Of Designer Dogs, Purebred Dogs and the Humble Mutt!

It is not hard to recognize the disdain that purebred dog owners tend to exhibit for mixed breeds. In fact you need only visit breed specific forums to witness firsthand the furor generated by cross-mixing of dogs. certainly I will be the first to concede that the multitude of so-called designer dogs in existence is fueled more by greedy and unethical backyard dog breeders than any attempt to eradicate genetic disease or improve bloodlines. But this was not always the case. The designer dog which is most credited for sparking the hybrid dog madness is the Labradoodle, which is a cross between a Labrador and Poodle. The Labradoodle was developed with the intention of breeding a proficient guide dog to aid the visually impaired that possessed the unique qualities of having non-allergenic fur. In 1989 the founder of the Labradoodle dog breed finally found success in a cross mating between a Labrador and a standard Poodle; the mating resulted in a litter of 3 non-allergenic puppies and the rest as the saying goes was history!

But back to this peculiar snobbishness reserved for purebred dogs. If one is to be honest, all dogs are really nothing more than mutts (mongrels) and purebreds are in essence nothing more than strain-refined mutts! Taking the Doberman Pinscher as a point of example:

The Doberman Pinscher dog breed was the brainchild of
door-to-door tax collector Herr Louis Doberman. Whether Herr Doberman developed
this dog breed as enforcer or protector has never been truly established but
one aspect that is not in contention is the fact that his was an unenviable
profession! It is well documented that since biblical times the tax collector
has been much reviled; even today the tax collector is the subject of scorn and
disgust. If you truly want to belabor the point, the next time you are at a
social gathering, casually mention that you work for the IRS and watch the
little-witnessed phenomenon of how so
many can disappear so quickly!

However back to Herr Doberman and his dangerous profession;
tired of being pushed about and quite possibly being set upon by irate tax
payers, poor Herr Doberman came up with the novel yet economic solution of
developing a dog breed that would be both enforcer and protector! The
"ingredients" for his new dog breed included the following:
Rottweiler; German Pinscher; Greyhound and the Manchester Terrier. Though some
wishful fanciers contend that the German Shepherd dog was also involved in the
genetic compilation of the Doberman Pinscher, this is highly unlikely since the
development of the German Shepherd occurred a little later than that of the
Doberman Pinscher.

The early form of the Doberman Pinscher dog was not the
sleek lean machine that epitomizes the breed today, but it was a heavier-boned
dog somewhat more similar in appearance to the Rottweiler dog breed. Subsequent
tweaks by later breeders eventually resulted with the sleek contemporary dog
that defines the modern Doberman Pinscher. The point of note here is that the
Doberman Pinscher, a well-known dog breed that is officially recognized by
countless of International Kennels such as the AKC, was a crossbreed developed
from various other dog breeds before it attained the holy-grail status of
purebred!

Click below for more on:

Designer Dogs Mutts and Purebred Dogs