Road Testing  Designer Cross Breeds

For years most cross breed dogs were Heinz varieties with multiple ingredients and unplanned births. In recent times there has been a trend to design cross breeds by combining 2 breeds to give a new variety such as a labradoodle, schnoodle, pugalier, even a shitpoo (probably best called a zoodle) and so on. The result of this has been that we now have many new "breeds" appearing, of which there are not yet many old dogs from which we can draw information about any problems they are likely to develop. Since we are looking at breed specific problems in this series it becomes hard to comment of these new dogs, except to say that you have to consider the breed problems and strengths of each of the parents and assume that to some degree the offspring will have them also. In most cases we assume the problems will be diluted or lessened by the cross breeding.

Personally, I really hope that these new crosses will have the best features of both breeds, such as the sweet disposition of a cavalier without the heart disease they get in later life. This may just be wishful thinking, but you can assume that the obvious structural problems eg hip dysplasia and the breathing problems of flat faced (brachycephalic) breeds etc, will be reduced by crossing them. Increasing the genetic diversity of our dogs must be a good thing. The only problem is that you really cannot know exactly what you will end up with.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Rosalie