Aibu that dogs are now a class identifier??

[MammabearX1]

Just that.... Since my dc have returned to school (London prep) the school gates are crowded with little fluffy pups.... All expensive cockapoo or cavachon types... Thorough breds seems to be gone out of fashion & there's not a mongrel in sight... I'm thinking these are a class identifier as those fluffy dogs are so expensive... My husband thinks it's down to the dogs size making them perfect for London living with smaller garden space etc... Is it just our school? When I was young the posh kids had cocker spaniels or some type of working dogs but then I grew up in the country...

I have a flat faced dog (Pug) and yes I have had someone insinuate I don't care about his health in the park

He's a rescue (and adorable and breathes fine)

He was just left in the town center

I don’t think it’s a class thing at all, these dogs are popping up everywhere. One of my friends works at a PDSA vets and said she is seeing lots more of these dogs being brought in instead of the usual Staffs, and wee broon dugs and was annoyed that owners would openly talk about the dog costing £1500 plus, but they didn’t then have the money to look after if it things went wrong. I think it’s also more down to people that haven’t had dogs before going for something small and cute because they think they will be easier to own. Plus money does not equate to class.

Forgot to mention in my post we have the most amazing Bichon Freise, he is just the very best ... However some of the dogs at the school are crossed with bichons eg Cavachon (cavalier/bichon) or the poochons (poodle/bichon). What is wrong with a full Bichon Friese? Are they just not en vogue... The crosses are actually more expensive than a thorough bred Bichon... In saying that my dog just loves meeting all the fluffy puppies every morning so he's happy!

A Mongrel is 2 breeds of dog or more mixed together. So all these ‘new breeds’ are mongrels. They are not recognised as a pedigree.
It’s crazy how much people are paying for these crossed breed dogs that a few years ago people would have either had to let go for free or for a couple of hundred pounds depending on what mix.

I completely agree that the fashionable new crosses are not really what the upper middle class/upper class have (in general) - I live rurally but round here all the landed types have working gun dog breeds (labs and spaniels). A lot of people have cockapoos etc. but not the 'old money'. In London (where we also lived until very recently) from what I see a lot of the wealthy have French bulldogs, sausage dogs or chihuahuas.

Ditto re the rescue side of things. They have become so precious and have a list a mile long of requirements that most people cannot possibly live up to the 'list'. So the dog stays in kennels and the rescues smugly say they are being ultra careful .

We have a lab (daft as anything and rather clumsy but hey ho) and got him from a puppy. I did quickly look into a rescue but honestly - we are previous dog owners and I just didnt have time to go through the endless questions and although I work at home most of the time they wanted a guarantee that that wouldnt change. It did to working ALL the time at home.

Also, I did have a worry about what the dog had gone through. So we got a puppy. I agree with PP. Those flat faced dogs look so uncomfortable.

What Curious said. I work part-time and can take a dog to my office, DH and I grew up with dogs and in my case other animals too, we live on the edge of a park. But rescues behaved as if taking a dog to a quiet, small, dog-loving office was equivalent to letting it play on the motorway, and despite the giant park we were turned down because our shared, walled garden was divided from neighbours’ by a low fence - yes, a dog could theoretically jump it, but the entire joint garden is enclosed by a wall, so they couldn’t get on the road and I’d never leave them out there alone anyway!

I have one with the other kind of 'Oh my god that's cruel' type of nose and "What's wrong with it's eyes?" dog.

How could anyone just leave your lttle snuggle in town?

It's poo/doodle world around here, absolutely tonnes of them.

But we live on a large 'Executive New Build Estate' so there are also tonnes of overtly designer clothes and white range rovers, the dogs fit in perfectly! (We have one!)

@MammabearX1

Forgot to mention in my post we have the most amazing Bichon Freise, he is just the very best ... However some of the dogs at the school are crossed with bichons eg Cavachon (cavalier/bichon) or the poochons (poodle/bichon). What is wrong with a full Bichon Friese? Are they just not en vogue... The crosses are actually more expensive than a thorough bred Bichon... In saying that my dog just loves meeting all the fluffy puppies every morning so he's happy!

There’s not much in it between a Bichon Friese and a cross

Both fluffy. Seems a small difference to put one under class identifier and not the other

I live in a big city centre and have noticed a LOT of miniature dachshund’s about recently. You can’t go for your daily walk without seeing at least one. Particularly if you walk around the areas where all of the affluent apartments are. There’s also a lot of those teddy bear type Pomeranian’s about.

Haven’t seen a lot of cockapoos around here but my Mum lives on a council estate in a rough area and there’s a lot of them around there (her and my grandparents included), who own them. Seems to be the default for around there. My Mum paid £1500 for hers which blows my mind.

What I'm saying is the cockapoos /cavachons, poochons etc are all the trendy breeds at dc's prep but it's actually rare to meet another pedigree bichon or a pedigree poodle.. The dogs are adorable & the majority have lovely natures but there's nowt wrong with a bichon, there's no need to cross!

Cross breeds are mongrels.
I am pleased that dogs are so expensive these days though, because at least the people buying them can afford to look after them.
Im also pleased that mongrels are fashionable because those poor squashed faced pure breed pugs and bulldogs that were popular until recently are in for a lifetime of suffering.

But yes. It's a mongrel.

I live in a socially very diverse area and the titled families locally have jack russells with heritage and family connections as lengthy as their owners. We've had the trends for westies, schnauzers and schitzues and these still seem to be the dog of choice for older people. Because it's a rural area we've a reasonable amount of non working collies. The types which have shown the most increase in ownership would be staffies and curly cross breeds. Staffies have been made very popular by gym goers and Eastern European medical staff in our local hospital. It's been truly surprising but lovely to see senior hospital consultants out walking their staffies when people used to think of them as a drug dealers dog.
We have hugely prolific puppy farms but they seem to send most of their crossbreeds to England for sale. The curly poo type dogs I see tend to be owned by first time dog owners who probably wouldn't be given a rescue dog. In the same way as every teenager seemed to become a mua every area now seems to have several dog groomers to deal with these cross breeds.

I like crosses I can see why others do too

We walk a couple every weekend - practise for 11 yr old as he wants a dog, he has to commit and pick up the poop - and they are very lovely

The Bichon Frise is similar though too on googling

Full on fluff - probably even more

I would say 70% of the parents at my child’s school bring little cockerpoo types.

I don’t bring mine as DC say it’s embarrassing bringing a bear to school

I will never tire of the ways that the human race thinks up ways to signal status. I was just listening to a brilliant podcast about the Neolithic burial of the Amesbury Archer and the status markers in the grave - gold jewellery and wrist guards and stuff. People seeing those adornments would have been able to make assumptions about the man himself, his wealth and status. These days it's cavapoos and and rescues instead of bronze daggers and grooved earthenware pots

In our road alone we have pugs(mine)chihuahuas (also mine) labradors, Italian greyhounds, cocker spaniels and a husky. I live in a very dog obsessed village and there are dogs of all shapes and sizes all over the place.

I would say the real posh types here (older, with inherited money and land) tend to go for the working dogs or the rescue dogs you can’t tell what they are.

I think there’s differences based on city/rural living, education and some bourgeoisie notions probably come in to play too. I’ve always owned large or extra large dogs, the modern fashion for toy dogs has completely passed me by.

I’m on my second... what is it, I dunno - a dog, type mongrel... lol

They’re not very common nowadays, that’s why less people have them, people realised they could make money breeding any random dogs with poodles around the same sort of time that the message about neutering pets started to work.

But no I don’t understand the poodle cross fashion tbh, most of them look and act like poodles, people seem to want the traits of a poodle but did it not to actually be a poodle... yet they could have got a well bred, fully health tested poodle with a very good idea of how sound it’s temperament is because the breeder knows it’s pedigree inside out, for less money...

It makes no sense at all to me.

Not sure about this, I live in a very working class area and see my fair share of dachshunds, frenchies, poodle crosses, chihuahuas, English bulldogs and other breeds you would imagine would cost an absolute bomb. There seem to be quite a few of the “rarer” more prestigious blue colours as well in both Frenchies and bulldogs.

I don’t even want to think about where the dogs come from tbh. The likelihood of them having been either hobby bred or from puppy farms is too depressing.

We have mongrels. Real, unintentional cross breeds. Have encountered some people who were incredibly snobby about them.

@Leonberger

I would say 70% of the parents at my child’s school bring little cockerpoo types.

I don’t bring mine as DC say it’s embarrassing bringing a bear to school

My bichon would love to meet your big bear!!! The bigger & fluffier the better, we've never met a leonberger... Neighbours had a Chow who tolerated my dog but I would imagine a leonberger to be away friendlier!

I'm working class but have a middle class dog