Frankenstein pups

[Bunionbabe]

We've been looking for a new dog/pup for a while, rescues and breeders. Scrolling through Pets4Homes I'm shocked at some of the weird crosses that people are creating. Today I saw for sale a rottie/dachsund cross, a husky/dalmatian and countless mini fluffball mash-ups. To make it worse these people give their creations cute hybrid names and charge £1k for them. Who buys these pups and why?

Most of those "designer dogs" you're seeing don't exist. They are fake adverts.

That’s fabulous advice and info, thanks x

My last dog was a rescue proper mongrel. She had behavioural problems but was physically bombproof. She died of dementia at 17.

I help run a dog training club. When we were looking no way was I going down the ‘designer’ cross breed road which most crosses are. They have huge problems both health and temperament (I know there are exceptions).

I opted for a health tested pedigree from health tested parents from lines continued due to their health and temperament.

The kennel club website and champ dogs are good places to look. We found our breeder through the KC as we have none locally.

Never ever buy a dog from pets for homes .
Puppy farm a go go

Go via a trusted breed club or a bona fide rescue.

Expect to be vetted yourself, long and hard- They want the dog to be a good match with prospective owners.

I think this is where mongrels and cross breeds are two different things.
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Mongrels - have ancestors of all different types over many generations. Have probably benefited from a wide gene pool and basic evolution and are generally healthy.

It makes sense. Wide gene pool and natural selection I suppose. We have a rescue mongrel. We did a DNA test on him and the results came back with: border collie, Jack Russell, Corgi, Bichon Frise, and several others that I can’t remember. No idea how accurate those DNA tests are to be fair, but we can definitely see some of those breeds in him. He is a really healthy boy 💚

Dogs have always been open minded about odd breeding combinations. When I was a child you honestly couldn't have made a good guess as to the ancestry of most dogs I knew, and no humans were making those matches.

Nobody had brand name dogs in our area.

Crossbreeds (2 breeds) and mixed (3+ breeds) are much cheaper to insure, I presume, as their wider genetic pool makes them less risky. Some breeds work well together, but there are some truly awful ones, like ones that want to run all day with flat-faced ones that can hardly breathe at the best of times.

My dream is for Pets4Homes to be banned. Same goes for any other online selling platform. It doesn't take a genius to see that the instant gratification that people seek should never be allowed to operate when a person can take on a living creature at the click of a button, with no serious thought to a 15 year commitment. Ethical breeders have waiting lists. They breed for TEMPERAMENT as well as physical and genetic health. How many people perusing Pets4Homes give a second thought to the temperament of their puppy? And crap breeders need easy outlets to sell.

My KC pedigree is cheaper to insure than a poodle cross.

Just scrolling through Mixed Breed pups for sale on Pets4Homes. Someone has a litter where mum is a rottie X Turkish kangal and dad is dogue de bordeaux. Lots of cane corso crosses with other large breed dogs too. Are they all 'accidents' or do people deliberately create these hybrids I wonder. Not cheap either.

Years ago they'd be called mongrels now they're given fancy names and charge a fortune 🤦‍♂️😞🙄

I've recently looked at getting a puppy from Pets4Homes and also from the breed society/Kennel Club and Champdogs. The 'reputable' breeders closest to me chop the tails and dew claws off their dogs. Do you still think that it's better to use reputable licenced breeders?