Quote:
Originally Posted by southbymidwest
(Post 2029527)
Yes, some of those pictures of crossbreeds are terribly cute. Especially he ones that are crossbred with my silly little terrier's breed. That being said, responsible champion breeders (read not puppy mill or oh I wanted my children to experience the miracle of life idiots) work toward making the breed more vigorous and test extensively for known breed issues. They are also really into that breed. Why in hell would they want to breed their dogs to those of another breed for the sake of coming up with some hot for the moment mix? Yes, there are a couple of crossbreeds that have become popular (labradoodle comes to mind), but come on. So I don't believe that the top breeders are doing this. AND, if a crossbreed puppy comes from two purebreds that exhibit breed specific issues, i.e., temperment, heart, hip, respiratory, etc. issues, you can't tell me the puppy will not exhibit any of those problems and will automatically be healthier than any purebred.
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The real problem is that way that the closed pedigree system is set up pretty much guarantees that an already small gene pool continues to shrink each year. This is often exacerbated by overuse of popular studs (particularly now that artificial insemination is widely available) and line breeding to try and "fix" certain characteristics, which further reduces the overall degree of genetic diversity. Then you have the added problems of extreme interpretations of breed standard producing physiological exaggerations that can be deleterious to the dog's health and welfare (excessively short noses, bulging eyes, long backs etc).
As far as crossbreds are concerned, Labradoodles are a good example of crossbred breeders who are trying to do it right. Their breed clubs have been set up with the aim to try and remedy some of the mistakes that purebred breeders have made in the past, and avoid the health problems that plague certain breeds. The ILA (International Labradoodle Association) was the first (and perhaps still the only) dog club to make DNA testing for genetic diseases such as PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy, which causes blindness) mandatory. They made health and temperament (and not appearance) the priority in their breed standard. They also set strict limits on how closely related breeding dogs can be (in the purebred world, father/daughter and sister/brother breedings are not that uncommon).
If you haven't seen it already, there is an excellent documentary on the health problems in purebreds, "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" at http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/44215931 |
