From: Valaria_Vorlop@mindlink.bc.ca (Valaria Vorlop)
Subject: Re: Mutts vs. Purebreds
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 18:43:57 GMT

John R. Caruso writes:

> The following Q & A appeared in a local newspaper column devoted to pets.
> I have never heard this expressed before but when I mentioned the vet's
> opinion to one of my co-workers he said the same thing. He's had both
> pure-breds and mutts and prefers the mutts hands down and says all the vets
> he has spoken to agree with the one below.  I have had 3
> purebreds and 0 mutts and have had both health and behavior problems in
> 2 out of 3. So who's right? Comments are appreciated.

Article by Dr. Michael Fox about mutts having better health and tempermant
deleted.

Statements like this are VERY unfair for a number of reasons. First of all,
I currently own two 3.5 year old purebreds. Neither has ever had any sort
of genetically related health problem and both have good temperments. My
first dog was a mutt and the same could be said of her.

An unfortunate fact is that many of the purebred dogs that the average
person sees or buys have come from pet stores, backyard breeders or
unscrupulous breeders. Compare these purebreds as a group to mutts and you
may find that the mutts come out on top most of the time.

However, get a purebred from a breeder who knows what they are doing and is
doing it carefully and you will probably end up with a perfect dog, such as
my two :) Not only that, should anything unforseen come up, you have a
written health guarantee to fall back on.

I think another thing that leads people to believe mutts are better is
this: purebreds were bred for a specific purpose. Often people will buy a
purebred based on looks or whim. Without researching the breed, they may
pick a type of dog which is less well suited to whatever they have in mind
for it. They might want a family dog and unwittingly choose a breed which
is aloof or tends to be a one-person dog. It would be unfair to blame this
sort of thing on 'bad temperment of a purebred' because this may be exactly
what the dogs have been bred to be like for a hundred years.

Mutts can be great or can be horrors, no less than purebreds, it depends a
lot on what they inherited from their parents. My mutt happened to be a
cross between a purebred Golden Retriever with good breeding who was able
to mate accidentally with a stray, probably part GSD. Many mutts are in
fact, first generation crosses between the more popular breeds: large ones
may include GSD, Lab, Golden; small ones may include Poodle, Cocker
Spaniel, Sheltie. These are typical sorts of crosses from what I've seen at
the shelters or in the newspaper. Since these purebreds are often sought as
being desirable breeds, it doesn't seem much of a wonder to me that the
crosses between them would also make very desireables dogs. However, I have
known plently of mutts which have inherited health problems from whatever
their parents were, CHD and other joint problems seem to be pretty common.
As with any randomly bred dog, you just never know what might turn up.

I have to say that I read with anything anything that comes from Dr. Fox
with particular scepticism. I have found him to anthropomorphize a great
deal and often come up with rather fanciful explainations for observed
behaviour.

--
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Pride,where wit fails,steps in to our defense,
Valaria_Vorlop@mindlink.bc.ca   And fills up all the mighty void of sense.
or:      a4080@mindlink.bc.ca                 - from Alexander Pope's
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *                         An Essay On Criticism
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs