Purebred vs. Mutt - Page 3 - YorkieTalk.com Forums

Nancy1999 · 06-27-2009, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlDebra

Great minds must think alike. ..... LOL! See my post #10 in this thread....."The theory your prof is talking about is hybrid vigor. But... it does not take in to account a breeder that makes wise decisions and there are other things to consider such as.....:"

PS -- I am JK here and not calling either of us a genius. Wanted to make that clear before .... well you know.....

I saw your post, I'm not sure how many people understood it. I think the idea that mutts are healthier is just too engrained in their minds. Many people buy what is to them, an expensive purebred, and the expensive purebred, turns out to have so many health problems. So they naturally assume it's something to do with the breed. In a way they are correct, but the overall problem is that there are too many breeders who don't care about "improving the breed", but are breeding as a business.

Hey, I can't take any genius credit here either, I was one of those people who believed this. I did lots of research on the subject before I bought Joey, I'd been thoroughly against purebred breeding for over 20 years, just because of one bad experience.

Baxters Mommy · 07-20-2009, 05:44 PM

I don't know if anyone is still going to read this or not, but I got a little more information on this topic from both my Bio I and Bio II professor and my Lab Professor.

My professor that I have now, my Bio II professor, his field is genetics. I asked him after class one day about if purebreds were necessarily sicklier than other "mutts." He himself has a purebred with health problems. We talked about a thing called "true breeding" which is generally an easy concept to grasp. It's the breeding of homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive alleles, in this case, dogs - dogs with the same type of alleles(alleles, because all dogs have the same genes) bred with another type of dog with the same alleles. This will sometimes bring out recessive alleles that would have normally remained unexpressed, but when mated with another dog with those same recessive alleles, you get a dog expressing that recessive trait. Now sometimes that recessive trait isn't bad. For example, the allele for six fingers is a dominant trait, but MOST humans have only five on one hand, a recessive trait. But sometimes that recessive trait IS bad, as in the cases with some dog's health problems. Mating different breeds of dogs is good, because you are mixing different alleles, keeping the dominant traits expressed most of the time. Purebreds don't necessarily have to be unhealthy; the breeder can preform tests on the dogs to see what traits they have, etc. But even then it's hard to produce a dog with ALL the desirable traits we want.

Does any of that make sense? LOL.

MaddiesMommie · 07-20-2009, 10:48 PM

Yep! I too studied up on this in college...uh...not too many years ago in a genetics course.

It came up as discussion b/c so many of us had heard this to be true.

hugz4all4 · 07-21-2009, 05:24 AM

yes, what you said made since. Thanks for coming back and explaining the concept more. I had mostly mixed breeds growing up and they all lived to be 13 plus years old and were healthy right up untill they died. At one time I did own (as a teenager) a toy poodle and my mom had a pom, both had health issues the entire time we had them, neither lived to be over the age of 10. So it only makes sense that mixes would in general be healthier, because of the variety of genes, but still I think it all boils down to breeding, if you have healthy parents, you are going to have healthy pups.

hillies · 07-21-2009, 08:37 AM

In my college genetics lab, we ran a computer simulation on allele frequency in a population of purebred vs. "mutts." Basically, you're almost as likely to end up with a sick dog either way, but with a purebred, it's easier to know the likelihood of running into a certain genetic problem, since there are usually 3-5 "common" genetic problems in any pure breed. With a mixed breed, you have almost as high of a likelihood of finding a problem, but it's anyone's guess what that problem might be--and the problems are usually less severe. But that's why we have vets and the internet

I don't really think you have an advantage either way, the mutt at the pound could have a better temperament and overall health than the purebred dog with a champion pedigree, or it could be the other way around. Every dog is unique.

AprilLynn · 07-21-2009, 02:50 PM

I think I agree.

between past experience none of our mixed breeds have ever had any problems. Our purbreds did have problems...

07-20-2009, 05:44 PM	#32
Baxters Mommy YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Charlotte, NC, United States Posts: 295	I don't know if anyone is still going to read this or not, but I got a little more information on this topic from both my Bio I and Bio II professor and my Lab Professor. My professor that I have now, my Bio II professor, his field is genetics. I asked him after class one day about if purebreds were necessarily sicklier than other "mutts." He himself has a purebred with health problems. We talked about a thing called "true breeding" which is generally an easy concept to grasp. It's the breeding of homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive alleles, in this case, dogs - dogs with the same type of alleles(alleles, because all dogs have the same genes) bred with another type of dog with the same alleles. This will sometimes bring out recessive alleles that would have normally remained unexpressed, but when mated with another dog with those same recessive alleles, you get a dog expressing that recessive trait. Now sometimes that recessive trait isn't bad. For example, the allele for six fingers is a dominant trait, but MOST humans have only five on one hand, a recessive trait. But sometimes that recessive trait IS bad, as in the cases with some dog's health problems. Mating different breeds of dogs is good, because you are mixing different alleles, keeping the dominant traits expressed most of the time. Purebreds don't necessarily have to be unhealthy; the breeder can preform tests on the dogs to see what traits they have, etc. But even then it's hard to produce a dog with ALL the desirable traits we want. Does any of that make sense? LOL. __________________ Baxter

07-21-2009, 05:24 AM	#34
hugz4all4 YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: upstate NY Posts: 2,114 Blog Entries: 1	yes, what you said made since. Thanks for coming back and explaining the concept more. I had mostly mixed breeds growing up and they all lived to be 13 plus years old and were healthy right up untill they died. At one time I did own (as a teenager) a toy poodle and my mom had a pom, both had health issues the entire time we had them, neither lived to be over the age of 10. So it only makes sense that mixes would in general be healthier, because of the variety of genes, but still I think it all boils down to breeding, if you have healthy parents, you are going to have healthy pups. __________________ Love all 9 of my furrbutts!

07-21-2009, 02:50 PM	#36
AprilLynn Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Houston, Tx, USA Posts: 140	I think I agree. between past experience none of our mixed breeds have ever had any problems. Our purbreds did have problems... __________________ ~* Chloe's Mom *~

07-20-2009, 10:48 PM	#33
MaddiesMommie LoveMy2 Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: East Tennessee Posts: 4,060	Yep! I too studied up on this in college...uh...not too many years ago in a genetics course. It came up as discussion b/c so many of us had heard this to be true.

07-21-2009, 08:37 AM	#35
hillies Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Coconut Creek, FL Posts: 330	In my college genetics lab, we ran a computer simulation on allele frequency in a population of purebred vs. "mutts." Basically, you're almost as likely to end up with a sick dog either way, but with a purebred, it's easier to know the likelihood of running into a certain genetic problem, since there are usually 3-5 "common" genetic problems in any pure breed. With a mixed breed, you have almost as high of a likelihood of finding a problem, but it's anyone's guess what that problem might be--and the problems are usually less severe. But that's why we have vets and the internet I don't really think you have an advantage either way, the mutt at the pound could have a better temperament and overall health than the purebred dog with a champion pedigree, or it could be the other way around. Every dog is unique.