What's your opinion - genetics and personality are filtered down.? Discussions

Most people I deal with say that cross breeds are great as their genetics and personality are filtered down. Do you think this too or do you think that your cross is more like one particular breed?

Not sure if I am exactly answering the question but, the family dog of my teenage years was a miniature yellow lab Obviously must have been a first cross but have no idea what the sire's breed may have been - something small for sure He looked, and behaved, exactly as one would expect of a Lab. He loved retrieving and had a very soft mouth and a good temperament. He was healthy (died of cancer from a trauma induced tail injury), but we are talking nearly 50 years ago when we first got him and that was when commercial foods were not fed, and he had plenty of exercise. He would have been a Designer Dog breeder's dream - a very, very small Labrador :-( Looking back I can see no other breed characteristics in him.

Thanks SB, thats exactly what I meant. He sounded lovely

Kim and Sam are completely different in the way that Kim seems to take after the staffy part of her cross with her mouthing, energy, oh and she's the nanny with the children too. But saying that, she does talk a lot, so maybe that bits the part from the boxer (her mother used to bark at me when I smoked at her house ) Sam on the other hand seems to take after the GSD, very regal, laid back but sadly lacks the intelligence
(Their Dam was a Boxer/SBT cross and the Sire was a GSD).

i have a cross gsd and see is great(halle) came along last year injune to go with my collie and to jacks.i am now the owner of the best four dogs in essex.suffering with depression they always do there best to cheer me up when i am down they are the best part of my life

Dogs are great for cheering you up aren't they So does Halle have more GSD traits then?

Brandie is GSD and border collie but I don't think she is like one more than the other.
Outside when I see her playing and learning she seems a lot like a collie in the way she acts and moves. But at home she seems a lot like a german shepherd with things she does. She is not as exciteable and unexhaustable as collies though so perhaps she is more like a german shepherd :?
It seems that with Brandie what you said at the start about personality being filtered down is true. But I have met other cross breeds that are very much like just one of their breeds, so I don't think it's always true.

Hope I have answered the question ok and made some sense! It's a good question, I like trying to see what breeds cross breeds seem to act like.

Wolfman, where abouts in Essex are you?

We have a cross - GSD/Lab x Border Collie... she is excellant! We got her as a rescue puppy with a broken leg in plaster cast. She is very sweet natured, loves to do obedience, loves walks, happy to snuggle up with us. Great with children too. She has no health problems so far (nearly 3 years old). Our previous dogs were crossbreeds too and we never had health problems with them either... just the ususal old age stuff... but nothing out of the ordinary.

I have M.E. and other health problems and I just find that dogs are great for making me smile, getting me up each day... give me a lot of purpose in my life - might sound strange I know. I just love everything to do with them.

Vicky-Louise

hi wolfman here at the moment me and my girls(halle,emma.jess and becky live in laindon in basildon.when i get the time and money i want to move more out to the country

I'm not sure which side Tamzin takes after, she is a staffie x whippet. She has some from the whippet but the staffie personality. She loves to run through long grass at high speed but grins like a staffie, mind you there are 2 staffies in the house as well so she probably has more staffie traits because of the other girlie's. As i've never had a pointy i can't say much about the whipetty bit

Great comments everyone and thanks for contributing

Well. Bodhi has 5 different breeds in her

She has her mum's colouring - the kind of blue merley, blue eye thing going on. And I think looks err on her dad's side (he was a boxer/staff). But you can see her mum in her too.. But most people ask if she is a staff (when she was younger) or staff cross (more so now).

As for her personality traits. Well. She is soft as a brush and very very loving. Which she must get from her dad. Don't get me wrong, her mum is a lovely dog, and maybe she is gooey with her owner, but she is nowhere near as people lovey as Bo.

She is very bouncey when she is out, which I think is a boxer-like trait. And she uses her paws alot! She bats her balls like a cat alot! She likes her zoomies too.

I think she is more her dad than her mum, but she has he majority of those breeds in her (if that makes sense - mum was 3 breeds, dad was 2)..

Hmm - do you get my waffle

Well Toby and Gadget are both crosses and I think it makes them extra special because they are unique!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/KATIEB_23/with_Toby.jpg

Toby is a gsd x collie and is 14 years young! No sign of the problems we had with our old gsd who died when he was 8yrs.