hi, my friend owns 2 cross breed dogs. ones lab x german shepard the other is some kind of whippet cross. at first i didnt think there was anything wrong with cross breeding dogs but after reading some infomation about breeding i realised that it shouldnt be done. i remember the place where she got the labx from and they had a whole bunch of cross breed dogs. i just wanted to know why people do cross breed? it cant be to make money because pure breeds cost a lot more so i dont understand why someone would want to cross breed their dog? does anyone know? and if its really so bad why isnt it banned?

I don't see how it can be banned as there would be no real way to police it. Although it is no excuse, some cross breeds are accidental matings, others i guess are for the money. (Anything is better than nothing - and why pay for a stud dog if you already own two different dogs? Not my view but you know where people are coming from.) As cross breeds are generally cheaper than pure breds i am sure there will allways be a demand for them as a family pet. Not every family can afford a pure bred dog. However i do believe that lot of people do not realise it can be a bad thing, especially as you can mix breed characteristics, for example the labradoodle. This is a mix between a labrador and a poodle, the result a good family dog that doesn't shed hairs - perfect for children with asthma.

Asthma is rarely caused by the hair. More usually by the dander. Apart from which you can never tell which side the puppy is going to take after. The so called Labradoodle is usually just an excuse to sell a mongrel at inflated prices! Labradors are not, contrary to popular opinion, a good family dog! This is the reason why the rescue societies are full of them.

John

why are labradors not a good family dog?! i own 6 and in my opinion they are the perfect family dog! there are so many in rescue societies because they are a popular breed and there are so many people who own one and want to breed them. if people were responsible of the puppies they breed then there wouldnt be so many in rescue.

With 33000 registered each year and brought by people expecting to find a sweet little Andrex puppy, the culture shock of finding that they have 80Lbs of muscle which they cannot handle is one of the reason so many end up in rescue.

A Labrador:-

A Labrador is a dog who intends visiting his cousins in Australia via that tunnel he has started in the lawn.

A Labrador is a dog who thinks that the 4 foot fence you just erected is only there for jumping practise

A Labrador is a master of un knitting chain link fence. And usually just before you have finished putting it up!

A Labrador never really notices that when you turned left he turned right!!!

A Labrador is an expert on interior design. Carpet fitting a speciality!

A Labrador is a great DIY dog. Removal of floor boards and bricks undertaken.

This might make them the perfect family dog to you Cassie but it also means that a large part of the 33000 Labs registered each year end up in rescue and if I can do anything at all to deter people from buying them then the puppy farmers will have to find some other breed to destroy and leave the breed I love to the people who can handle them.

John

I have to say I love Labs but I hate the way everyone says they are the perfect family dogs!
My friend has several and she works very hard with them but as pups till they were say 3 years( soem of hers are working stock which she works and some are show stock which she occassionally shows- they dont have the stamina or bulid to work)
They were a nightmare, lots of fun because she understood them and spent time with them but they chewed everything, dug up her garden, etc etc the list goes on!
Now how many people looking for a calm sedate family dog can say that they would want that?
Vikki

:D too true.

Items 1, 2 5 & 6 experienced with amazing regularity.

However. They are still brilliant with my son.

Julia & Hooligans

As far as 3 is concerned, I was putting a new fence up and had secured it to the post at one end. Unrolling it I tied the other end in place and was just going to start tying it in when it collapsed! Lucy had unknitted it! The only way I could keep the fence up was to face it with chicken wire!

As to 4, chewing carpets is a standard feature of a Labrador's day!!

Regards, John

Cassie, labradors are the perfect family dog for people who are prepared to put up with all the hassle and chaos, and put the hard graft into training them properly and keeping them properly exercised, bothmentally and physically. However, many people seem to think that they train themselves, and by the time they realise it's not going to happen, they give up, dump their adolescent hooligan onto a rescue society and try again.

So, more power to the elbows of people who are prepared to tell it as it is.

If someone can't afford a pedigree what happens when the cross breed they but gets ill/has an accident...answer is that many times(not all) they are 'disposed' off since its cheaper to get another mongrel than pay the vets bill!!!
A labradoodle was a failed experiment so why continue...and half of the offspring off a lab/poodle mating WILL moult.
Archer

Animal shelters are full of pedigree dogs also disposed of when their owners tire of them and every breed has it's rescue society - being posh won't garauntee a dog is well cared for. Some of the best and best cared for dogs we know are crossbred, but Iappreciate that with a pedigree dog you can have a better idea of how big it'll get etc - if you take the trouble to find out first and are honest about whether you are ready to offer a goodhome for life and that's the crunch.

Can't agree more-there are many pedigrees in rescue what I meant is money shouldn't be a huge factor-dogs are expensive to keep wether pedigree or not.So if you can't afford a pedigree can you afford the innoculations,vet bills,spaying costs etc etc that it takes to keep a dog.
Archer

The whole point is that if people are not prepared to look after a dog for it's entire life they should settle for goldfish! But it is also important to tell people the FULL story about what a breed is like. It is no use telling the good points and ignoring the bad. We might be able to live with the down side. We have the breed and know all the bad bits but other people do not. There is no doubt at all that the worst thing which ever happened to Labradors was the Andrex advert.

John

Loved the message about labradors quirks and I agree with you about the soppy Andrex ad. Where I live there is a rash of black labradors - 10 joined us on our evening walk the other day and it was hilarious trying to work out who was who. It is weird how some breeds become popular to their detriment then out of fashion because of people who can't cope - like GSD and Rotties who have both been accessories and demon dogs in my time. How long before Yorkies suffer the same fate - loads of them in my street alone.

I don't think anyone can ever say any particular breed is a perfect family pet, as individual dogs can have very different characters. I don't think it is fair to say that just because someone cannot afford a pedigree dog they cannot afford to look after it. If you don't spend vast amounts purchasing it you can save money to spend on it. With my dogs i could not afford to pay £500 to buy a pedigree dog and i could not get a rescue dog as we have both cats and children and so we would be unlikely to be accepted, therefore a cross breed or a non-pedigreed dog - i.e. an 'accident' was our only option. However both my dogs have had all their vaccinations, are micro chipped, the older bitch is spayed, the pup probably will be too, they both attend training classes every week, are insured and they live the life of riley. I recently paid a £36 vets bill for an unneccessary stool check as my puppy was a little off colour. (nothing was found). Obviously not every one is as devoted to their dogs, but please don't think that all cross breed owners are bad. My girl is a cross between a border collie and a smooth collie. The result? a border sized collie, with border traits, but with a smooth coat, so she doesn't get to hot when playing and doing agility. She is very much loved with no physical problems so far, but if anything was to arise i would either pay or the insurance would cover it. Had i paid the full amount for a pure bred i might not have the money to give them the best life i can.
Like you have said, those who buy a pure bred purely because they are a popular breed, might just be looking for a fashion accessory or with the intent to breed. (A poster recently had a problem with her brother's bulldog bought for this reason, did they not?)
Please don't think i am being argumentative, i am merely stating my position. But do remember, cross breeds don't ask to be born, (and very little can be done to stop it) but they will still need a home.

I have no problem with cross breeds and mongrels, my first dog was a Wire Haired Foxterrier cross goodness knows what!!!! My beef is with the deliberate breeding of crosses. This is something I cannot agree with.

Regards, John