[Gem]

Originally Posted by Gem

I do agree with you, to a point. However, I did not mean to infer that a shelter dog is riskier health wise that a dog from a breeder. Statistically, in fact, you'd have a better chance of getting a healthy mutt from a shelter than buying a purebred dog from a breeder. However, it's true you'd have an even better chance with a crossbred from a responsible breeder, who carefully selects the breeds they use, and test the parent dogs for any possible inherited problems.

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Ok that taken care of your implication is that somehow crossbreeders are MORE responsible than purebreeders? How does that even make sense?

Your inference is incorrect, and I'm happy to explain.

There are of course responsible and irresponsible breeders of purebreds and crossbreds both. However, both genetically and statistically speaking, there is a better chance of crossbred being healthier and living longer than a purebred. This has been shown in numerous published studies, whereas there is zero evidence for the reverse.

You can enhance your chances of obtaining a healthy puppy (purebred or cross) by choosing a responsible and careful breeder, who performs genetic testing etc. Nevertheless, the average crossbred puppy from a good breeder will still have the edge on a pedigree dog from a good breeder in terms of health and longevity.

Apart from the obvious recessive genetic problems etc. being expressed within a single breed, there is a demonstrated correlation between diseases such as cancer and decreased genetic diversity. With an intentional hybrid from a responsible breeder you can effectively get the "double whammy" of genetic testing etc (as you do with a responsible purebred breeder) and increased genetic diversity (as with mutts).

There is no new science here; it's all pretty basic stuff. Unfortunately, it's just not what the purebred hobby breeders like to hear. Again, I'd be only too happy to see any published research anyone has that shows otherwise. If anyone would like to do some further reading on some practical solutions to the health problems in pedigree breeding, and advantages of F1 hybrids as pets, there is an excellent paper my Paul McGreevy and Frank Nicholas of Sydney University at http://www.terrierman.com/mcgreevey-...g-breeding.pdf