Designer Dogs

[Perry's Mum]

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

[bertie]

Great article, thanks PM.

[sheena]

Agree.....great article...thanks for posting PM :)

[VizslaMomma]

Article is great. Appreciate the posting.

My money would never go towards the purchase of a designer dog.

The End.

Edited February 22, 2014 by VizslaMomma

[Jed]

Thanks so much for posting that.

I do hope someone posts that article to Don Burke, and Dr. Paul McGreevy of Sydney Uni, who need to know that.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Jed

[silentchild]

Great article, thanks. I posted it on my fb, so many of my fb friends are always squealing about oodles and how I should get one too instead of purebreds, very frustrating.

[rusty&biscuit]

Thanks for posting, great article. Shared it on Facebook

[teekay]

At the risk of being flamed, I'm afraid I have to disagree. I think it was a poorly written article with some inaccuracies and a bit of scaremongering thrown in for good measure. Here is a response that also appeared on my FB page from Dogs Today magazine - a uk based page.

We think we may have spotted the pre-Crufts PR campaign... it's knock-a-doodle!

It's working, getting loads of pre-show coverage.

Isn't this a straight copy and paste from another newspaper?

Puppy farmers both here and overseas breed what the public wants. Be that Dalmatians after the Disney movie, Dulux dogs after the paint ads or St Bernards after the Beethoven movie.

We all hate puppy farmers.

We all hate people buying dogs that have been badly bred that die horrible deaths.

We all hate dogs being mis-sold to people.

We all hate dogs being impulse buys in shops or online.

But do we need to make it Doodle v Pedigree?

Really?

Can't we do dog lovers (ie everyone) versus bad folk (puppy farmer/backyard breeder/bad breeder)?

If you try to frighten the general public off the Doodle and back onto the Bulldog on Eastenders for eg you just change the breed the puppy farmers and Gumtree flog. You don't change anything - just the type of dog suffering.

What do you think is better - work together to help make all breeding have a consequence or fight among ourselves rather than the bad folk who exploit dogs?

I totally agree with what they have said. My concern is for the wellbeing and health of the dogs and how they are bred rather than what breed or crossbreed they are. We need to educate the public on how to buy a dog from an ethical, preferably registered, breeder who knows what they are doing and has the dogs best interest in mind. Plenty of puppy farmers beed pure breeds. They are in it for the money. They will breed what they can sell. ATM it may be designer crosses but it could just as easily be any purebreed out there.

Another quote

Helen Morgan, 52, is one of the puppy farmers’ victims. She bought a cockapoo (a cocker spaniel/poodle) puppy for £650 after seeing an advertisement online.

Two weeks later, the puppy, Milo, died an agonising death, after contracting suspected Giardia, an intestinal disease which thrives in unhygienic puppy farms.

She did ‘everything right’, asking for Milo’s birth certificate and questioning him about the puppy’s parents. The morning after taking Milo home, however, he was violently sick and developed diarrhoea.

Everything right? What on earth is a dog birth certificate? And what, exactly did she ask about the puppy's parents? Not appropriate health tests I'm sure.

So, innacuracies; It's a small point but Jeremy Clarkson does not have a designer dog. Richard Hammond does. and

Earlier this month, the creator of the first Labradoodle — a Labrador crossed with a poodle — expressed his regret at creating these ‘Frankenstein’ dogs.

Earlier this month? Surely that quote is from a looong time ago.

If you are going to write an article at least get your facts straight

Talking about Labradoodles:

They have the weight and the stubbornness of the Labrador and intelligence and bounce of the poodle. They have to be in the right hands.’

What? I wasn't aware Labradors were notoriously stubborn? Mine certainly wasn't.

The Kennel Club estimates that one in five puppies, bought via social media or the internet, dies before it is six months old.

Sorry, I find that statistic hard to believe.

The Kennel Club does approve cross-breeds, but only if they’ve gone through the medical checks puppy-farmers dodge.

Really? This is in the UK so I wouldn't know if this was true but it would seem strange to me that The Kennel Club would approve any crossbreeding?

I do agree with the some of the points made, espcially around how it is too easy to buy a dog off the internet and how hybrid vigour is a misnomer but overall I found the article annoying and confusing.

[mita]

I understand your concerns about the article, teekay. I'll have to read it again, because I didn't read it as Designer versus Pedigree. I just thought it was honing in on the novelty- name craze that's led to the growth of puppy farming which serves that trendy market.

But I might've been reading it with the benefit of background knowledge.

Oddly enough, I was going to post, just as an add-on & not a criticism, to not forget the 'full' breed dogs that are also profitable for those who engage in puppy farming activities ... with awful consequences for their physical condition and/or for their socialisation. I've just seen a rescue detailed on our international tibbie list, where 19 adult tibbies and puppies were rescued from such an activity in Kansas.

Again, just my opinion, but I find that article from Dogs Today, intemperately written in that it adds to the emotional 'noise' surrounding the Designer v Pedigree issue. I have no problem with their making the case, that 'full breeds' are also victims of puppy farming techniques (by whoever uses them). But a bit more rationality, rather than indignant huffing & puffing. would have made it sound informative and persuasive, instead of picking a fight.

As for your own comments.... again, my opinion... I think you fairly, squarely & rationally pointed out inaccuracies in the original article. That contributes to the debate.

Edited February 22, 2014 by mita

[Little Gifts]

Seems like we already have a new designer dog in this house and we didn't know it! The Gerbarian Shepsky. Wait until I tell my sister!

Part of the designer dog problem is a focus on cute rather than health and wellbeing. If puppy farms and BYB's are not going away then maybe the regulations should change so we are not focussed so much on how many dogs they have and the conditions they are breeding and raising them under as that is clearly not deterring these breeders from making money at the expense of the animals in their care. Perhaps the focus should shift to proof of health of animals they are selling, which in turn will go back (to a degree) to the quality of their breeding stock. You can't easily sell diseased and deformed cattle so why the hell should people be able to sell diseased and deformed dogs and at exorbitant prices just because they are cute!

As for the man who created the Labradoodle - he did it for a purpose and with care and it is not his fault if other opportunists jumped on the band wagon.