To ask for your dog breed recommendations?

I'm with both @greyexpectations and @biscuitsandbooks. There used to be a lot of random mongrels where someone's nice dog had puppies by someone else's nice dog and so on for generations. Those dogs were generally healthy and stable - I walked one who was mostly lab when I was a kid and she was a wonderful dog. One who was ?rough collie x ?? x ?? would say hello to every passing schoolchild. Now there are lots of first generation crosses who are churned out solely for the £££, in goodness knows what conditions.

There is bad breeding on both sides of the fence - too many show dogs are exaggerated (short legs, squashed faces, too much coat) or too closely related to be good for their health.

Poodles can be very cool dogs. I've some lovely standard poodles (and a really nice dog who is about 3/4 poodle plus a bit of lab) - they're a big breed I'd consider if I ever find my current (batshit, high maintenance, demanding) breed gets too much.

Ahh lovely. We had 3 growing up. Great dogs. Stubborn as hell though ( my parents didn't really train them. One ate our arm chair lol. Great guard dogs though. You don't see many now do you

I can’t understand why people are suggesting cockapoos. They could be imported or from puppy farms. You have no idea what you’re actually getting and many of them have behaviour problems.

An actual health tested, poodle is a far better option. I get asked every day whether ours is a cockapoo or a cavapoo, when you say poodle they look surprised.

Can't understand why people are suggesting a Labrador for your specifications. They certainly need more than an hour a day exercise, and are heavy shedders. Great dogs, but not what you have asked for.

My mum has a cockapoo, he is happy with less than an hours exercise a day and does very well with longer walks should you decide to, and doesn't shed, is very friendly and so gentle when taking his treats.

Just to make it clear, I’m not against crosses in the slightest, and there are plenty of pedigree breeds I would never touch with a bargepole - the brachycephalic breeds being top of the list.

What I am against though, is this trend of mixing every breed under the sun with a poodle and charging a fortune for it, even when there are no benefits to doing so and it often causes more issues than it claims to solve.

That doesn’t mean I’m against poodle crosses per se, but what’s the point in NewfiePoo? Or a DaxiePoo? The whole point of crosses should be to make things better, not for some idiot somewhere to make money because their less popular breed now has some poodle in it.

Yes, I know all this. My posts were in response to the ‘it’s not a breed’ crap.

Any breeding, done poorly, can result in unsuitable dogs and to pretend it’s only a problem with mixed breeds is nonsense.

I have met oodles who are lovely, and several KC dogs who are bonkers.

Trends are as harmful to pure bred dogs as crosses. Look at all the brachycephalic breeds.

I completely agree re poodles. They seem like such graceful and smart dogs. If I ever get a non-lurcher, I’d be very keen on a poodle.

Agreed. I got my rescue when she was 5. She was used to breed Cavachon puppies repeatedly. She was very tubby, scared of everything and never learned how to play. She had been kept in a conservatory and very rarely walked. (We soon got her used to the harness and she gets so excited when she sees it) However she is the sweetest and most beautiful doggy ever. I feel strangely guilty that we didn't have her since she was a pup and that she'd been forced to have 6 litters in 5 years. She's 11 in April. I hope she lives a lot longer as I genuinely don't know what I will do without her. 😔

German shepherd, great family dogs, loving and easy to train

The current trend is to cross anything with a poodle and then charge £££££ for a dog that could be anything and could come from anywhere. This has resulted in money grabbing people getting involved in the dog trade. Many of these crosses come as imports or from puppy farms.

The other problems with these crosses are a lack of health checks and not knowing what you’re getting. Our local park is full of cockapoos, most of them are completely bonkers. Crossing a very intelligent poodle with a highly charged working dog like a spaniel, doesn’t result in the best dog.

Poodles are a healthy, long lived breed. You can have everything you’ve ever wanted with a poodle.

My last dog was a grippit - greyhound x whippet. She had been rescued by a friend who was convinced that the dog was going to end up being used as a bait dog in a dog fighting ring.
Previously, I had owned an extremely carefully bred German Shepherd Dogs but didn't want to have such a large, time and money consuming dog again. I was working shifts at the time, and she had lovely dog-walkers and could stay overnight with them if necessary. She was quietly pts at 13 when her back end was becoming unsteady. My vet still remembers her now, and it's forty years ago.
Grippet was wonderful! She was trainable (via a lot of patience, dog training classes and closely-managed treat-giving) and she would whirl round in mad circles in our fields when the horses weren't in them. She would snooze in their beds when I went out for a hack and was loved by all.
Now I have a few physical disabilities, I have my cat and my last retired horse. Both cost a fortune, but they're definitely worth it.

