Had to share this as seldom have I seen such a good article about designer crossbreeds. I hope people in general read it and take note. (Us dog people already knew, of course.)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2564373/The-hidden-suffering-dogs-bred-cute-Adorable-looks-Cuddly-names-like-Labradoodle-But-trend-cross-breed-dogs-raises-disturbing-questions.html

I came across this on Facebook this morning.

Could the tide be just starting to turn??

yes its really good. I do hope the tide is turning

Wow, that's a brilliant article, and actually in a newspaper people will read, not just a dog paper! Fingers crossed others jump on the bandwagon and start getting the message out there.

Yes it is excellent, I saw it on FB this morning and shared it too. lets get it out there for the world to read..
I regularly have trouble in the country park from a 2 year old Goldie/briard cross that is so unruly it causes havoc wherever it goes. The owner liked the look of the shaggy puppies but had no idea of how hard they would be to train or control. Its a giant (at least 55kg) slobbering idiot with the goldies love of people and the Briards size and herding instinct and bumptiousness. It belongs to a woman who has never had a dog before and has no idea how to train it and cannot keep it on a lead as it is so strong. The breeder just took her money and washed her hands of them. No health tests done on the parents just bred for a quick money making scheme...and now it is of an age where the guarding instincts are cutting in.
Aileen

Just seen this on facebook and was about to post. Can we have a TV programmes Designer Crossbreeds Exposed?

I have said it before on a post that the only dog that has actively attacked one of mine was a Labradoodle. As a groomer over here I see many crossbreeds. One lady was at her wits end with her Labradoodle as the breeder had told her that the coat was easy to manage ( I wish the breeder had been made to get all the knots removed, took me hours). Also the lady had only gone to see the pups and hadn't realised that the breeder had booked her down for one. Of course she loves her dog but as she said she wouldn't get caught like that again.

I thought it was a well written article too.
The trainer I go to has six cockerpoos on his books that he is working with, one of which is such a handful that he has it at home to try and work full time with him. Last year he had an enormous labradoodle that was just manic and totally uncontrollable if it spotted a rabbit or deer.
There is a very pretty Goldendoodle in the village who is a lovely well trained dog, but her hips are causing her a lot of problems and she is only 2.
Hopefully this article will be read by a lot of people and inwardly digested.

Can someone tell me what "birth certificates" are they talking about? all those mixes are mongerels?
.

In a similar vein, you will love this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgV6gvLqu1c

Can someone tell me what "birth certificates" are they talking about? all those mixes are mongerels?

KC activity register, KC companion register, either of the Mickey Mouse registries or even just home printed pedigrees, anything's just as possible. But yes, "faking" such papers did sound a bit odd!

Well done Daily Mail - at last some honesty!

Every paper needs to print that.... excellent.

I also found the article very good, unfortunately there are people out there who will still buy into these so called "designer" breeds regardless of what they are advised.

I am disturbed to read about the Briard/Goldie cross Merlot :-( I suppose it was only a matter of time before they started crossing Briards, despite being a breed relatively small in number. All breeds have their traits but Briards are really not for the uninitiated.

Latest designer cross I've seen on the net was, wait for it, St Bernard x Cavalier. :( "To create a drool free mini St Bernard". (Funny that my Cavalier drools then.)

Greatarticle, and about time too.    Hopefully JP will take notince (in my dreams)

And because of this article I now have another Made-up mongrel name to add to my favourites

the

Muggins :-D  was a name ever more descriptive of the owners?  

This joins my other all time favourite of

Bullshitz -   which is a good word for the rubbish quoted by the breeders of these deliberately bred mongrels in order to shift their stock  (sorry, should I be more pc and say something like adopt out their puppies? )  When are we going to get a puking smiley?

KC activity register, KC companion register, either of the Mickey Mouse registries or even just home printed pedigrees, anything's just as possible. But yes, "faking" such papers did sound a bit odd!

Oh, thanks, it's all unknown to me, I sort of think its all now beyond my comprehension apart from 'it's...well 'those' thingymajigs....newish, recent ways of making money for some organisations????  !
.

>KC activity register, KC companion register, either of the Mickey Mouse registries or even just home >printed pedigrees, anything's just as possible. But yes, "faking" such papers did sound a bit odd!

