Paying £100's for mongrels

[dimondjedi9]

All I have seen on Facebook is adverts selling so called ‘designer’ puppies for ridiculous amounts of money.
All these Jackerpoos, cockerpoo, yorkieshit etc are basically mongrels, it amazes me why people would pay £700+ for a mongrel.
The definition of mongrel is:
Any animal resulting from the crossing of different breeds or types.
We rescued our little Westie from travellers, she had been bred and bred until she became of no use, the amount of different puppies they were selling was unreal, crossing them with everything.
Surely the worry will be that if these dogs keep being inbred all the time then the true breed will disappear, Facebook should ban the selling of any animal, especially on the run up to xmas!

Kittens - don't start me on kittens!

A pet shop Near work, they have kittens and I go and press my nose against the glass every day. These are moggies. Your run of the mill mogster. £260 for a ginger tabby, £220 for a ginger tortoise shell, £200 for a black and white. They are beyond cute.

In fairness the shop has them for 2 weeks before he will sell them, they re vet examined, wormed and first dose of jabs.

But I cant get over that price, I got mine for 25 quid from a mate

Is a Pomeranian crossed with a Bearded Collie a PomBear?

Is a Toy Poodle crossed with a boxer a Toybox?

Tragically, people being prepared to pay silly money for a "rare olde-english-wire-haired-cocker-bull-doberdoodle" has caused unscrupulous individuals to cross any two breeds (or two cross-breeds) together, label them as "rare" and "highly sought after", give them a stupid name and charge top-dollar, while producing dozens of ill-bred and often unhealthy mongrel puppies and breeding their bitches into the ground.

It also encouraged the production of "rare" colours of established breeds - and sometimes these colours are rare for a reason eg white dobermans aren't recognised but the kennel club: they are often deaf, AND blind, have horrendous skin problems, as well as bowel and stomach problems, and have a reputation for being snappy and aggressive (as most of us would be if we were in constant pain and unable to properly see or hear),

Dogs have become viewed as accessories, and are passed from hand to hand, and replaced as easily as last year's handbag. Many people forget that there is a living, breathing sentient creature there, totally dependent on their owners for everything - and very vulnerable.

Dogs are sensitive and loving creatures, and a lot of buyers, attracted by the look of an animal, don't give a moments thoughts to its needs.

A glance at Gumtree, or Pets4Homes shows that there are far. far more puppies being randomly bred than there could ever be permanent loving homes for.

It is heartbreaking.

I like to see animals in pet shops at high prices. It stops impulse buying. Plus if you can't afford a couple of hundred for a kitten in the first place then you wont be able to afford the inevitable first vets bill either.

I do wonder at the people who are happy to pay ££££ for a dog like a pug or French bulldog , why would you want an animal that can't breath properly . I know there is a type of surgery which can alleviate some of the symptoms , I wonder if Milo can give an idea of how much that surgery would cost ? I imagine it wouldn't be covered under insurance as a known breed defect though ?

Cockapoo's are ten a penny round here , the ones I have met have generally been nice little dogs with the odd exception which I imagine is as much down to the owner than the breed . Not my cup of tea purely because of the grooming requirements , I like a breed you can just run the hoover over occasionally

I got mine for 25 quid from a mate

We've had six cats (three at a time for company) - all of them were given to us - only costs were neutering and jabs.

It’s ridiculous, but you can’t tell people what to spend their money on.

So is someone not leaving a bitch alone with its pups whilst you go to sleep, what do you think is going to happen?

I can’t get excited about the mongrel vs purebred argument, because purebreds can have their own issues.

It would be great if people would consider retired greyhounds rather than puppies, a damn sight less trouble and very used to being with people.

I like a breed you can just run the hoover over occasionally

Or one you can give a quick wipe down with an oily rag

Well its only polite to cover the first couple of month litter trays and food, I feel.

And I suppose Trump has a Border Terrier/Mexican Hairless cross...

A Mexican Border

Arf

As long as there are people stupid enough to pay excessive amounts of money for a cross bred dog, there are people unscrupulous enough to breed them. Especially at this time of year in the run up to Christmas.

Ah mine ate all the oily rags schaden

DJBaggy
I’m shocked at the article. Where I live there are tons of cockapoos, one cavapoo and a labradoodle. They all seem very sane. Mines the feisty, one. He is heavily imprinted on me so he really doesn’t like being separated from me even if he’s with dh. My first dog was the same though and he was a mixed breed before designer dogs were available (I rescued him from an individual, who couldn’t be bother to care for him).

I don’t leave the dog alone with 9 yo dd in case she does something silly because she wants to play with him and doesn’t get the danger so she could hurt him. And he’d be stressed so not a great combo. When I say alone, I mean I take him upstairs when I go for a rest.

I got a cockapoo because dd wanted one like her friend’s dog (which was a rescue) and half the School parents seem to have now jumped on the same bandwagon.

