Oh its fucking ridiculous isn't it. An owner proudly brought her litter of puppies into work the other day, i enquired as their breed "oh the mum is a maltichon (bichon x maltese) and the father is a toy poodle cross". My friend was looking for a puppy of that "type" so i enquired as to the price £600 I shit you not!!! I was sooo tempted to say "is that £100 per breed". But honestly, its ridiculous.
Now one might argue that what is the difference between a pedigree dog and one of these crosses. They are all lovely after all.
Well, with the price tag that comes with a pedigree dog you are hopefully (not always sadly) paying for a breeder with lots of experience and knowledge. A breeder that has chosen her parents well, from lines of dogs that have minimal congenital defects and illnesses. That has bred from lines of dogs with good temprements.
What you are getting with these crossbreeds is invariably back yard breeders who think its a money spinner to breed their shih tzu bitch with the jack russel down the road and calling the puppies "jack shit" or such like. You are encouraging back yard breeding and getting ripped off in the process.
And sorry, yes, anyone no matter how well meaning who puts their bitch through pregnancy to sell on the puppies is a backyard breeder.
Saying that, don't get me started on breeders of bulldogs etc...
Now the Labradoodle, actually lovely dogs and i can see the point of those, a non shedding dog in a family that has allergies can be (CAN be not always) the difference between being able to have a dog and not and maybe a poodle isn't best suited to family life so the labradoodle was a pretty good idea and i think will eventually become and established breed. Its just a shame people have jumped on the bandwaggon with all of this these other "breeds".
The trouble is, all the while someone is willing the pay £££ for these puppies someone is going to breed them.