An Article about "Designer Dogs" on today's Pet Page.

[MeganS]

This was in the pet page of the Home News Tribune. This article really made me mad.

Puggles, Poochons, and Peekapoos

Yesterday's "random bred" dogs are new expensive status symbols
People laughed at Lisa Russo last year when she decided to breed her female beagle with her male pug.

"Everyone made of of me," the Toms River resident recalls. "And then in November when Snoopy" (her beagel) "had puppies all the news stories on the puggles came out."

Now its Russo who's having the last laugh - when she isn't busy answering her phone. Several advertisements for her litter of puggle puppies - three black, like their dad, and four fawn, like their mom, all with wrinkled pug faces and the floppy beagle ears and tails - have yielded her countless requests for the newest designer dog, each at $800 a pup.

And at least one area pet store said it had recently upped their price tag to $1,600 for the prized pup - just in time for the december holidays. ( )

Forget the purebred "purse puppies" like Paris Hilton's teacup Chihuahua of yesterday; puggles are definitely today's "It" dogs. They've graced the covers of newspapers like the new york Post, been featured on news shows like "Good Morning America," the "Today Show", and the "Ellen DeGeneres Show," and shown up in the homes of such stars as James Gandolfini and Jake Gyllenhaal, to name a few.

And breeders are having a hard time keeping up with the demand.

"We've gotten calls from Canada and London for puggles," says Garry Garner, president and owner of the Arkansas-based American Canine Hybrid Club, which has been providing regustration papers for mixed-breed dogs since 1992: papers are granted if the hybrid's parents are purebreds, or if the pup has purebred ancestry. "We have some breeders doing hybrids in Canada, but none right now in England." But that may change. The desire for hybrids has "really exploded in the last several years," he says, with no signs of slowing down. And right now, "puggles are the most popular."

They are the latest in a string of designer dogs that have captured the public's fancy and pocketbooks over the last several decades, says Garner. He cites the Labradoodle, a cross between a Labrador retriever and a poodle, as one of the most popular designer dog hybrids; they were originally bred in Australia in the late 1980's to be guide dogs who did not shed and were hypoallergenic.

Because of their hypoallergenic qualities, poodles are very a popular crossbreed, and have generated at least 11 different hybrids, including the newer Goldendoodles and poochons as well as the much older cockapoo and peekapoo, both of which date back to the 1950's, but are still popular today.

But not with everyone.

"Not all these dogs are hypoallergenic," says Daisy Okas, spokeswoman for the New York-based American Kennel Club, which does not register mixed breed canines.

"People are trying to market these dogs as nonshedding, but in man cases it's a false claim." She cites 15 purebreds, among them the Chinese crested, the Portuguese water dog, and the poodle with another breed does not gaurantee its lack of allergens.

"Its a trend," she says, "that we try to caution people against. People are selling mixed-breed dogs at purebred prices.

"Why pay $1000 for a mixed breed?" Because they can. "And they're awfully cute," says Stacy Fetyko of Brick, who is at Russo's to buy a puggle. Amy Szumel, Toms River, agrees. She also is at Russo's with her daughter Erika to buy what will be her first puppy; in the past she has adopted older dogs from the shelters. But since their current dog, a black lab, is 10, they thought it time to bring a new dog home.

The puppies' designer dog status doesn't matter to any of them.

"We just love how they look," Amy Szumel says.

For the most part, Russo admits that people are always looking for whats trendy and new. So, what happens when today's designer dog goes the way of most trends?"

"You wouldn't believe how many of them end up in shelters once the charm ofthem wears off," she says. "That's why I screen my buysers so carefully, and I always tell them if they want to give them up, then I have first rights to them," she says.

But she feels that the positives far outweigh the negatives. "Beagles are typically high strung, but when paired with pugs, which are naturally mellow and just want to be loved, its a great mix." says Russo, who admits that her own beagle is a typically mellow, making the match even better. This, combined with the health benefits of most hybrids, means that she will definitely breed the two parents again.

And whether the puggle will have the staying power of the cockapoo, or go the way of the Pet Rock will remain to be seen.

:We keep thinking these designer dogs are just a fad, but year after year goes by, and they're still popular," says Garner.

[MeganS]

*bump*

[orinskye]

yeah i know...... my fiance adn i are thinking about getting a cockapoo (not because of the designer dog thing) but because my mom had one and she said they are really sweet and very good dogs (she had one when she was younger... like 16 or 17 until it was hit by a car because it used to break out of the house and meet her at the bus stop every day ).... i am hoping this "desighner dogs" thing will fizzle away. My fiance and i arent planning on getting another dog for probably 9 or 10 years (yeah i know, i think ahead ) but anyways, i was hoping that the prices would go down because the desighner dog craze will be over by the time we are ready to get one. i have been looking in the paper and they are EXPENSIVE

[Yorkieluv]

I just don't see how they're being sold for soooo much...I mean they're being bred on purpose, many of them are not accidental pregnancies, and they're more expensive than many purebred dogs.

[nifer]

'made-to-order-puppies'. great.