Saturday 20 May 2006

Mongrels

No - nothing to do with immigrants so those of a tender nature need not look away.
Yes - he/she does look very attractive. I am sure it will make a wonderful pet and companion.
It is a hybrid dog. These are planned matings between two clearly different dogs to produce custom-made types. This is a cross between a pug and a beagle. The desired off-shoot is "a small hybrid breed of dog created by mating a pug and beagle; thereby producing an energetic hound having: a thickset body; a short-haired, smooth coat of fawn, tan, and black coloring; a deeply wrinkled forehead; short legs; a curled tail; and drooping ears"
I had heard about this designer-dog idea. It seems to be concentrated in America. I was for a while haunted by a lady who had a thing about some sort of Labrador and Poodle cross but I bore with her on the lines of 'one born every minute'.
Knowing the power of ladies who want things in America, I Googled 'hybrid breed dogs' and was horrified to find they are all over the place. Darned near every breed there ever was has been deliberately cross bred with another. Some of these are really sad looking things - go take a look. Animals with a long tradition are being distorted because they might/maybe/perhaps look cute without any consideration of the risks.
We already have a number of genetic problems amongst 'pure' bred dogs. Little squashed faces cause breathing problems. Big strong chests lead to birthing difficulties such that Ceaserian birth is needed. Hips get displaced on big long-bodied dogs. Some breeds have endemic faults - poor eyesight, eyelash problems - the troubles are very many. A lot of pups end up in the discard bucket at birth when they are obviously 'wrong'. Crossing a breed with genetic faults with another that has other genetic errors multiplies the chances of pups that satisfy neither designer criteria.
Just another of the things on my (growing) volume of things that annoy and disgust me.




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