Super doGs or a bad mix...

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'Designer dog' craze a get-rich scheme

I was relieved to see that there is a new and roomy animal shelter in Hutchinson. We will need this more than ever. In our throw-away society and our "I want it and I want it now" mode of thinking, more animals will find themselves homeless and in need of caretakers.

I am speaking of the newest craze, "designer dogs." I don't call them breeds because that is not what they are. They are crossbreeds, or mutts, plain and simple.

They have puggles because someone had an accidental breeding between a pug and a beagle, and they saw a new get-rich scheme. There are puddles, crosses between pugs and poodles. How about a Labradoodle, a Labrador retriever and poodle cross? People unwilling to pay $500 for a beautiful American Kennel Club-registered puppy with generations of careful and selective breeding from championship lines will pay $500 to $850 for a crossbreed. Oh, well.

These innocent animals are being produced by get-rich-quick entrepreneurs who don't have the vision to see beyond this litter. The innocent buyers wanted a warm and loving puppy. They were told the puppies would have none of the inherent health issues of either breed.

The "rocket scientists" who are breeding them will assure their buyers that they are getting the best of both breeds. Hey! I know of a bridge on the east side of New York City that I could sell you! Neither the breeder nor the buyer has any idea what health issues will surface when the genes mishmash between the two breeds.

I know what kind of baggage in the form of recessive genes can come with a pug. A lot of healthy crossbreed animals will be euthanized across America this day because they are so healthy and well-adjusted. No one wants them. Their recessive genes have surfaced. In puggles, there will be a 40-pound beagle body on legs meant for a 15-pound pug. A hound that hunts from his keen sight will have the bulging eyes that won't see clearly at a distance. A dog that needs to breathe deeply as a hound when it does what hounds are bred to do and is now being crossed with a dog that has a short breathing mechanism and can't be out in the cold or heat.

Picture a breeding between two primates, a chimpanzee and a monkey. Hey, we could call the chonkeys! Mismatch? That is exactly what the puggles, puddles, Labradoodle breeders are doing. They are taking a dog from the hound group and crossing it to a dog from the companion/toy group. Are these breeds compatible? Who cares? This fascination is the latest fad. It is only until you get tired of the puppy, after all.

Then you can pass it off to the Hutchinson Animal Shelter for free! Someone else will clean up the mess.

MYRA MORRISON

Pratt

http://www.hutchnews.com/opinion/wes...dog011406.html