I, too, believe there is a difference between a "mutt" and a crossbred dog. A mutt is, like someone said earlier, a dog of unknown descent. My mother has a yorkie chihuahua mix. She got him for a lot less than she would have spent on a pure yorkie or chi which was one of his appeals at the time--apart from being tiny and cute. She wanted a dog that would stay small and happened to like both breeds, so whatever he ended up as she felt she would like. He wasn't bred on purpose though, he was the outcome of two show dogs breeding by mistake at a show. A long haired chihuahua jumped into the yorkie mom's pen. He looks very much like a yorkie and acts like one, but I believe he has more of a chihuahua frame. Hes very small looking but he weighs 8 pounds. I hate when people call him a mutt... its so disrespectful. My aunt does this everytime she sees him. It seems... too loose a term, not to mention derogatory. We know who his parents were: a pure bred yorkie and a pure bred long haired chi. He is a cross and that is the definition of the term. I have no problem with people breeding crosses intentionally though... I think they can produce some interesting looking dogs.. and some people want that. They want the sponanteously and individuality of the crosses, but want a general idea of what they will look like and of their adult size. I've seen some really cute ones out there, and with some of them, the pure bred parents cannot compete looks wise. I saw this really cute pug/long-haired chi mix... the puppy had a softer pug face and was smaller than a normal pug--the size of a small chihuahua. It was so adorable. I totally wanted him but I went with getting Pebbles instead because I wanted some hair to comb
I also don't feel it is fair to throw the whole issue of dog overpopulation on the shoulders of people who breed crosses... the same could be said for people who breed any type of dog, including purebred dogs. I feel it would be beneficial to point out that in the cat breeding world, many new breeds start out as crosses... and like everyone said, even the yorkie is a product of a several other breeds being bred together. I feel there is some inherent value to the practice because of this. Good things have come of crosses! I agree there are a lot of unwanted dogs out there, but saying a purebred dog is acceptable to be bred (as opposed to crosses or "mutts") is also saying purebreds are somehow better than the other two and
that seems somehow wrong to me. A dog is a dog, a life is a life, and I think breeding is breeding, end of story. Any qualms with breeding should apply to breeding all kinds, even purebreds!