Designer Dog website-hahahaha!

[Drolefille]

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.

First, the grammar thing, you implied, I inferred.

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

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?

They're allowed to do whatever they want. If you eliminated all BYBs and all puppy mills and we no longer had such an overpopulation of perfectly healthy dogs, I wouldn't care as much. My ideal world would have very few breeders at all, and many of our current breeds wouldn't exist or would be seriously back-bred to a more functional standard. (And pointless show-only breeds? Right out.) So I'm not exactly leaping to support the INDUSTRY - for that is what it is - of crossbreed/designerdogs on top of that.

Bob Barker has it right.

Originally Posted by Gem

I own two crossbred pet dogs, and both have been neutered. I also help out at my local shelter one day a month. But enough about me

It's a pity that issues regarding animal health and welfare can't be discussed without some resorting to personal attack.

So, you think being a designer dog breeder is a bad thing then?

Originally Posted by Gem

Fair enough. Apology accepted, with thanks

He didn't apologize, he very politely pointed out that you were wrong.

[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

[Drolefille]

I can't even reply to you because you fuck with your font too much.

In short, crossbreeders, the vast majority of which are either irresponsible "won't fix my dog" BYB or just cashing in on the latest craze, don't win any points just because they, by happenstance, have a better random chance of having healthier puppies than purebreeders (who, if responsible breed out negative traits themselves.)

Any "good" they do is outdone by the fact that they're BREEDING MORE DOGS when shelters can't home the ones they have. Stop arguing the scientific point because it is irrelevant here.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

I can't even reply to you because you fuck with your font too much.

In short, crossbreeders, the vast majority of which are either irresponsible "won't fix my dog" BYB or just cashing in on the latest craze, don't win any points just because they, by happenstance, have a better random chance of having healthier puppies than purebreeders (who, if responsible breed out negative traits themselves.)

Any "good" they do is outdone by the fact that they're BREEDING MORE DOGS when shelters can't home the ones they have. Stop arguing the scientific point because it is irrelevant here.

Drolefille... thank you SO much for this well written reply. My head hurts too much from reading Gem's garbage to continue to comment. He/she is so determined to justify breeding more & more dogs that no amount of contrary information is going to change his/ her mind. I give up.