SOAP BOX TITLE
DESIGNER DOGS
MIXED BREEDS
The following article was written by Madlyn Glazer of Queen Bee Bichons. I found it very informative and asked her permission to share it with you.
New breeds have been developed throughout time, first to help us survive and then to make life easier. Better hunting dogs, better herding dogs, etc. Breeds were always improved upon by breeding healthy, sound, excellent dogs who exhibited the traits that were desired. New breeds were developed by breeding 2 breeds together -- but not just any dogs from the 2 breeds, but again, excellent specimens, who exhibited the desired traits.
These new "designer" breeds are not developed by breeding a dog of let's say JR's quality with a terrific example of a Poodle -- but rather by breeding 2 run-of-the mill puppy mill dogs together (no pun intended). Of course the rational (besides the profit motive) is that you have a bigger gene pool and less chance of bad genes matching up to create health problems. So theoretically, you would leave behind the undesirable traits or health problems by breeding 2 different breeds together. After all, aren't the average mutts supposedly healthier than our purebreds?
But the whole theory is negated by the fact that:
1) the dogs chosen are not good examples of their breed
2) most of these mixes involve 2 breeds with some of the same origins and health problems.
3) even when there are screening tests available for some of the genetic diseases, the breeders of these mixes are not the type of breeder who will use these tests or care about them or even know about them.
For example, if you take a mini poodle who may have a gene for PRA (progressive retinal atrophy -- these are several diseases that basically involve the predisposed genetically determined failure of the retina in middle aged dogs, always progressing to blindness with no known cure) and breed it to a Bichon (no real hisotry of this disease in a Bichon) the thought is that the ensuing puppies cannot possibly have this disease as they can get the gene from only one parent and therefore a puppy can only be a carrier and not have the disease. But what happens in the second or third generation? Well, now you have puppies being bred together that both may carry the gene and give it to the offspring and suddenly you have a designer breed with the same genetic health problem as one of the original breeds had. Sound, healthy dogs come from responsible breeding practices, not from whims and profit motives.
Those dog people who know about all of this would never purposely do one of these breedings. Those who do not know or do not really care would. And unfortunately, the general public, just wanting to have something different, is deceived into thinking they are getting something "better" when they are really just being taken advantage of.
If each one of us educated just 2 or 3 others and they did the same, maybe we can make a difference. There are too many inferior dogs being bred by the millers. We do not need mixed breed mutts being passed off as "new" breeds.
By the way, labradoodles are a slightly different story. Many people who need service dogs, are allergic to dogs. Poodles, although a wonderful, smart breed, for the most part have too much energy to make good service dogs. So the thought was to breed a hypoallergenic service dog. But unfortunately, besides the fact that not all labradoodles are hypoallergenic until you get several generations down the road, the adult size of this mix is very hard to control. So a lot get too big or stay too small and many months of puppy raising are lost in determining which dogs will actually be the right size for the taks at hand. Unfortunately, due to their uniqueness and the ingenuity of some breeders, they became an "in" thing for prospective dog owners who just have nothing else to do with their money. A lot are being imported from Australia and sell for $5000. On the other hand, most of the Labradoodles available today are being produced by puppy millers and backyard breeders who are trying to cash in on a fad.
