I have a friend who is going to buy a cross Chihuahua (Smooth Coat) with a Shih Tzu at a cost of £600, I have tried to tell her not to buy because at the end of the day it's a mongrel and far too much money; however I don't seem to be getting through to her, does anyone know of any health problems that can occur with this mixed breed; bearing in mind that the father (Shih Tzu) weighs between 10-18 lbs and the mother would weigh between 2-6lbs

Thank you

If this is a breding not yet doen then for gods sake someone needs to stop them as the poor bitch coudl be killed by a largeer than normal pup, as trying to give birth to normal Chi pups is hard enough.

I never know wether to laugh or slap myself on the forehead in frustration when people do this. Ask her would she pay a few thousand pounds for a cut and shut car if one end was a ford cortina and the other was a mini metro. Nope - wouldn't give them ten quid for it? Well why do the same with a dog? She could get a very good quality specimen of either breed for that from health checked parents, why buy a mutt with no health guarantee and possible structural deformities due to the difference in the parents body shapes? A chi is a very dainty little dog and a shih-tzu is a chunky, short legged breed. There is a distinct possibility the poor chihuahua will need a caesarian and they are so small and difficult to anaesthetise, she could easily die so the puppies may only be theoretical. You could lay it on thick and that a dog's death could be on your friend's hands because she's encouraging people to breed irresponsibly due to people like her being a ready market for these irresponsibly bred puppies.

Hernia's are a big problem with Shih Tzus I believe.  I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't eye problems either.  Why would anyone in their right mind pah out that kind of money when you can get one of the breeds at that price?

Tell, your friend to walk away Phoebe.  I am so glad that the little Chau is ok! Drill into her of course it is not a pedigree.

I have no probs whatsoever with cross breeds, they have and always will be here and some of them are damn cute.

What my BIG problem is, is paying the same price as you would for a pedigree KC reg dog.  With a KC comes the comfort of knowing the bloodline, health probs, hips, eyes etc. etc. this is why they cost what they do.  A cross breed gives you nothing, so how can people charge the same price.

I once saw a cockapoo litter advertised for £700 on a free ad site.  I e-mailed the 'breeder' with the quote. "How dare you sell a MONGREL for the same price as a pedigree dog"!  She removed her advert!

If everyone would do the same, and refuse to pay such ridiculous prices, then these cross breeds would sell for no more than £200, infact I would tell your friend to pay no more than £150 for this pup that she has her heart set on.  As stated by another poster, who knows how long it will live, and what health probs it will incur.

Cross breeds are just as beautiful a dog as any other I have no problems with that, but you should always pay for what you are getting and no more.

>What my BIG problem is, is paying the same price as you would for a pedigree KC reg dog.  With a KC comes the >comfort of knowing the bloodline, health probs, hips, eyes etc. etc. this is why they cost what they do.  A cross >breed gives you nothing, so how can people charge the same price.

Definitely agree with Lyssa. These crossbred pups mentioned here are being sold for MORE than my purebred KC reg'd rare breed pups with hip scored and eye tested parents with good results from shows, obedience, working trials and agility.....

My next door neighbour had a puppy which was a cross between these 2 breeds and sadly he died at 5 months old :(
My neighbour came down one morning and he was just dead in his basket, she was devestated and took him to our local vets.
The vet did a postmortem and could find no explanation,he said it was like a cot death :(

Unfortunatly the breeding has taken place and the puppy has been born; the frustraing thing is that my friend (who's totally ignorant of the pedigree's of dogs) believed the man when he said the puppy is a full breed because the mother and father are full pedigrees and KC Registered!!!  and she'll be able to register the pup!!  I can't believe the man was telling her this; however I was even more surprised that my friend believed him - but then she is totally ignorant of all this.

I'm printing off all posts so I can show her in the hope that she will not go ahead with the purchase - I'm going to great lengths to talk her out of this and appreciate any further advise; hopefully no one will buy the pup which will make the breeder think twice before mating his poor dogs again for the sake of a quick buck!!

I have just seen an advert in my local shop window for 'JACKROODLES' they were asking for £350 each.
I went in and asked if they had had anyone enquire about them to be told "oh sorry if you want one your out of luck,they've all gone I was supposed to take that down this morning." To say I was gobsmacked is an understatement.
How can these people get away with this?
And how can people be so gullible,do they not realise they are just glorified MONGRELS.

All you can do is leave her to it if she's dead set on getting one. More fool her. Tell her to phone the kennel club and ask them and see what they say, though I susect it will be the other *cough* dog registration people if they ARE registered.

£600??? I didn't pay that much for my tricolour Cavalier bitch, and they're a really rare colour to persuade a breeder to sell! Tell her to walk away and buy one breed or the other. :-(

Thank you for all your replies; I have shown my friend them and she is not going to buy the puppy - yippee :-)

I think I should also add that I also have nothing against mongrels - what I am against is mating two pedigrees of completely different sizes to charge ridiculous amounts of money purely because small breeds are the 'fashion' at the moment as a way to earn a quick buck. I phoned the breeder up and asked him if he deliberately bred his two dogs or if was an accidental mating his reply was 'yeah' when asked if the bitch was ok he replied 'yeah she's fine this is her 3rd litter' with 'the boy'!  Words fail me and I just put the phone down!  :-(

>I have just seen an advert in my local shop window for 'JACKROODLES' they were asking for £350 each

The mind boggles!! Especially since I'm assuming this bizarre mixture are Jack Russell x Poodles. I'm owned by a Jack Russell and I didn't pay that much for Nips who is Jack Russell through and through!

Until I inherited my cocker spaniel a few years back I'd always had good honest "mutts". Not a one of them had any sort of pedigree and they were all fine dogs. But then they hadn't been the victim of some irresponsible idiot trying to create a bizarre "designer" breed.

I'm so glad your friend isn't going ahead with the purchase of this puppy, BP.

Wow ! we have some real mix's at work ...... maybe i should get them to dress up the cross breeds a little with new designer names, they may get homed a little quicker ( to the right homes obviously!)
Saying that though we seem to have more & more pedigee's than ever coming through the doors now, anything from something that would normaly require a waiting list ( utonagon,, boston terrier, st. bernard  & english mastiff puppy went home today) to common garden ret's, rotties, grey hounds & more & more weim's :-(