One of my favourite breeds came into being between about 1850 and 1900.

I'm always surprised at how recently some dog breeds came into being. Golden retriever, for instance, as a spaniel/retriever cross.

Well, precisely.
Look at the screaming about LUA dalmatians. The current LUA dalmatians are indistinguishable from non-LUA ones, other than with improved health, but they have a teeny tiny bit of pointer in them so oh noes...!

I'm not anti pedigree dogs (I currently have two) but I'm very aware of the issues that inbreeding can cause.

Genetics.

I’m not saying dog snobs are eugenicists or anything, but I can’t get the cognitive dissonance it takes to believe inbreeding for generations is better for the species than making labradoodles.

I love mini schnauzers, but it’s worth pointing out they are often very barky if that’s something OP is really concerned about.

Re: Labradors

As an adult I have become allergic to them, (perhaps it’s the lanolin referred to by a PP), so we had to rule them out, unfortunately.

With regards to Eurasiers:

My son wanted one a few years ago and we joined several groups/got in touch with breeders. We were on waiting lists for ages before giving up as they are quite rare in the UK.

Basically, we’d have had more chance getting a unicorn!

I agree that UK rescues are the way forward if possible. Many people adopt from abroad because overseas dog dealers, (which is what the vast majority of these ‘rescues’ are), don’t care if you’re working/have kids whereas UK rescues can be a bit too fussy. Of course some of these overseas dogs are lovely, but many aren’t.

A miniature poodle, miniature schnauzer or bichon friese might suit the OP.

We are on our second UK rescue dog btw. He’s extremely hard work: ridiculously high energy, sheds year round, has huge separation anxiety and is a very weird animal generally, but the family love him and he’s living his best life!

What the fuck are you on about?

I wonder if any of the dog snobs feel the same about inter racial marriage or support cousin marriage?

Genetics are genetics, whatever the species.

As for lurchers, yes, lovely dogs, but it pays to be aware that some are from VERY purpose-bred lines, e.g. coursing, fox control. They will be very prey-driven and those drives can be tough to handle.

The reason some pedigrees need 101 health tests prior to being bred is that deleterious alleles (faulty bits of genetic code) are concentrated in the offspring when related dogs are bred together. Often the illness won't show up in a dog because it needs to copies of the messed up genetic code to develop the disease. All it takes is a popular sire to spread some dodgy genetics far and wide for a recessive disease to really take hold.

Things like hip dysplasia are fairly widespread, and no single genetic cause has been found (and environmental factors probably play a big part), but some genetic illnesses are concentrated in specific breeds or in related breeds.

Inbreeding also decreases genetic 'fitness' - general health, quality of immune system, litter size, longevity. A dog having a low coefficient of inbreeding doesn't guarantee good health, but it ups your chances. This is called hybrid vigour and is very well recognised in the livestock industry.

So I am with @greyexpectations on this one.

@SquashedSquid

lol. Back to not having anything to add but a tinkly laugh, I see.

Figures.

Right back at ya with French bulldogs, boxers, English bulldogs, Boston terriers.

What’s the point of a golden retriever in Surrey instead of the Highlands?

A whippet in east London?

The only difference between an oodle and a spaniel is generations.

I’m not saying this to defend backyard breeders, who are monsters, but the amount of snobbery around ‘pure bred’ dogs is ludicrous.

Bad breeding practices are not restricted to people who mix the breeds - and arguably the inbreeding of show dogs is far, far worse, health wise, especially when hybrid vigour is taken into account.

I think we can both agree that responsible breeding is key.

@Greyexpectationsyou’re right, but there’s a big difference between a cross/breed that’s been well established over multiple generations for a specific purpose, and a one-off mix that has no real purpose other than to look cute and make money.

I mean, what’s the point in mixing a poodle and a dachshund, for example? There’s no benefits to it other than to make money.

Just a heads up that if you go for a lurcher I would go for an older one.

Ive owned an elderly lurcher who was a dream to own, quiet, loving and happy with long or short walks, a very easy dog apart from a delicate stomach. When she died we got a lurcher pup, I can honestly say he has been one of the most difficult dogs I've owned to date, and I've owned a lot, but at coming up to two he is maturing into a lovely dog.

Lurchers can be variable in the amount of exercise they need, ours is best with more rather than less

all breeds have been created by breeding different mixes of dogs.

The only difference is time.

Stop being a dog snob.

(although welcome back to the convo! I thought you were going to pass agg send me laughing emojis silently forever and I was sad for you)

It's not a breed 🙄