To think that a labracockapoodle is a mongrel

[voluptuagoodshag]

So why can't folk just say so. Or would that be to justify the extortionate amount they paid for it so they don't come across as mugs.

Ya but
And imo paying thousands for a dog is disgusting.

Yanbu*

I think they must be dog celebrities, like the human name combinations TomKat, Brangelina, etc.

But those names are thought up by the media. Brad and Angelina don't refer to themselves in that way. And neither do we cross-breed owners. I have a lovely dog. He happens to be a cross between a poodle and a working cocker spaniel. He's gorgeous.

Why the vitriol?

Rescue dogs are usually more of a gamble than pedigrees from good breeders though - unless you get them as a pup, which isn't really helping as they're rarely any trouble to rehome. With an adult dog, you are potentially picking up someone else's mess of mis-training and mis-management, and if you expect a dog to fit in to a less than perfect lifestyle, that can be unfair on it. Mine are expected to cohabit peacefully with cats and livestock. I've known rescue dogs who would have been fine with this. Sadly the one I have is an absolute cockwomble about other animals (and other things besides). He isn't my mess (we inherited that from his background), but he's my responsibility, so we adapt his life to keep everything safe. But there's no way I'd ever choose to take that gamble again, so it's back to my pure bred collie pups all the way - not because there's no risk, but because the risk is much smaller (not least because I get the chance to introduce them at the optimum time in their development).

It's perfectly reasonable to pay for an animal to maximise the chance of successful integration into their new life - it reduces the risk the animal will be returned to a rescue if it fails to integrate, and if nobody was buying from backyard breeders who misinform about likely traits (in crossbreeds or purebreds) or who sell their puppies without checking the buyer's suitability in the first place, the shelters would be considerably less crowded anyway.

Isn't that how most different breeds of dogs came to be?

I have a lovely dog too, and he happens to be a cross between a poodle and a Labrador. He's healthy, happy, has the most beautiful temperament of any dog I've ever met, and is a very well loved member of my family. To us, he is worth ten times what we paid for him.

I don't get the vitriol either. If you don't want one, then don't buy one! Stick to your pedigrees and rescues if that's what you want, but I'll stick with my lovely mutt.

Gavel!

I do not get how a dog can be a mixture of three breeds. It's either a cross between two or it's the puppy of two dogs of the same breed.

If neither parent was a particular breed then it's just a mixture.

I really detest the twee pun-style naming of these poor creatures. It's horrible.

It's just a dog ffs. And the prices are absurd.

My dog is a true mongrel. His mother was apparently an American Water Spaniel, but he looks nothing like her and his father was unknown. He is a rescue dog but as he came to us at 8weeks with his mother having been supervised by the rescue staff it seems to me he came with as many or as few guarantees as a cross breed. As it turns out he is a lovely dog with a strong neurotic streak.

We had a pedigree Spaniel, a working collie and a rescue mutt growing up. They all had their different quirks! We could describe the crazy spaniel and the neurotic collie as having breed typical issues, but who knows whether the character of the mutt was typical of his genetic make up or was simply personality. One thing I have noticed since my mother got her newest dog (a miniature schnauzer from a home breed/backyard breeder) is that all her dogs have a lot in common, which has to be more about my mother than their breed.

'Designer dog' breeding seems to have led to a glut of abandoned dogs in the UK, and for that alone I think that they were/are a bad development. Too many people breeding and buying dogs without thinking things through or for the wrong motivation.

Just as an aside, why did they get rid of dog licenses? And what did having a dog licence mean?

Dog licence used to be 7/6 old money as far as I remember and my father was so pleased our daft useless 'farm' dog was exempt so he didn't have to pay.
Was it because it cost more to collect it than it raised?

Unless you literally call your dog 'Labradoodle', the dog owners won't be saying it around the house with some smug sense of superiority, if that's what's got you all clutching your pearls and crying into your Pedigree Chum.

Chances are they, like all the doodle owners I know, have dogs called Nugget and Woofles and Poppy and Buttmunch and Noodle (yes, Noodle the Doodle, and yes that is exactly what I'd call one if I had one ).

Just because they accept that their dog is a the-crossbreed-formerly-known-as-labradoodle, doesn't mean they're smug about it in fact the smug ones IME are the full poodle or full shaggy labradoodle owners, who take great offence at the thought of Chorolemondeley Morning Glory Asterisk III being mistaken for a Heinz 57 mutt.

I don't think they dogs themselves are what people giggle at - it's just the funny names!
Of course your dog is gorgeous clam

I just feel that at some vague point in history cross breed dogs would be advertised as 'free to a good home' instead of for hundreds of pounds.

My parents have only ever had v expensive KC for generations black lab bitches. The latest one has a wonderful personality, but is a health hazard for reasons of her breed and her intelligence.

On the other hand, my dog (a rescue staffy, doing something right on MN for a change ) is in rude health!

I was brought up with Bernese Mountain Dogs, went to crufts a few times etc. The bernie community doesn't breed in problems that some pedigree dogs have. It would bring a tear to my eye to see a Bernie crossed with anything. I'm sure the cross breeds are fantastic dogs but as previous people have said, you pay more for pedigree for the heritage, temperment etc. I do think that some people are paying over the odds for what is in effect, a mongral

clam counter-gavel

This is a poodle

This is another poodle - a standard.

A dog such as a cockapoo is a crossbreed not a mongrel.

Technically a mongrel is 3 breeds or more.

So yabu.

I do have a cavachon and when I first got her and people asked what she was I would say mutt, or crossbreed. But then Id just get quizzed over which breeds. Even if I said mongrel Id get people asking what sort of breeds were in the mix.

She's the first non pedigree dog ive had and was worth what I paid for her so I don't think Im a mug at all.

And it's perfectly possible to get health tested cross breeds. Plenty of cavachon and labradoodle and cockerpoo breeders health test their dogs. So their costs are just the same as any pedigree dogs.

My first dog was a retired greyhound. My second dog was a rehomed young dog who was the nastiest dog ever. Loved him to bits but he was vicious.

Wasn't prepared to risk being in a similar situation again so for the first time ever got a puppy.

Well a labracockapoodle would be a mongrel then as it consists of three breeds.

I really think that you have purebred or you don't, a crossbreed is the same as a mongrel, there's no such a thing as designer/new breed until breeders can replicate the traits of such mix for long enough to create a standard for it. And that is not going to happen while so many unexperienced "breeders" around just enjoying the puppies or making money out of them.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure that an unexperienced owner can be a waste for a perfectly breed dog of a good temperament, it is not all in the purity of the breed but the handling they receive.

So if you are a good owner you can make a good dog even of the most problematic rescued mongrel.

(In most cases)

Well I must be a shit owner then. Funny, the top rated animal behaviourist qualified professor who charged me £160 per appt didn't think I was a shit owner.

But between us we still couldn't sort out my fucked up, aggressive dog.

Who btw had a pedigree stretching back generations, inc many Cruft best of breed ancestors, european champions, etc.