Designer Dog website-hahahaha!

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

There are plenty of mutts (a word I say with love) who need homes who are naturally all of the things that "Designer Dogs" are created to be except they don't have cutsie names (and they're not questionably hypoallergenic). The idea that a shelter dog (or, gasp, puppy) is any more of a risk than a bred dog is rather silly. Throughout your post there are hints that a shelter dog is inherently unhealthy and risky. And that's just not true. The majority of responsible breeders still breed purebreds, just not the excessively characterized ones that the RSPCA is complaining about. The majority of Shit-Poo breeders are irresponsible and making a buck.

So yeah, YMMV, but we're talking about OVERALL here. The vast majority of people would do well to go to a shelter and find a dog. Odds are they'll find a healthy dog who wags his tail so hard that they can't bear NOT to take him home. (And if you're hooked on the purebreeds, there are rescues for them too!) Dogs are put down every day purely for the reason that there are no homes for them, not because they're dangerous. Until that's handled, you're not going to convince me to get behind "designer dog" breeding because "people deserve a choice other than risky shelter dogs."

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.

My main point is that if people can choose to buy a purebred puppy from a breeder, they should be able to choose a crossbred puppy for their family exactly the same way. Why discriminate against crossbreds at all, regardless of whether they come from a shelter or a breeder?