular, but there are many reasons why certain colors are not accepted by the AKC. It's not because they don't like those colors or think they are ugly. Most times you'll find out that "rare" colors in dogs mean the dog will have health problems or that it can create problems if the dog is bred.

While you may get more money for a "rare" colored dog, what will it's life be like? Will it be riddled with pain or suffering from sickness? The same is true about breeding for larger or smaller dogs. "King sized" Dobermans go for a lot of money, and you can end up with a very unhealthy dog because all he was bred for was large size. "Teacup" sized dogs also go for a lot of money and are notoriously known for having health problems, again they were only bred for size.

When breeding is done for anything other than to create a strong, healthy, "perfect" animal it's for the wrong reasons. The AKC isn't trying to control anyone or anything. They have set standards for each breed so that we can have something to compare a dog to so we know if it's a sound dog or not. If they hadn't of set forth these standards how would we know the quality of the dog...it would just be up to each individual person.

This is my view of things anyway. I hope it helps. I also hope you do a lot of research before you breed or buy a "rare" puppy or dog. Good luck.

Answer 3

Thats not true at all.

Back yard breeders will come up with names and try and describe out of standard colors as being "rare" or "expensive".

A purebred dog should fall into the standard of the breed. Intentionally breeding dogs that don't fit that standard isn't much better than breeding mutts.

The AKC "snobs" want to keep a breed looking like its supposed to. Without regard to standards, you could end up with solid black dalmations or 20 pound chihuahuas.

A good breeder breeds a dog because it is a good representative of the breed and very healthy. They don't just breed a rare color, regardless of the dogs health or overall quality, to try and get more rare colors to make cash.

Answer 4

Whoever told you all that crap doesn't have a clue. Snobbery has nothing to do with it at all...there are certain colors within various breeds that when bred carry a high risk of producing puppies with health issues such as deafness, blindness, lethal whites, etc.
So called rare colors in no way make a dog more valuable..what they can and often do is result in health issues. Also AKC has absolutely nothing ot do with what colors are accepted and what ones are not in any breed...colors and breed standard are set by the breeds parent club..AKC is nothing more then a registring body..they don't call the shots.

Answer 5

Every purebred breed of dog has a breed standard. Some of those standards may exclude certain colors for whatever reason. Sometimes it's because the parent club chooses to limit the colors. But most of the time the reason is because the color is a genetic defect and the pup will have many health issues.

For example, breeding two Australian Shepherds that have the merle gene will result in puppies that are referred to as "lethal white" They're generally all or mostly white with blue eyes. But they also tend to be deaf and/or blind. More information on lethal whites here:

http://www.lethalwhites.com/


So when a pup shows up in a litter that has a color that could result in health issues, some breeders will have the pup euthanized. Some breeders will spay/neuter the pup and sell it to a pet home.

Some disreputable breeders will try to capitalize on a "rare" color and continue to breed for that color. They end up producing dogs that have chronic illness and poor genetic make up.

That's why the parent club tries to limit the colors of breeds to weed out those that have poor genetics and will produce poor specimens of the dog. The goal of the parent club is to preserve the best characteristics of the breed.

Answer 6

If a breed's standard disallows certain colors, or only allows certain colors, there is generally a good reason.

One reason could be that the color is associated with health problems in that breed. For example, dilute colors such as blue are often associated with skin problems and other health issues. Double merles are associated with deafness and blindness.

Another reason could be that undesireable colors are detrimental to the job the dog is doing.

A third reason could be that non-standard colors are an indication of mixed breeding. In some breeds, they have been the same color for so long that any different colors would HAVE to come from outside. If I saw a "brindle" basset hound, I would know that it was not a pure-bred.

In short, "rare" colors are usually rare for a reason. They are only worth more money to the gullible, the greedy, and the ignorant.

Answer 7

Actually on some breeds trying to get a different color leads to problems in the breed. Like, for example, they tried to come out with a white doberman and the result was a blind dog. No matter how they tried, all the white pups we're blind. Merle dogs also can have a problem with blindness and deafness. So, aside from trying to keep the breeds at a certain quality, the AKC does it to prevent problems in the breed.

Answer 8

I think there's a reason some of those "rare" colors are rare, and that would be that known defects run with them. Like those nasty blue merle chihauhuas they've been breeding, they get too big to fast, many die at birth, they have physical defects, and are prone to being blind and deaf. How valuable does that sound to you? And that doesn't even touch base on the fact that a blue merle can look great on an australian shepard, but it looks just nasty on a chihuahua.

There's a reason that standard was put into place. It isn't just for asthetics, but also has the health of the dog in mind.

Answer 9

A rare color might make the dog more valuable as a pet, but worthless as a show animal or breeding stock.

Yes, the AKC are snobs, no doubt. However, there is actually a very good reason why they don't allow rare colors. If a rare color was considered more valuable for a show animal, then irresponsible breeders would keep breeding together animals with that rare color in order to produce more valuable puppies of that color. By definition, the rare color means that there are much fewer dogs carrying those genes, so there would be rampant inbreeding, increasing the frequency of genetic defects and harmful recessive traits.

Answer 10

Breeding for anything other than a complete dog that is sound, health, has a good temperament and that fits the breeds standard is wrong. When breeders breed for a single thing such as color without regard for everything else the the dog suffers.

Sorry but color doesn't or shouldn't affect the dogs value unless it is a disqualification in which it reduces the value of the dog.