Image via Wikipedia
Have you seen or heard of a Goldendoodle, Pug-Zu, Goberian, and Alusky? Sure sounds like names of strange animals but if you’re not seriously in to dogs, you wouldn’t even know what they are. Well, those animals are Designer dogs or Hybrid dogs. It’s a cross between two purebred canines.
A Hybrid or Designer Dog is different from a mutt. Generally, a mutt is a mixture of multiple breeds of uncertain ancestry while designer dog has recognized purebred descent, and one knows precisely what it is. When you breed two different types of pedigree dogs, you can get a combination of any of the characteristics found in either breed. It’s similar to making a cocktail drink when you mix pineapple juice with vodka you create the taste of bitter sweet liquor.
Cross breeding is like customizing, you want to create a mixture of your choice breed, so all the good qualities you admire from each dog would likely appear in your Hybrid canine. However, it’s not a guarantee that all the best characteristics you expected would emerge. Just the same with genetic health issues that comes with the package. It may or may not solve the inherited health problems that came from the stock. Although, Some people believe that the percentage of hybrids being healthier is pretty much higher than that of the purebreds.
And so, if you’re thinking of owning a dog, you might want to check the pack of Hybrid first. Who knows? It could just be the perfect dog you’re looking for.
Here are some of my favorite Designer dogs:
(Photos courtesy of Dogbreedinfo.com)
GOLDENDOODLE
Cross between Golden Retriever and Standard Poodle
BOWSER
Cross between Basset Hound and Mini Schnauzer
BULLMATIAN
Cross between Bulldog and Dalmatian
CHIMATION
Cross between Chihuahua and Dalmatian
BERNEDOODLE
Cross between Bernese Mountain Dog and Poodle
Posts
Beautiful picturse you have here! I'm an owner of a mixed breed myself and what I love about them is their uniqueness. But by all technical terms a Designer breed is still a mutt or more properly a "cross breed" (because you know the breeds of the parents). They are most definitely not a "breed", because part of what makes a breed is that two dogs of the same breed can produce offspring that are identical to the parents. If you breed a goldendoodle with another goldendoodle then you may get pups that are more golden than poodle and others that are more poodle than golden.
ReplyDeleteAlso the comment about hybrids being more healthy than purebreds is a myth called Hybrid Vigor which most certainly isn't 100% accurate:
http://www.westwinddogtraining.com/hybridvigor.pdf
Lastly, the bad thing about designer breeds is that they are something used by scammers. An easy way to make a buck, by sticking a fancy name on it they can 'pretend' its a breed and some people are willing to pay up to $1000 for a crossbreed!
Also these so called breeders are a gamble to deal with. Because there is no standards to breed by with designers and no shows to enter them into how are they going to prove that what they are selling is top quality?!? Without breed standards to go by it would be equivalent to trying to built a house without a blueprint. Thats why its always best to stay away from so called "Designer Breed Breeders".
There are plenty of dogs dieing each year in shelters and rescues, if someone wants to buy a crossbreed you can easily go and save a life there and save yourself a bit of money too.
Well thats all, hope that you didn't find it offensive; in my opinion crossbreeds, mutts, and purebreds are all wonderful! Its the overpopulation and the greedy scammers that make me think twice about Designers.