The New Designer Dogs
The New Designer Dogs
We have all heard of "designer dogs". The Puggles, Malt-A-Poos and Chorkies have been favored by celebrities because they are expensive, trendy and very cute. Many of these hybrid dogs have wardrobes that we can only dream about.
Other designer dogs are being created with the goal of designing an improved dog which has the best attributes of the two breeds that were crossed. For example, the Puggle is a cross between a Pug and a Beagle. The hope is that the Puggle would breathe better than the Pug and have a calmer nature than the Beagle. Another goal of the designer dog breeders is to create hybrids without the founding purebred's inherited genetic diseases such as hip dysplasia. Their reasoning is that by breeding purebred dogs from two different breeds, they will have access to a much larger gene pool that should minimize certain inherited diseases. Other breeders want to create dogs that are very low-shedding or hypoallergenic. They cross Labrador Retrievers and Standard Poodles to create Labradoodles.
Unfortunately the resulting puppies don't always turn out the way the breeders intended. The various country national kennel clubs like the American Kennel Club and the Canadian Kennel Club set standards for each breed. The appearance and temperament characteristics such as size, coat color, tolerance of children etc. are therefore generally known and accepted. Similarly their capabilities such as an aptitude for hunting, herding, guarding property or being a good companion dog are also known to be associated with each breed. When two purebred dogs of different breeds are crossed the resulting progeny could have any combination of the characteristics occurring in either breed. With a Labradoodle puppy, the ideal result would be a dog with the intelligence and non-shedding traits of the Poodle plus the energetic and good-natured characteristics of the Lab. However these designer or hybrid dogs will vary widely in terms of coat and temperament. The concern is that it takes many generations for a hybrid to breed "true" in terms of temperament, appearance and health issues.
Other popular mixes are the: Schnoodle (a Miniature Schnauzer and Poodle mix); Golden Doodle (a Golden Retriever and Poodle mix); Shorkie (a Shih Tzu and a Yorkshire Terrier mix), Schnorkie (a Miniature Schnauzer and Yorkie mix), Malt-A-Poo (a Maltese and a Poodle mix)and Chorkie (a Chihuahua and Yorkshire Terrier mix).
Among hybrid dog breeders, Poodle crosses have been very popular with breeders trying to come up with a non-shedding dog. The crosses are made with the appropriately sized Poodle for the breed being crossed. For example a Cock-A-Poo is a Miniature Poodle and American Cocker Spaniel cross. Some other Poodle crosses include: Poogle (Beagle), Poochon (Bichon Frise), Shepadoodle (German Shepherd), Poochin (Japanese Chin), Papi-Poo (Papillon), Pooranian (Pomeranian), Poo-Shi (Shiba Inu) and a Yorkie-Poo (Yorkshire Terrier). There is also a large number of Chihuahua crosses which include the: Chiweenie (Dachshund), Jack Chi (Jack Russell), Malchi (Maltese), Chion (Papillon), Cheeks (Pomeranian), Chiranian (Pomeranian) and Wapoo (Poodle).
There is not room to list them all but the American Canine Hybrid Club has registered well over a 100 different hybrid breeds. It is going to be difficult to establish standards that give prospective buyers the confidence to know that adorable puppy is going to have the most desirable and not the least desirable characteristics of the two breeds. However, it must be remembered that most purebred dogs resulted from planned breed crosses. So today's designer dogs may eventually turn out to become purebred dogs that will be recognized by the national kennel clubs.
If you are planning to buy a designer dog, make sure that the breeder has done the genetic screening of the parents for orthopedic, eye and other breed specific diseases.
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