Did anyone read the article in yesterdays Daily Mail about the increase of toy dogs in rescue ?
According to the article the Dogs Trust reported a 44% increase from 2009 to 2010 in toy dogs handed in for rehoming, and the Blue Cross said 177 were 'abandoned' last year  compared to 53 in 2006.
The article seems to blame celebrities having had 'handbag' dogs and them now being out of fashion.

Didn't read it but I do hope they are right about "handbag dogs" being out of fashion!

I bet most of these are toy crosses that have turned out not as expected, or not the 'toys' hoped for but demanding little 'dogs'.

and not so little either! my friend bought a chi cross daxie and it turned out bigger and similar looking to a cardigan corgi. it was also meant to have some collie in it so she spends all day throwing a ball for it! not what she expected

Yes, bet they are all toy crosses! Some of the ridiculous crosses you see advertised are just getting beyond a joke with the silly names they give them... many of which are more expensive than a pure breed. More often than not a poodle is involved of course and in truth if these people just bought a poodle in the first place and did not clip it as is traditionally expected, then they would have a dog that looks like many of these crosses, but instead of hoping for a nice curly coat on maturity, it is guaranteed,  - and you have a nice pure bred dog as oppose to a cross breed !

I too read the article in The Mail and must  say that as I have only ever owned toy breeds  it made me very sad indeed! I have lost count of the amount of times people,mostly women, have come rushing over to me to ask me what breed my dogs are and where can they get one from. I am always cautious with my reply as I would hate for my lovely breed to become fashion accessories which is what appears to have happened with several of the toy breeds.

Only recently a lady stopped me and and said she just had to get one as a present for her little girl! I am normally a mild mannered person but as said daughter was about six or seven it took all of my self control not to actually shout something very rude at her. I suggested a cuddly   stuffed dog was probably best.

At an agricultural show today and a lady was talking to me as we had the spitz with us and she said ooohhh i have him he is a puggle i paid 700 for him, and before i said anything OH said what you paid that for a mongrel you could of had one of these withpapers for less and  better bragging rights and he started to walk away with our lot and the look on her face was priceless, and she said to me i guess he does not like designer breeds, i said no he does not like people being taken for a mug and paying huge amounts of money for mongrels or crossbreeds .
When i caught up with OH i said did you have to be so blunt he said yes and about time more people where and stop calling them designer dogs etc they are what they are and if they do not like me saying that TUFF.

what you paid that for a mongrel you could of had one of these withpapers for less and  better bragging rights

ROFL  Love the better bragging rights bit - hits the spot nicely :-D

I'm going to have to remember that one :-D   

I usually try to bite my tongue when people tell me about their stupidly named X as I get so cross about them being ripped off for basically an over priced mongrel.   I've more or less given up trying to educate people as they have invested so much money that they just can't admit they've been 'had'

>Only recently a lady stopped me and and said she just had to get one as a present for her little girl! I am normally a mild mannered person but as said daughter was about six or seven it took all of my self control not to actually shout something very rude at her. I suggested a cuddly   stuffed dog was probably best.

Oh how very restrained of you!  :-)

I had a phone call from someone that heard I had pups (not recently.) 

I asked why he wanted that particular breed.  He said, it's for the kid to play with.  The "kid" was a 4 year old boy.  I was spitting feathers, but kept him talking, asking what research he'd done etc.  And reminded him about his resposibilty for the welfare of a pet.

He got a bit annoyed with me, and said he had the money, so he didn't need to answer questions.

I said, then I suggest that you take the kid to Toys R Us.

We get so many designer dogs in work (groomers) and of course I can't say anything, but the majority are adored and they're lovely dogs. It's so hard because I'm very opinionated about it and would love to say 'You could have had a show puppy of my breed for £800-£900!' but you just can't say that to clients, lol!