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Originally Posted by QuickSilver  It sounds like at this point different things are being discussed. Eliminating a major health problem by including one other breed in a 5 generation pedigree seems pretty reasonable to me, especially considering all the health problem doxies suffer through. That seems really different than breeding morkies or yorkie-poos because it's a fad. |
There are different things being discussed and that's partly my fault. The examples I gave, along with breeding a 'designer' dog are all considered cross breeding. I was just trying to illustrate how the same tool (cross breeding) can be used either for profit or to achieve other goals. And yes, all pure breeds were cross bred at some point. The difference between a pure breed and a cross breed is the stewardship of breeders in getting a breed to breed pure. Cross breeding, out-crossing, inbreeding and line breeding are all just tools....tools that have all been used in the creation of all dog breeds. It's in how these tools are used (or mis-used) that the difference lies.
One really striking example is with Gail's (Gemy) breed, the Black Russian Terrier. It's an impressive dog but had such a weird start. Beginning as a cross between upwards of 20 different breeds, you could say this dog, at the beginning, was the mother of all mongrel breeds. It was bred solely by one kennel (the state owned Red Star Kennel) until 1957, when some were allowed out to hobby breeders. In the relatively short time since then, this dog has been accepted as a pure breed by both FCI (1984) and AKC (2004).
The above is not a knock against the BRT, but an example of how intelligent breeding can set type in a dog in a short period of time, even with all those breeds thrown into the mix. The only health concerns I've seen listed are hip and elbow dysplasia and PRA, a shorter list than many pure breeds that have been around much longer. Here's a link to a history of the breed...
Russian Guard