I have just been looking through the dogs that are available for rehoming with the dogs trust. It is possible to look up different breeds on their website. When I look at all the supposedly purebred dogs the vast majority only bear the slightest resemblance to the breed they are supposed to be and some non at all. The problem with this is that rescue centres say they rehome X many pedigree dogs and therefore pedigree dog breeders are the scum of the earth when one look at the dogs involved shows in most cases they are most likely cross breeds and mongrels, most likely accidental litters and nothing to do with thew responsible breeders who are getting blamed.

What can be done about this? I cant believe that the dogs trust staff really think  these dogs are proper breeds so why do they advertise them as such?

the same can be said for vets, and the supposed ill health (RECENTLY DISPROVED) of pedigrees versus crossbreeds.

Actually, yes, I can believe that the staff at these places think they are proper breeds.

Most people can't tell the difference between a Bedlington and a Poodle or Poodle cross, and this includes Vett staff, so I don''t see why the Dog's trust would be any different :-(

Add to that, the selling point of being able to 'name  the breed'  aand there's  no reason why  they woouldd reffer to state Mongrel or 'x type'

A few weeks ago when a poster stated such and such a rescue rehomes mainly pedigree dogs, I went through their website and found the great majority were NOT pedigree dogs at all, and in fact some were advertised as both pedigree and crossbreed. But yes, I too believe the majority BELIEVE the dogs are such and such a breed. Generally speaking staff in rescues (and vet surgeries too) seem to have very little idea of what certain breeds look like, and perhaps that isn't so strange, considering how many badly bred (and therefore difficult to recognise) dogs there are out there, plus the many designer crossbreeds which may at times look like one breed in particular. And so many dogs are sold as something they are not, to buyers believing every word. I remember seeing an advert once for "rare black and white Malinois". Not only can they never be black and white (or even just black or just white), but the photo very clearly showed a dog that had absolutely NO resemblance to a Malinois whatsoever and most likely was just a Heinz57. People seem to look on the internet and decide their dog is a particular breed if it has even the slightest resemblance. Then when one day it gets handed over to rescue, they state it is that breed.

I just checked 3 dogs trust places & only 2 pedigrees were in the photos shown.

Leeds - pug - 6 dogs
http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/rehoming/searchcentres/leeds/default.aspx#.U3esjFyNorg

Shrewsbury-Akita - of 3 photo'd dogs
http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/rehoming/searchcentres/shrewsbury/default.aspx#.U3etQFyNorg

No pedigrees 4 photgraphed dogs
http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/rehoming/searchcentres/shoreham/default.aspx#.U3et5VyNorg
.

> I just checked 3 dogs trust places & only 2 pedigrees were in the photos shown.

Are you looking in the right places? I just found 19 dogs claiming to be pure breeds on the Shrewsbury website.

Salisbury - 17 dogs claimed to be a pure breed.
[One was described as a Smooth Collie (but was a short-coated BC or BC cross).]

Are you looking in the right places? I just found 19 dogs claiming to be pure breeds on the Shrewsbury website.

I just picked the individual sites at random, I only recorded the photos which were on the face page of each site - I did not go through any other part of any of the 3 sites.
.

> I just picked the individual sites at random, I only recorded the photos which were on the face page of each site - I did not go through any other part of any of the 3 sites.

Well not sure what that was supposed to prove. Just because there is only one "pedigree" shown on the front page it is not representative of the dogs they have in the centres. Just to take Dobermans which I think is your breed, If you search on doberman and all centres there are aparently 7 dobes. but 5 of those are crossbreed and it is the same in a lot of other breeds. because so many dogs are wrongly identified it might look like there is a big problem with Dobes in rescue when there isnt

> Just to take Dobermans which I think is your breed

Hethspaw, you might enjoy the Dobermann on the Shrewsbury site....!
http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/rehoming/dog/1065351/pj#.U3fV9cldWSo

the Ballymena pug is quite "interesting " too

http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/rehoming/dog/1117908/paddy#.U3fWY_ldVu4

> the Ballymena pug is quite "interesting " too

Hahaha! :)
Thank you for that.

Hethspaw, you might enjoy the Dobermann on the Shrewsbury site....!
http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/rehoming/dog/1065351/pj#.U3fV9cldWSo

Good grief! That Dali 'Portrait of a Dobermann' is sort of related in some ways to that program a few weeks ago that included a few dog wardens, their combined knowledge of canines seemed....well 'wanting'....but to be employed by councils they may have had some kind of academic qualification

I guess it might be an emerging pattern relative to the quite recent emergence of academic canine related qualifications, being sold by unis & the like, implying that the likeleyhood of employment is better for the individual in formal beaurocratic organizations than than going along with only practical experience, that attitude fits The Dogstrust profile.
.

Just to take Dobermans which I think is your breed, If you search on doberman and all centres there are aparently 7 dobes. but 5 of those are crossbreed and it is the same in a lot of other breeds

I have not got time or motive to search all centres but the info you give above is interesting, I only read your post after my post above this...clearly an emerging pattern & 5 out of 7 wrong is a huge %.......seems a few are starting to shout about them. I have not watched the vid so no idea what its about yet...later Ill watch it

http://www.cfba.co.uk/can-you-trust-the-dogs-trust.html

Quote me- .seems a few are starting to shout about them

"Them", meaning 'The Dogs Trust' (or not trust).
.

I have just taken a look and found what looked like a pedigree GSD labelled as a cross breed and a cross breed GSD called a pedigree.

The other day I groomed a border terrier which the owner had booked in as a yorkie, and the vet had told them when they got her was a wire haired terrier!  True enough I suppose, but it was definitely used in a generic way not 'technically speaking'.  She was in a horrendous state and morbidly obese but any idiot could see she was a purebred border - so if the vets are getting it wrong I'm not surprised the rescues are!

It's not always totally wrong though either.  There was a blue dobe on Dogs Trust on and off for about 2 years - I was keeping an eye on her, every time I had a space she found a home and every time I filled that space she came back!  Glad to say she did get rehomed permanently in the end.  But what I noticed with her was that she came up under the search for 'dobermann', but on her profile, it did say she was a crossbreed.  Only a smidge of something else in there though, she was mostly dobe.

Bit off topic but when I worked at the vets, somebody had booked a gerbil in. Only it turned out to be a rat.