Problems with designer and hybrid dogs

Yes, they are cute, and they have cute names, but are they healthier or are the problems with designer dogs about to make us reevaluate their appeal?

A few months ago, a local kid in his late 20’s, bred his Siberian Husky with his male Pitbull and called them “Pitskies.”  I thought to myself, as he was telling me about the puppies and showing me pictures, why would you do that?  She had given birth to four puppies, one looked somewhat like a husky, and the others looked like Pit Bulls with too much fur.

They were cute nonetheless, but hey, all puppies are cute! When I got home, I googled Pitskies. I found site upon site of Pitskies for sale and a Facebook page devoted to this unnatural concoction. I like Pit Bulls, and I love my husky, but these two breeds are polar opposites in the personality department. The poor dogs won’t know if they are coming or going.

I have friends that have designer dogs (labradoodle and a peekapoo), and they are lovely! So what’s the problem? I hadn’t given it any thought until I ran into this guy. I started looking into it a little deeper and found a more significant problem.

The creator of the first Labradoodle was Wally Conron.  He was an Australian breeder with the Royal Guide Dogs Association of Australia. His goal was to combine the low shedding coat of the poodle with the easily trained Labrador Retriever. His motivation back in 1988 was to provide a guide dog for a woman in Hawaii, as her husband was allergic to dogs. His good intentions left him with regret. Conron has repeatedly stated that he caused “a lot of damage” and “that problem was being bread into dogs rather than taking the problems away from the dogs.”  He felt he was to blame for “creating a Frankenstein.”

A few weeks later, I ran into the Pitsky guy again, and he told me that all of the puppies were sold. Sold? They’re mutts!  My oldest daughter just adopted a mixed breed puppy. The puppy was vet checked, spayed and up to date on all her shots. The adoption fee barely covers these expenses. I gathered that the Pitskies only received minimal vet care if any.

Backyard breeders and puppy mills, with ideas of grandeur, are pairing one purebred dog with another purebred dog and naming it something clever.  They are charging big bucks for so-called “designer dogs.”

These people have no regard for the outcome. If a dog has a litter of eight puppies and only three are suitable for sale, what happens to the other five puppies? Best case scenario, the five puppies end up in a shelter or worse case, the puppies are neglected or put down.

A person running a puppy mill is willing to do anything to make a buck, and the new rage of designer dogs fits the bill.  Puppy mill operators do not have a reputation for long-term concern for the health and happiness of their dogs. Designer dogs are not a registered breed.

Therefore they do not require pedigree paperwork. This saves the breeder an additional expense and increases the profit margin. Good luck getting any information about the puppies’ parents. Designer or hybrid dogs, it seems, has opened up a whole new revenue source for the unscrupulous.

Pandora’s Box

People will argue that humans have been manipulating dog breeds for centuries. This is true. However, it has been a long process of development opposed to a one-shot deal. Quality breeders often will keep “the pick of the litter” to carry on the line.

If you were to breed a Golden Retriever and a Poodle you’ll get, in theory, a Goldendoodle. The pick of the litter can’t be bred to carry the line or it will washout the original desired result of a half and half-breed.

Wally Conron told Psychology Today in an interview in 2014, “I opened up a Pandora’s box, that’s what I did. I released a Frankenstein. So many people are just breeding for money. So many of these dogs have physical problems, and a lot of them are just crazy”.

Rescue Puppies

My daughter’s mix breed dog is a combo of Labrador Retriever and Catahoula Leopard dog. She was found under a shed with her mom and litter mates.

There are so many dogs that need to be rescued.  Shelters are overcrowded, and there is never enough funds to go around. Adopt a mutt and come up with your own cute name like “Catalab.”

A mutt is a mutt regardless of its name. Stop paying purebred prices for them. Follow the rule of supply and demand. Remove the demand, and the supply will go away.

Lemon and Chance were lucky enough to be adopted by family friends and play together often. These pups may have started under a shed, but they’re living the life dogs deserve.

This designer dog dilemma just gives more credence to the saying:

Adopt don’t shop

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