Paying large amounts for any dog is (usually) silly. A purebred dog is not objectively better for most owners. Excessively narrow breeds are objectively worse than a mongrel, but still carry some bizarre snobbery value.

The price of animals is set according to supply and demand. Cuteness/fashion is often the most in demand characteristic.

Of course all prospective owners should do research and avoid puppy farms.

My Nan had a Deerhound/Old English Sheepdog cross. It was an OldDeer

The problem with these fashionable crosses is that Dave and Sharon decided they could easily supplement their benefits by breeding them and selling them, they only care about making as much money as they can they don't care about the dog's welfare. I was brought up with a collie German Shepherd cross and she was beautiful and intelligent and because she was a cross- free

Cross breeding animals is a popular technique in animal husbandry. What about the mule, a cross between a horse and a donkey that has been around for thousands of years? More recently farmers cross beef and dairy cows to give a dairy cow a calf that can be reared for meat. In dogs the lurcher is a cross breed of a working dog with a sight hound and has been popular since the 17th century. These lurchers are a big favourite of mine and most of them are of good temperament and healthy.
So cross breeding I believe to be fine, but what I do agree with is stamping out bad breeders, particularly puppy farms and cruel backyard breeders, but also pedigree breeders who breed in a non ethical manner.
People who can should definitely consider a rescue dog. If rescuing teaches us anything it is breed is secondary to the individual dog's personality. I've seen gentle, laid back collies and slightly hyper greyhounds. So many of them are potentially wonderful family pets and I think everyone should look at this route first. But I'm also not against people buying a puppy from a good breeder if that is right for their circumstances.

Cross breeding is absolutely not a guarantee of avoiding hereditary health issues, it's just not that simple. Many of the most popular crosses either involve breed which share a number of the same health conditions or there are health issues involved which can't necessarily be avoided with a simple first cross.

Unfortunately many people still seem to believe that a cross or mongrel is guaranteed to be healthier than a pedigree. It's very evident with CKCS crosses which are becoming hugely popular. People have heard that the CKCS as a breed is riddled with health issues (which is true) but rather than find a CKCS breeder who fully health tests all their dogs they'll go buy a CKCS x bichon or CKCS x toy/miniature poodle with only minimal health testing in place because they're convinced that because it's a cross it'll avoid any of the common health issues seen in the CKCS. What many people don't realise is that the two most serious issues in the CKCS (Syringomyelia and Mitral Valve Disease) are seen in both the bichon and toy/miniature poodles.

I will admit that I don't see the point in many of the popular crosses (in that they're almost never done to fill a niche unoccupied by an existing breed and nor are they often done with the express intention of increasing genetic diversity or improving health within a specific type) but I don't much care what people are breeding as long as they're doing everything in their power to stack the odds in favour of the resulting puppies being healthy, sound and of excellent temperament.

Unfortunately decent breeders tend to be in the minority whether we're talking pedigrees, crosses, whatever. And as long as there are people willing to buy from them (either through lack of research or, more commonly in my opinion, wilful ignorance) then there are are going to be all sorts of breeders on the scale from a bit less than ideal to industrial scale puppy farms.

Cockerpoos are massively popular because they’re so easy to train.

But that's a hugely sweeping statement. You've either been lucky or you've spent the time training. Not all cockerpoos are going to be easy to train as a pp said, you might have got a neurotic working cocker more than the (sometimes) calmer poodle. What was wrong with a pure bred poodle? Sorry, rhetorical, you get what you like, I'm just debating the whole issue of why a particular cross. Temperament of the individual dog is key, I have multiples of a particular breed, all massively different characters.

Isn't the breeding of labradoodles (sp?) for it's lack of hair shedding? Or allergies? Or something?

Yes, but that's extremely unreliable and something like 3 out of the original litter were non-shedding. People buy doodles thinking the shedding is eliminated, it is not! Someone I know had to give away her doodle because her son was allergic to the hair it shed. It takes dozens of generations to get even close to the majority of non-shedding, but then genetics will always out, you'll get a litter of shedders.

The Captain of the Titanic had a very interesting Cross:

An Icelandic Sheepdog crossed with a Bergamasco

I shit you not

Mummyoflittledragon You have been lucky, many people end up with a dog that has the hyperactivity of a working cocker and is as neurotic as a badly bred poodle.

BaggySmalls is right - a lot of these delightful little dogs are now appearing in rescues because they are hard work - especially for people who work all day ad leave them, or who think a dog only needs 10 minutes exercise a day.

Also, despite what many breeders claim, sticking a poodle in the mix does NOT guarantee "hypoallergenic" puppies!

I offered Fence - I even said that I would be happy to pay for the mother cat to be spayed to avoid further accidents. All three people who gave us kittens refused - they just wanted a good home, and I had been recommended by mutual friends.

Surely the worry will be that if these dogs keep being inbred all the time then the true breed will disappear

I would like to see the bulldog disappear, it's very existence is animal cruelty. Give me a mongrel any day. Also, cross breeds are the very opposite of 'inbred'.