Talk:Mixed-breed dog

Article Checklist for "Mixed-breed dog"

Workgroup category or categories	Biology Workgroup [Categories OK]
Article status	Developed article: complete or nearly so
Underlinked article?	No
Basic cleanup done?	Yes
Checklist last edited by	Petréa Mitchell 22:20, 29 March 2007 (CDT)

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Also, this article needs to be standardized to whatever is the most common usage: "mixed breed", "mixed-breed", or "mixedbreed". Petréa Mitchell 22:20, 29 March 2007 (CDT)

to be merged in

This was cut from dog (draft) and should be edited and merged in here. Pasting so it doesn't get lost:

There are modern dog breeders who purposely mate dogs of two completely different breeds in order to produce a litter of puppies with a set of desired characteristics that are not present in either parent. These crosses are sometimes called "a breed", but do not fulfill the requirement of "breeding true". For example, a pure bred Poodle and pure bred Cocker Spaniel, if crossed, usually will produce a litter of puppies that all look very much alike. This particular cross has the name Cockapoo. The poodle is one parent of another popular cross, the Labradoodle, in which the other parent is a Labrador Retriever. Why choose the poodle for cross breeding? The poodle's unique coat does not shed. This quality reduces both housecleaning requirements and dog allergy symptoms in owners, and is one of the reasons prompting both crosses (see Choosing a dog - Allergy).

Although the hybrid puppies in the cross between two purebreds (sometimes called the F1 generation) often all look alike, these puppies cannot grow up and be mated to other dogs that were born of the same crossed parentage and reliably produce new puppies that are like them. If a breeder does mate a mother from one of these crosses (let's say Cockapoo) to a father dog who is also a first generation Cockapoo, a few of their puppies may have the desired set of qualities - but sometimes none will, and often those few that do are in the minority of a large litter. This leaves several puppies who are mixed breed dogs (see below), and at high risk for joining their brethren in the shelters and streets of the world as unwanted pets. However, if the breeder continues to work with such a cross over many generations - being careful not to often mate individuals who are immediately related to each other (inbreeding) in order to avoid bringing out harmful recessive traits that cause disease, eventually healthy dogs may be produced who do, in fact, breed true. Once such crosses can be bred so that all members of a litter reliably resemble the breed standard, then a new purebred breed has become established, and fanciers usually campaign to have it recognized by a kennel club.

Crosses between purebreds have been used (along with mixed breed crosses) to establish most of the long recognized dog breeds, but animal welfare advocates have openly deplored this method for any current propagation of a new breed. That's because it necessarily produces generations of mixed breed puppies in a world where there is already a great overpopulation of such dogs. The breeders of Cockapoos and Labradoodles, however, counter that development of a new breed is a worthy goal, and that, with ethical breeding practices, all puppies can be properly placed. Large commercial breeding operation that supply hybrid dogs have a different rationale. They sell their puppies to pet shops under an agreement that every puppy is to be sterilized and not ever used for breeding.

Aleta Curry 03:27, 3 June 2007 (CDT)