To think there’s nothing wrong with cross breeds?

[sophialagiraffe]

There is nothing wrong whatsoever with cross breeds, whether that’s lurchers or cockerpoos. People are allowed to like what they like.

What DOES matter is where the dog comes from. But all this sneering about “mongrels” is fucking nasty and says more about the poster than the dog.

Most people don’t want a Crufts champion, they want a pet.

MacDuffsMuff
The lack of logic in the OP is strong.
She has no issue with crosses, mongrels etc and people who identify highly crossed dogs as being a mongrel are apparently snobs and sneering.

But the OP is very irritated at the mere thought of someone suggesting a highly crossed dog was a mongrel because obviously if there's a high price tag from a questionable breeder then it couldn't be mongrel because it has a fancyschmancy name.

Amusingly, for someone accusing everyone of being a snob, they seem to be rather bothered about the word mongrel.

If you read the OP she is annoyed at 'all this sneering about “mongrels”' As am I - why should anyone sneer at a mongrel - especially when so many pedigrees are absolute abominations. How can the KC sanction dogs who can barely breathe? That is sneer-worthy.

Our dog came from a rescue in Spain (we were living there at the time) - the mother and pups had been abandoned on the street. I have no idea what breeds may be involved in the dog - had no idea when we took him home how big he'd grow or what his temperment might be. We just committed to owning and loving and caring for whatever he was.

He is paws down the bestest dog ever. As loving and sweet as the two breedless mongrels we owned before him.

You can keep your pure breeds and designer crosses!

@NuniaBeeswax

"And it's cockapoo, not cockerpoo."

Its not a cocka spaniel...

No it's not. But it IS a cockapoo. Daft isn't it?

@MacDuffsMuff its a made up word so surely you can spell it however you want.

Amusingly, for someone accusing everyone of being a snob, they seem to be rather bothered about the word mongrel.

Exactly @LolaSmiles. She talks about 'mongrels' as though it's a dirty word and somehow lesser than a cross-breed. I'm not having that. I've taken it as a personal affront to my mongrel!

How far down the chain do you go before a crossbreed starts being a breed? 🤔

I think one thing is that is has to breed, "true to type" and is some cases have particular attributes specifically bread into the dog eg Golden Retrievers were bread from other hunting dogs to be able to retrieve from land and water.

"But it IS a cockapoo"

Its also a made up name for a made up breed. When the KC recognise "cockapoos" I'll call them cockapoos.

@NuniaBeeswax

"But it IS a cockapoo"

Its also a made up name for a made up breed. When the KC recognise "cockapoos" I'll call them cockapoos.

I don't really care what it's called, I was just correcting the OP. I don't have one, but they seem sweet wee dogs. I like all dogs though - KC registered pedigrees, mongrels, cross-breeds, that wee brown one that my dad found under a hedge and looks like an actual pig. I don't care to be honest.

MacDuffsMuff
I'm with you. There's nothing wrong with mongrels. They're a good genetic mix and great pets.

Though maybe you could put a nice blendednameusingpartsofeachsuspectedbreed together for your lovely dog.

@sashh

How far down the chain do you go before a crossbreed starts being a breed? 🤔

I think one thing is that is has to breed, "true to type" and is some cases have particular attributes specifically bread into the dog eg Golden Retrievers were bread from other hunting dogs to be able to retrieve from land and water.

That's probably the main criteria.

But dog breeds as we think of them now came out of the Victorian period. Before that you had "types" of dogs, generally differentiated by the work they did and geographic area. But the idea that they would only ever be bred with other dogs from a limited genetic pool wasn't really a thing.

Some crosses are more predictable than others though. A lot of sled racing dogs for certain types of races are crosses between some sort of northern dog (not necessarily purebreds and I think often include some GS blood)and pointers, and I gather the results are relatively predictable. The same is true with lurchers and longdogs.

A lot of the dogs that still are working dogs are crossed quite often, or have recent crossing in their genetic make-up. Australian shepherds have dingo in the mix! Advocates of purebred dogs being "better"never seem to ask themselves why so many working dogs don't emphasise being purebred as a high priority.

