Calling a dog designer breed just to make a buck Discussions

There is nothing more that makes me madder than when people throw 2 breeds together (especially poodle mixes) and call them designer dogs. Then they charge an arm and a leg for said designer dog. I know this has been discussed before, but I really hadn't seen a problem with it until recently. We are looking into getting another dog, and I am keeping my eyes open. To me this is disgusting and I am really thinking of looking at a shelter for my "designer breed" since many of them there are mongrels. I am in the US and am not sure how much of a problem this is elsewhere, but I think it is disgraceful.

Here it seems to be Poodle x and Pug x.
And I agree it is a crazy fad that most don't look at the downside of.

I found it surprisingly difficult to get a whole Poodle! - all my searches for Poodles were coming up with crosses - tiny ones crossed with Toy Poodles, medium ones crossed with Miniatures, and larger ones crossed with Standards. The one which surprised me most was a Poodle/Newfoundland cross.

Here the most popular crosses are Cockapoos and Labradoodles - and I have to say every one I meet is a delightful dog. Though I do agree with a slogan I saw on a T shirt once - can't remember the exact words but it was something along the lines of 'There is nothing you can add to a Poodle to improve it'!

There are oodles
Of doodles
But where are
The
Poodles?

Love it!

I'm dead set against "designer dogs". Give me a pure bred or a mongrel but not a cross breed. In the late 70's I was given an 8 week old Border Collie x Fox Terrier who'd inherited the worst traits of both breeds. I never quite knew which breed I was dealing with whenever I had a problem with her.

As a Shar-Pei owner I wince every time I see an ad for "designer dogs" such as Pei x Pug or Pei x Mastiff simply because they're a recipe for disaster, health wise and I'd never consider advising anyone to buy one.

Sorry your Honour
But what could I do

With oodles
Of doodles
But not enough
Poodles

I think that my brain
Is now set in verse
But it is far worse
Says she with a curse

It is doggerel time
Which is now the rhyme

And you will all hate me so I had better shut up and go away.

What these so call breeders don't realise is just how ill these so called designer dogs can be.
We got 2 poodle crosses siblings (we don't call them designer in rescue home) one of them is blind & the other is deaf, both born with their disability when the breeder couldn't sell them so she dumped them by the gate of The Rescue Home.
Both dogs are with fosterers & will live out their lives there, has both dogs depend on each other.

Reminds me of that film with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, See no Evil , Hear no Evil ........ sorry could not resist that !

That's their nicknames Jackie, when we spot them roaming around we say
Hey up here's see no evil hear no evil,
Rosie is deaf & Jim is blind we clip a training lead to each of them so Rosie can walk Jim around & if Jim hears a noise he will stop dead & rosie will walk back to him.

Bitza mutt cross never designer

To be fair they're not all ill and sick or deformed, badly bred pedigrees can suffer just as much as any cross. I met 2 Pug crosses up the woods the day before yesterday, they were apparently the same cross although one was twice the size of the other. I'm not really a fan of Pug crosses and while these two gained nothing in the looks department they were just as lively as my 3 and gave Diesel a run for his money. No idea how much he paid or if they were intentionally bred or happy accidents, either way they certainly appeared fit and healthy.
If people educated themselves and stopped paying silly money for these dogs the breeders would stop breeding them. The prices certainly seem to have dropped considerably, so there is hope. Trouble is these breeders will just go on to breed from pedigree dogs with no health tests etc and the buyers will still be swayed by it being kc registered and not look any further.

Certainly all the 'designer dogs' round here - and there seem to be more of them than purebred dogs - are lovely dogs, fit, healthy and with good temperaments. I can see why someone meeting one of them would be attracted to getting one too.

The only Pug crosses I've come across are a Puggle (Pug/Beagle) and a Chugg (Pug/Chihuahua). Very lively and owners are very happy with them, but I didn't ask how much they cost! I do know someone with a Pomskie (Pomeranian/Husky) and he was £750 I think. They are on a waiting list for another one, so they obviously feel it was money well spent!

I do get that there was a good intention behind the original hypoallergenic crosses, but can anyone explain to me. what was the intention behind the development of Puggles. A snuffly, plain coated, undershot Beagle? - or a leggy Pug that likes to follow its nose? I do love Pugs, and of course, I love Beagles, but just cannot understand why the Puggle has become so popular. Even the name makes it sound like some kind of novelty item.

The woman with the Puggle (her other dogs are lurchers) told me she had always wanted a Pug but was worried about potential breathing problems so decided to go for a cross.

I agree about the silly names!

I dread to think how many designer dogs I've had over the years. Right now I have a lovely black lab and bassett hound mix. She's all black with a tad of white on her toes, very short legs, lab head and an extremely muscular body. She's also a wonderful judge of character. A few years back I has a standard poodle and rotweiler mix. Solid black, body shape of a poodle, long wavy black hair and the temperament of a rottie. All the rest of her litter mates were eventually put to sleep due to behavioral issues. Fi-Fi's only issue was to bite the chain link fence to get your attention and she liked to gently chew on your hand. She was simply a mouthy dog. I couldn't help but think that her litter mates were misunderstood as I met most of them and never saw any overt aggression.

I have also had many "designer dogs" in the past, one being a German Shepherd/Collie and another a Lab/rottie. I can't say as I have anything against breeding different breeds together but when people start putting an insane price tag on the resulting pups that is when I get mad.

One of my "designer dogs" who we adopted from Rescue home as a Collie X Afghan

Prince & Zara (GSD)



Prince playing in sea


Prince with his obedient trophy

Prince and Zara - both beautiful dogs xx

Thank you Malka he was a lovely dog until he went senile then he was evil, we couldn't get anywhere near him around a month of being told he had gone senile.