New breeds of dog

That made me smile Phoenix. My grandfather had a cocker spaniel x Labrador. Those were the days when dogs wandered and either first crosses, or mongrel pups were born in outhouses or kitchens. Local children pestered and parents said oh go on then, you can have one of Rex and Mitzy's pups.
Mongrels are rare now. Dog rescue shelters are full of staffies, bull breed crosses and aging German shepherd dogs. So sad.
Still, there are some excellent specific breed rescue charities.

I agree NandG. My two current poodle crosses came from small professional, not home, breeders. I therefore have family tree and confirmation that the health issues in the parents breeds have been checked. The family trees go back several generations. They are responsible breeders, who breed to minimise any genetic issues

Someone I know has a young frenchi, that person told me the plan is to breed the dog "get a holiday out if it" . That attitude, alongside puppy farms, puppies being shipped in fro Eastern Europe etc - I don't k ow the answers but we do need people to be more well informed

Unfortunately oldgoat, if you breed an unhealthy dog such as a Cavalier King Charles spaniel with another dog of a different breed, you still breed in the unhealthy genes. If you breed with a different breed with different health problems, you run the risk of breeding in two sets of problems. Perhaps in several generations and lots of different crosses it might be possible to achieve a true mongrel where the unhealthy genes have been bred out. But I don't think this is true in first crosses.

The above is not my idea btw. It was explained to me by a very experienced breeder of cavaliers. She was honest about the fact that she did not believe there was any strain of cavaliers anywhere in the world that did not have the genes for heart disorders as well as syringomyelia.

I have a little dog i took on because the owners were goung to have her put to sleep if they couldnt find a home for her, jst because they had a baby,
The husband was very upset and even cried at leaving her
She was originally adopted by them from a rescue,she is believed to be Yorkshire terrier x, possibly a cairn terrier
I think it was the wife who didnt want her
She cried when they left her, which makes you realise how dogs who are dumped must feel
However she soon settled and everyone who meets her loves her,shes about 4 now,i have had her 18 months
I have 3 cats who she just ignores

Sorry , not quite the same. But I was having a conversation with my 8 year old Grandaughter the other day about a neighbours dog.I said " what kind of dog is" she replied,
" one of the light brown ones" Mmm, I asked for that didn't I? I actually thought it extremely funny.

We've had mongrels of the 'Irene down the road's dog (mongrel) has had puppies can we have one please?' variety, to accidental cross-breeds, to rescue dogs to pedigree dogs. Every one has been a delight in its own special way.

Perhaps we've just been lucky but we are aware of problems with certain breeds such as hip problems with German Shepherds, brain problems with Cavalier King Charles, breathing problems with pugs, bulldogs, etc.

The Kennel Club is to blame for its emphasis on breed standards and actually allowing Cruft Champions which later had to be operated on for e.g. breathing problems.

Genetics is a complicated science as each dog carries two gehes for each individual characteristic but often it is multiple different pairs of genes on different chromosomes which might contribute to health issues. So put simply, a dog with a heart issue would have a 50% chance of passing the faulty gene onto its offspring if one of the pair of genes was faulty and 100% if both genes carried the defect. Having said that if the animal carried a faulty pair of genes it is likely that the animal would be too obviously unhealthy to survive to breed, depending on the genes involved.

Sadly Anya some unscrupulous breeders do breed from dogs they know to be unhealthy such as the German shepherd that won Crufts a year or two ago. And pet owners who decide to 'let her have one litter' contribute because it is doubtful many of them look into the potential health aspects either in their own bitch or the male they use (which may also be someone's pet who looks quite nice).

It's a subject close to my heart, having seen my beautiful cavalier (parents heart tested, brain scanned, hip scored, pedigrees researched for long living dogs, etc etc) die horribly of heart failure. I have talked to so many breeders since then in the hope I might be able to risk having another, but I'm not sure I would ever risk it, or one of the crosses.

they aren't new breeds, they're cross breeds and they used to be given away but give them a fancy name and you can sell them for hundreds, just a licence to print money for most

I agree, goose. Years ago I adopted a gorgeous female collie who was supposed to have been spayed. Our equally gorgeous golden retriever knew otherwise

The resulting puppies all found good homes with friends but I suppose nowadays I could call them 'collievers' and sell them for a fair whack.

I'm more concerned about preserving pure breeds and keeping them healthy than inventing new ones. A cross-bred dog, mated with another cross-bred dog will result in a mongrel and most of these will probably end up in rescue centres.

Merlot I would love a colliever! It would be a wonderful mix - Goldies are my most favoured breed as are collies. We already have a very boisterous border collie - sadly we had his balls off when he was a puppy... shame!

The day that The Kennel Club officially recognised the Border Collie as a breed, and set down standards as to markings etc, I could have wept.

That is a dreadful thing to experience Nightowl

To an extent I would agree with you Merlot, but the indiscriminate breeding of some pedigree dogs can lead to problems.

My grandparents were very pro Cavalier King Charles, (as opposed to the KC's with the shorter nose, but still with problems) my mother was a lab aficionado, until she got a bitch puppy that seemed to be virtually untrainable (wasn't that bothered by food ) and had a head unlike any other lab I had ever seen, think there was something else back in there, although I hate to think what.

As mentioned before, I am currently dog free, but have the task of having the company (and temporary responsibility) of 2 delightful dogs 3 days a week! One is over 15 (if he goes off his legs on our daily walk, no way could I carry him back!) The other is a truly lovely, joyous girl of nearly 3. She would get a very high score out of 10, if only she would refrain from rolling in **

What I don't understand about poodle crosses is that, over the years I've only ever seen one poodle out and about. So where do all the dogs and bitches that are used to produce these doodle dogs hang out? We did have a standard poodle in the next village a long time ago, but it was quite nasty.

They all live round our way Tegan - there are two grey standards, a black standard, and several smaller ones - I think miniatures not toys, that we run into on dog walks meanders. Other than that they all seem to live in Paris where the apricot ones seem most popular.

Our local poodles all seem quite friendly, though one of the grey ones is a tad snooty.