@LolaSmiles I literally wouldn't know where to start! Maybe a labrabeaglegiraffepoo or something. 😂

We used to put daft names together for crossbreeds in the rescue I worked at. Of course we never revealed these names to potential adopters or published them on the rescue's page in fear of sparking another stupid trend.

My favourite was a Whiggi (Whippet/Italian greyhound). He was the most loving, chilled, funny dog you could ever meet. Sadly, as he didn't need any traning my time with him was limited and he was snapped up as soon as he was assesed.

My worst was a Huskitman (mum was a husky/akita dad was a dobe) My God! It was like someone took the worst traits of all three breeds and threw them together in a giant ball of ever shedding fur. He had the aloofness and lack of obedience of a northern breed paired with the energy and intelligence of a dobe and both breeds are known for bonding fiercely with family and being standoffish with strangers/poor with other dogs. He was with the rescue for years and eventually ended up being "adopted" by us as in we moved him from kennels to the office and he lived the rest of his years as the rescue's mascot and went home with the rescue's owner each night. That dog should never have existed.

The easiest to train and the one I had the most fun with was the labollie. She was as eager to please and energetic as a lab with the attention span and intelligence of a collie. She stayed with me for a year until we found a suitable home. She's the one I wish I kept. Instead I ended up with my heinz 57 terrier mix who is an asshole and also should not exist but he's mine and I love him. I'm also very aware if I'm ever in a position where I can't keep him he will need to be pts due to his behaviour and health issues.

He is snappy, prone to guarding and aggression and has every health condition you could ever imagine. After two years with me with him throwing issue after issue at me I deemed him un-rehomable and he stayed with me.

He was found straying but we think he is a mix of westie/JRT/wheaten terrier. He has the skin and ear problems of a westie, the attitude problem of a JRT and the pain in the ass coat of a wheaten.

While my dog is a cross breed (albeit one that I just say it’s a cross between x and y) the dog thinks he’s a duman... part dog part human.

@Frequency
No i didn't buy him. I inherited the dog when his original owner gave up on him, after he chewed their car to bits after being left for 4 hours. Also I took him in temporarily because his breeder was told he could only have 2 dogs. I was with my ex then. I took the dog with me when I left my ex because he was an abusive arsehole.
I have no intention of EVER having another dog.

Anyone want to come up with a cockerpoo/huskita type name for Ddog. According to his DNA test which I am convinced was a con he is part Border Collie, German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, Chow Chow and 40% unspecified.

@Bunnybigears he's a German Malchollie, obviously They're very rare.

@Frequency ah yeah obviously I think for the sake of polite society it is a good thing he is rare!

This annoys me too. We have a fully parent health tested crossbreedmongrelcockapoo and I don't really care what people call him! What I do object to is the snobbish attitude towards crossbreeds that isn't just about welfare issues for dogs. These crossbreeds are in demand and if the KC allowed crossbreeds to be registered as a breed, it would afford better protections to the welfare of the dogs. As many have said, you wouldn't buy a pure bred without KC registration and health checks so I am not sure why the same could not become standard for popular crossbreeds.

@bibbidybobbidyboo when a cockapoo and a cockapoo breed they produce F2 puppies. F1 are first gen cockapoos, so parents are a cocker spaniel and a poodle. F1b's are 1 parent is a cocker spaniel or poodle and the other is a cockapoo.

@Bunnybigears a Colman Belch

What I object to is people charging £3000 for a crossbreed. I have nothing against them. Many of them are lovely. But to charge mega bucks for them. That’s just greed.

Sorry if this has already been said a million time. I haven’t read the whole thread.

@Bunnybigears

Bordermanois?

Nothing against cross breeds. I am concerned over whether it's good for the dog to be a cross breed. Some of the crosses seem to have inbred health conditions which affect their life quality and I think that is a bit selfish. I'm not a dog person so just a layman's point of view.

@Imapotato why cross breeds? Why isn’t it ridiculous to charge that for a dog full stop?
I didn’t pay much at all for my dog - but I’d rather spend £2k on a dog than a handbag.