Faking a pedigree would give credence to a puppy farmer.   If they are using names of 'known' dogs that come up in an internet search.  An unsuspecting buyer would think that the pedigree was legitimate.

There's an 'expensive mongrel' commercial breeder on the welsh border who had some very well  bred dogs on their website listed as Stud dogs and brood bitches.   I googled the affix and the breeder of those dogs is a show judge and successful winner.    All their dogs are health tested.   Whether the dogs were actually from that kennel I've no idea, but I doubt such a breeder would knowingly sell a dog or bitch to be used for deliberate crossbreeds.   Those dogs have been taken off the website now and the remaining dogs, whilst claimed to be very well bred, only have 'pet' names - strange that!    If they are so well bred, why not put the KC names?   Or is it that the breeders of those dogs aren't aware of who they've actually sold to?  Or the dogs' pedigrees belong elswhere?

There are 4 cockerpoos in my intermediate class at dog club at the moment, and they are all completely insane, it's bedlam. The poor trainer is doing her best with too many dogs and too small a hall (new venue), but I can't see us continuing past this 8 weeks course if things don't improve, it's a pointless exercise for everyone.

>as the breeder had told her that the coat was easy to manage

My friend looks after her friends Cavalier x bichon and the owner ahs to have it clipped every 6 weeks which costs her more than having her own hair done.

My friend finds that dirt clings to it's coat like glue and is very hard to comb out.

Brilliant article.
Loved the video MsTremerare I think I have that puppy enquiry or one very similar !!

The general public do not understand health testing, a few puppy enquiries I had have said that they are not really bothered about all that, as they do not want to show the dog and only want a pet. Trying to explain that a pet needs to be just as healthy or even more so than the show dog, but you may as well try and plat fog !
After a while you get to know the format they usually start of with .... Have you got any pups ? or .....How much are your pups ?
With most of the crossbreeds we bump into they have usually been obtained from an internet site or a local paper advert and in the main they have been cheaper than a pedigree pup from a good breeder, when I have asked why they chose to buy a puppy that way, the answer is usually that the pups were available to buy at the time they were looking for a puppy and the price was what they could afford.

> its all now beyond my comprehension apart from 'it's...well 'those' thingymajigs....newish, recent ways of making money for some organisations????

KC Activity Register (previously Working Register) exists to enable non-breed registered dogs to take part in activities such as field trials, working trials, flyball, obedience, agility, etc.

KC Companion Register is just what it says on the tin - a kind of register for pets of unknown ancestry.

Then you have some non-KC registries that have sprung up. The term "Mickey Mouse" is not inappropriate, as you can, literally, register ANY dog with no ancestry, any name you like, any breed you like, put down the names of the parents under any names you like, pay some money and you get a splendidly designed certificate to put on your wall to impress your friends, relatives (or puppy buyers if you are that way inclined).

>KC Activity Register (previously Working Register) exists to enable non-breed registered dogs to take part in activities such as field trials, working trials, flyball, obedience, agility, etc.

I think I'm right in saying that dogs must be on the breed register to take part in field trials and working trials.

No certainly for working trials you can be on the working register. I am not sure about gundog field trials.

There is a litter advertised for Neo x Bullmastiffs online at the moment and it really does make my heart sink, I don't have a problem with crosses so long as they are health tested but this advert was saying how much time and attention was taken to choose the stud etc etc then it says the bitch was in labour from Sunday to Tuesday and the birth was terrible. Sadly I think the size difference between the sire and bitch caused some issues and it once again highlights that even when producing these 'healthy' cross breeds you have to be just as careful if not more so about the selection of sire and dam. Poor bitch :(

I TOTALLY agree with you with this one.   Somebody has already emailed this to me, via somebody else.   There's just one thing wrong with it ..... I DIDN'T WRITE IT!!!     I'm using it for all the questions I see in another place, about buying a mix-puppy.

Given the paper involved, I'm really happy that they have used this - so many people seem to read the Daily Wail and I just hope some of it gets through.

This was posted on a thread about 'designer dogs' on another forum and funny enough a cross breed owner who thought that PDE was great and the people moaning about it was stuck up pedigree owners who didn't want to here the truth about there freak dogs doesn't like this article and is calling it 'incredibly bias'.

