Lets first start by acknowledging that all current AKC Dog breeds find there origins in the Wolf, Dingo, or some other wild dog. Currently, the AKC recognizes over 150 breeds and also has smaller subcategories for rare breeds and those pending full recognition. ALL of these 150 breeds originated as a designer dog, which can be defined as the intentional crossing of various dogs to create certain desired characteristics. Greyhounds were breed for speed, St. Bernards for strength and courage, and Chihuahuas for companionship and portability. Yet, the public is suddenly disturbed by the idea that humans would want to take the best traits from certain breeds and combine them to meet the needs and desires of our daily lives. Much to the surprise of many peoples the Labradoodle, which is responsible for the recent surge and Designer Pets was initially started almost two decades ago. Humans had found a need for guide dogs that were asthma and allergy friendly. After realizing the huge benefits of having such traits in a dog we slowly began experimenting with various other combinations. Some were for looks, but most were for real, genuine reasons that could benefit the public. We now have quite a wide selection of Designer Dogs in various sizes that owners with allergies to most dogs can select from. 30 years ago these individuals would never have had the luxury of owning a pet. As we can see from the above paragraphs this type of crossbreeding for healthy, more compatible dogs is nothing new at all. 2000 years ago humans were taking the largest breeds and combining them to create larger and stronger offspring that could help with many of the manual labors of the time. Over the centuries various crossbreeds proved highly popular and the crossbreeding stopped and interbreeding amongst similar dogs began to maintain certain looks and traits that they worked so hard to hone in on. This is how we came to recognize various breeds as Pure Breeds. So to the critics of Hybrid/Designer dogs I ask you How do you think we arrived at the pure breed dogs the AKC recognizes today?. We now look to dogs more as companions than as employees and therefore have changed the traits desired in our pets. To argue the importance of Hybrid Dogs is wrong as we can clearly see the benefits of this system. However, I do understand the oppositions argument that the invent of the designer dog has really led to puppy mills and horrible living conditions just to breed as many puppies as possible. This is a real argument that I have discussed previously on my website. As with anything that is in high demand there will always be copycats selling a less than par products to make a dollar. This is also true in the world of designer dogs. If you are not cautious and make sure you buy from a reputable breeder than you are feeding right into the image that has been cast of the entire world of hybrid dogs. Without the help of genuine breeders and honest buyers these crossbreeds will never be able to achieve the levels of consistency required to be recognized as a pure breed. Additionally, all the hard work we have done in creating dogs that are healthy will be lost because of poor breeding standards and conditions. So please be aware of such behavior and avoid buying the "discount" hybrid puppy from your local pet store. Please take all of these points into consideration and feel free to provide feedback on the topic. I am always looking for new options on the matter. Also, check out my website about Puggles for more information on reputable breeders and breed information. |
