Designer dogs- does this bother anyone else?
 

I've always had a thing against crossing breeds intentionally. I believe breeding should be between two of the same breed etc... Well a couple minutes ago I came across this article.
pug-beagle-love-puggle-wsj: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance
It wasn't too horrible until I came across the part where a women is a broker... She sight out says she has some breed the puppies, ship them to her house, and she lists them online for x amount of money.
I couldn't finish reading the article because it was bothering me but I figured I would post it here and see what you guys thought.
By the way the yahoo headline that caught my eye was something about big business in designer dogs.

Read this earlier and this person breeding is really stuck on stupid; cross breeding and calling them hybreds and attempting to fool the unsuspecing public by giving them a false sense of security; telling them that her breeding dogs are tested. There is no DNA Marker out there that tells you that a dog is not a carrier of a dreaded disease.

I think its super stupid and yahoo shouldn't promote it. Cross breeding is not natural and we don't know what will be the end result. Plus its not fair to the dogs ugh!

Sad but true statistic.........many of those mutts will end up in shelters. No one can resist a cute puppy, but those cute puppies grow up and lets be honest here. Some of those "hybreds" are absolutely uncute as adults. Not that one should solely care about looks but that is one of the first things that attracts a possible owner to a certain breed.

Remember the dalmation craze?
The Goldren Retriever craze (Lassie)?

First of all, I think the major objection to this article should be the poor breeding practices, or rather, lack of any breeding practices at all. The issue is that this is just a broker/mill operation. The cross-breeding or "designer dog" issue should be secondary IMO.

It seems you have more of a problem with this woman's disgusting "business" than anything else. I agree with that. However, I don't feel the thread was titled appropriately.

I don't think it is fair to directly and solely associate mixed breeds with THAT. I have a mixed breed and she definitely did not come from a terrible place like that. Do mills breed them and brokers sell them? Sure, but mills breed everything under the sun that will make them money including pure breeds.

Perhaps a more appropriate title would have been "Mill/Broker operations - does this bother anyone else?"

Lassie was a Collie :) Although I do love Golden Retrievers!

My mum had a Dalmatian mix, before I was born, that was the sweetest dog ever. She was from a shelter I think. She didn't get a pure Dalmatian because the lines were so badly ruined she was afraid of getting a dog with severe issues. :(

I saw this and the thing that is bad about these dogs is that none of them look the same....you have no idea what you are going to get. Just because someone has a cute xbreed dog doesn't mean you are going to get the same thing if you want one. Also, it's crazy that they charge so much because they say they are "designer" dogs......they used to just be called mutts even if they were both papered dogs.

:thumbup: I agree.

I can't stand the name either, when I think of designer I think of handbags not living creatures.

I think they shouldn't do this on purpose, if a litter happens then they should be sold with a reasonable adoption fee with the s/n agreement like any other mutt.

I love all dogs. I love my mix, and my 2 purebreds. I would NOT pay $1000+ for a "designer dog".

IMO some of these breeds should NOT be mixed. My BF has a "cockalier" (cavalier king charles - cocker mix) and that little dog has some major issues. He has fly catcher syndrome & OCD (common in cavs) and fear aggression (cocker issue), resource guarding, and he is very unpredictable. He stayed with me for a few months when BF relocated to FL for his job and during that time he very nearly killed my cat. With a lot of work the fear aggression and guarding has gotten better. But the fly catcher syndrome and OCD behaviors are here to stay. He is the result of poor breeding by a greeder who is taking advantage of the designer dog craze. These dogs are the ones who suffer.

A friend of mine got a "designer" breed about two years ago...a goldendoodle...which she got from a breeder she knew. This breeder only breeds goldendoodles and doesn't sell them as designer, just mixed breed. I don't know if she just got lucky or if this is a good mix of breeds, but Molly (her doodle) is one of the sweetest pups...and very well-behaved. There are at least two other "doodles" in our neighborhood and they all seem pretty well-mannered.

Me....I will stick with my yorkies....I just love them and their terrier personalities :D

Rylie was much, much cheaper than a purebred Yorkie or Maltese. She was far under $1,000. I do not agree with charging an arm and a leg for a mix.

What is "fly catcher syndrome"? I've never heard of it. Does it have to do with the mouth? It reminds me of the saying "catching flies" (e.g. slack jawed/open mouthed).

I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure that Goldendoodles were well documented and very specific mixes. I am pretty sure the man who came up with them was very meticulous and had specific traits in mind. Like I said I am not positive on this, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere he started the "mix craze." However, he himself was working toward more than just money.

A fool and their money are soon parted. There is nothing "designer" about these dogs. Just putting two different breeds together to hope to "cash" in on the "hybrid" vigor nonsense. And two different breeds of dogs mated are not hybrid, they are mutts, pure and simple.

Brokers/Millers will cash in on whatever they can. It is whatever the trend is at the time. They breed purebreds and mixes alike. The main problem is their lack of breeding ethics, not the type of dog they are breeding.

Large volumes of sick, behaviorally difficult mixes AND purebreds alike end up dead or in shelters because of these people. It isn't just mixes.

They are just terrible for the business they run. They are in it for money and only focus on marketing, not the dogs.

The main problem isn't "designer dogs" it is these PEOPLE and their lack of ethics.

I just read this article this morning. Get this.... the girl at work brought it in because she knows how into dogs I am. This is the girl who got her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from a petstore but won't tell me (however other people did) cause she knows how against that I am. The one who's CKCS looks more like a beagle than a CKCS and she gets mad because everywhere she goes people ask if its a beagle and she says that she thought maybe she should keep her dog intact and stud him out because there are so many CKCS mixes in the article. :eek:

I read the article this afternoon and was utterly disgusted. They managed to promote mutts being called designer breeds & puppy mills/brokers all in one article.