Good post tricolourlover and I fully agree. I have never had a problem with people who crossbreed responsibly for a PURPOSE, be it police dogs, guide dogs, obedience dogs or whatever -but not as pure pets. In fact that is the same as any breed -anybody breeding just to produce pets is not doing it for the right reasons. To all the people who say there is no more important job for a dog than being a pet I would say there are PLENTY of pets already, absolutely no need whatsoever to produce more. Our showdogs are pets as well as showdogs -one does not preclude the other.

If I had a choice  between buying a wellbred Cavalier (to use a high profile breed as an example) from a good show breeder, and a Cavalier cross with a cutsey name, I would NEVER dare to go for the crossbreed litter as I feel absolutely certain those puppies will not be as healthy as the wellbred pedigree pups. It's not just the parents you need to look to when breeding for good health, it goes back much further than that. Those that do the deliberate crosses with silly names do not have that knowledge in fact they don't even know they need it.

I have two first crosses. They are 9 years old. Their mother is 11 ½ and people do not believe me when I say she is their mother because she looks and acts half their age. The pups are definitely NOT healthier than both parents. No, they are exactly the same as their dad was and are now getting stiff and arthritic with bad hips. A couple of pups in the litter have even had health problems neither parent ever had, and one died already aged 6. Now this was very much an accidental litter, and all the offspring were neutered. But it just goes a little way to show that the myth about crossbreeds being healthier than pedigrees is just that -a myth.