I don't know how many get Dogs Today magazine but I just got my copy and I have to say I'm not overly impressed with there view on intentional crossbreeding!

The article reads like they are promoting it and not really warning people not to be fooled by these crossbreeds pay alot of money when they could get a lovely crossbreed from a Rescue Centre for a very small amount of money.

I found the article read a little anti Pedigree which is fine but what about all the poor dogs sitting in Rescue Centres waiting for loving new homes. They neglect to mention the massive problem we have in the UK with so many dogs in rescue!

Dogs Today - I think they missed the point!

They have asked for people to write in and give there opinion and I'll be doing just that!!!!

It took until the last bit iof the article for them to say it was a puppy farmers charter, it sounded very pro the idea, and if someone was just skim reading that is the impression they woudl,ahve had :rolleyes:

Now thats what I thought, I feel very passionate as all dog lovers do and I was trying to be really open minded reading the article. But still felt that they were promoting it to a degree, which I can't understand why?

As they asked for others opinions, I will read with interest to the response's this article receives in the next issue.

Also why show one example of  each crossbreed rather than a litter so that the lack of uniformity could be easily sen.

Yes and why show photos of them mostly as puppies? As all puppies are cute and people won't know what they grow into.

The very large Puggle photo is cute ( as all puppies are ) BUT have you seen a fully grown Puggle they are not at all cute, infact very ugly! (in my opinion)

also, what if the male was the larger of the two dogs? she might need a section to give birth. i was worried about the statement that the KC approves of puggles or did i misunderstand that bit?

Yes someone really needs to take that person to task

Oh no Sally you didn't misunderstand some t*** from the Kennel Club was quoted saying they didn't have a problem with it.

i no longer read DT due to their ridiculous "nanny state" ideas & anti pedigree/anti showing etc attitude, so none of this surprises me. if you knew the editor like I do, then you would realise that they are the biggest bunch of do- gooders out & certainly will publish articles written with little foundation. Please can you tell me who the KC rep was that ok's mongrel pups?

I help out in rescue and its so sad to see how many cross breeds there in wanting good homes.I dont know why some people let their dogs breed when they know they will have problems finding homes for them.Cross breeds are so hard to fathom out too.Is the pup going to take on the mum or the dads size,charicteristics and temprement?No one will know that til the dog is fully grown and thats why so mant end up in rescue.If you cross a BC with a lurcher are you getting a BC size or Lurcher size? Some breed a smaller dog with a larger one that ends in medical problems too.Some breeds have different health problems that need testing for BEFORE mating,so are the owners going to test each breed for each relevent problem?I dont think so.All in all when you rehome a cross breed its pot luck what you will end up with when its an adult so good luck.Im not saying dont rehome but beware.If people stopped breeding crosses then the ones in centers would find homes and we wopuld revert to pedigree dogs again.
PS i have a pedigree GSD and a GSD cross BC so i can see it from both sides.Please consider all aspect of dog owner ship before getting a dog :)

Hi all, i'm a newbie on here, but i have also read the DT article.  As i was reading it i could imagine the "breeders" (using this term very loosely) rubbing their hands with glee at prices that prospective owners would be willing to pay for a "designer dog"
I have a rescue Lurcher X and a GBGV and both are fantastic and before we got both of them we did loads of research. 
In my opinion the article was encouraging people to go out and get a "designer dog" and shun the Rescue Centre's.

I have asked a few different people ( some non dog owners ) to read the article and they feel the article does promote Crossbreeding to a degree although it does mention the valid point like Puppy Farmers & how there are so many rescue dogs are in centres it doesn't go into great detail or really warn or stress to potenial dog owners the risks etc.

The quotes from the spokesman from the KC anoys me the most as he totally contridicted himself and I'm really not sure if the KC does view it in the way he was quoted in the article.

I know you have to have two sides of the story just not convinced how balanced this article is, I just don't want anymore people to be fooled into wasting there money on such crosses.

I know I've said it before but it's the demise of the good old "Heinz 57" muttley dog that so infuriates me about these ludicrous cross breeding experiments. Because despite the last two of my dogs being purebred I've previously owned the most delightful crossbreeds whose parentage and grandparentage could only be vaguely guessed at. At no point was I worried "which side" the pup would take after because you couldn't begin to work out the genetic ingredients and it simply didn't matter! At no point, also, did I ever feel the need to take sides in a crossbreed -v- purebreed debate since nobody was attempting to justify daft cross breeding in order to justify making ludicrous amounts of money from the production of "designer" pups.

Cross breeds are so hard to fathom out too.Is the pup going to take on the mum or the dads size,charicteristics and temprement?No one will know that til the dog is fully grown and thats why so mant end up in rescue.

I have 2 accidental first crosses. They are now almost 4 and I still haven't managed to figure out if they take after mum or dad. :D Really both are nothing like EITHER parent, and then to complicate things further neither are like the other one either -and both are different to their other littermates!! All hubby and I agree on is that one has mum's eyes and one has dad's!

This is why it makes me cross when they show these crosses as pups (all pups of any breed non breed look like pups when very young), what they should show is several adults, then you could see how variable they are and they couldn't con anyone into thinking they are a breed.

I would love to see your two, as I did once meet a Terv cross Golden that looked like a small Estrella.

Dogs today were showing these x breeds in an appealing fashion, putting them/displaying the breeds used.
They really only focused on the 'benefits' of the 'breed'- giving out websites of the breed groups etc. Totally unresponsible i think, put me off buying the magazine.

I had always admired that they included the health tests needed for each breed under their breed adverts, and this stance has spoilt that good work.

I would love to see your two, as I did once meet a Terv cross Golden that looked like a small Estrella.

Am I allowed to PM you my website URL? (Or is that against TOS?) Have pages upon pages there with them on, from birth until now. :)

Sure you can, or else email me as it is in my profile.

I haven't bought a copy of Dogs Today in many years due to their crackpot articles and the patronising attitude of the editor. I've thumbed through issues of it on the newsagent and it scares me that the general public are reading this claptrap and likely taking it as gospel.