Quote:
Originally Posted by Nancy1999  We had been discussing this on the previous page, if you see what is written there, I had agreed with the statement that says.
"A dog hybrid is the offspring of parents of two different purebred dog breeds, more commonly called a crossbreed or crossbred in animal breeding. Crossbreeding (parents of two different purebred breeds) results in offspring that may be stronger and healthier than either parent, an effect called hybrid vigor, but only if both parents are genetically sound."
Some experts do believe there is a phenomenon called hybrid vigor; unfortunately it is not always there, so it is not predictable.
I was originally responding to post 353, so you might want to read that too for further clarification on this issue. |
I am well aware of what those pages said. I don't agree however. Being in the pet indusstry as a professional dog groomer, trust me, I see more problems in crossbreeds aka mixes healthwise, structurally, than I have ever seen in purebreds. Hard to argue with experience.
Also, when I did my degree in Agriculture many years ago, with a very credited and well known university, this discussion regarding hybrid vigour was well covered in my genetics courses at the second through fourth year level for my bachelor degree.
It works in some plants and in animals the only hybrid vigour was crossing horse with donkeys which were sterile and could not be mated.
In those days a little cross breeding in cattle was attempted. It didn't work for the most part, got more problems and I don't believe it is continuing much.
In sheep, Finnish Landrace was crossed with Dorset to increase lambing percentages but as a ewe has only two teats, hard to raise more than two lambs per ewe. Whether the market lamb was better than either of the purebred parent was debatable.
But these examples are geared towards food production.
It is not the same drill at all for our beloved pets and what we are doing in breeding purebred dogs striving for the standard of the purebreds that we have.
I have seen Yorkie Poos anywhere from 5 lbs to 20 full grown, look anything like Yorkiyish to poodle sort of to neither. I have seen schnoodles that look like poodles, schnauzers and neither and again vary in size from about 10 lbs to 30.
buy a purebred dog from a REPUTABLE breeder and you should have a pretty good idea of what you will get. Buying a mixed breed will not avoid health or temperment problems. I often see more problems particularly in Shih Tzu mixes.