It sadly won't make a diffrence to people like him, there so stuck up themselves. When someone on that thread said that its snobbery of the designer owners pretending there new breeds he got upset saying that no one was more snobby then pedigree owners with there mutated dogs parading them around a show ring.
So apparently if you say something bad about crossbreeds your a snobby pedigree owner but if a cross breed owner says something bad about pedigrees you telling the truth and if you don't agree guess what your a snobby pedigree dog owner.

I had a lecture in the week... which was basically PDE in the form of a lecture. This is at final year university undergrad level, pretty shocking. The lecturer opened by saying her 15 year old cross breed never had anything wrong with it, whereas her sister's pedigree GR has everything wrong with it. She did mention later in the lecture that her sister didn't think to ask any health related questions when buying the dog or look into the parents' health.

It seems most of the students view all pedigree dogs as mutants crawling along the hallowed green carpet with one eye, five legs and brain disorders. I don't breed and was very disturbed by some of their views. I suspect none of them have ever put in the time and effort (and in many cases money) to source a decent dog and support a reputable breeder. I find a lot of mindless cross breeding pretty disrespecful towards breeders who invest years of their life and a lot of money to do right by their breed.

They even said at one point... "It's not like you get given, like, a family tree when you buy a puppy"..... Ummmm.....

Was not impressed. But instead of dwell on it I went home and hugged my unhealthy non-pedigree and touch wood healthy (but obviously mutant) pedigree dogs!

Many people are ignorant of the proper channels to go down when looking at sourcing a pup, articles like this are useful if only to make people think.

Maybe the right time to share a website I found on my travels -

http://pupquest.org/about-breeders.html

It's US-based but most of it still applies, anywhere in the world.

What really gets me about designer dog breeding, is that those who appear to be doing things 'ethically',  source their  stud dogs and brood bitches from...

Show breeders who health test extensively.   If they are successful show breeders with lots of champions in the line, even better, from a marketing point of view.

They then advertise via slick websites that they use only well bred health tested stock.

So basically these healthier mongrels with fabulous prices and names are only healthier because they come from healthy show lines and breeders who for decades have been health testing and breeding towards better health.

Yes, that's right, the same evil breeders who are villified for having mutant sick dogs

So these designer mongrel breeders not only get the benefit of promotion by certain people in the media, they also ride on the back of people who have dedicated decades of hard work, their own money and hard won experience, trying to do right by their dogs, puppies and the breed.

And to cap it all, these commercial breeders pay out nothing towards the various breeds, health schemes, breed rescue or indeed any dog rescue, whilst raking in the cash.    Because they run a business, and the more pups they breed, the more cash they make.

And if you have a problem with the pup?   Tough because there's no after care once the money is in their hands.

Unlike responsible show breeders who offer a lifetime of after care.

You couldn't make it up, could you?

I had a lecture in the week... which was basically PDE in the form of a lecture.

Wow what an awful story! Is there any way you can complain? or demand to get a lecturer in who gives the opposite viewpoint? So much bad misinformation! As for the "family tree" remark (priceless!!) good breeders even tend to print all hip scores on the pedigree! Not to mention that any name on a PROPERLY KC registered dog's pedigree you can easily check health tests of online.

Tectona, I have had similar lectures on my degree course. In fact we were shown clips from PDE and so many of the students left the lecture afterwards commenting on how terrible pedigree dog breeding is. Three years studying an Animal Science degree and still no mention of pre-breeding health tests!
Also one lecturer said the KC were going to recognise the Labradoodle!

one lecturer said the KC were going to recognise the Labradoodle!

Probably watched Ben Fogle say the same thing a few years back while he was (failing) to commentate at Crufts!!!

Peter Purves. :)

"Wow what an awful story! Is there any way you can complain? or demand to get a lecturer in who gives the opposite viewpoint?"

Bit awkward as she is the lead on the whole programme, and is helping me a lot with some work at the mo! But we get feedback sheets at the end of each module that I will comment extensively in. She is a super lecturer but this was so ill informed and inappropriate.

She punctuated the lecture with 'there are good breeders and bad breeders' but the overall tone was terrible and very unscientific. I did pipe up a couple of times but I could feel my blood boiling so tried to keep calm!

"Tectona, I have had similar lectures on my degree course. In fact we were shown clips from PDE"

Wow you had high tech stupidity!