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why it is hard to guess at what is in a cross

Karlin

Administrator
Staff member
From working in general rescue for a while, I sometimes get amused by the kinds of 'crosses' people will insist are in a particular dog. People are sometimes very sure that you can see clear breeds and that any cross is an exact mix between the two parents and will look like a half and half. Indeed the latter totally incorrect supposition fuels the designer crossbreed market with people getting cross puppies that don't look anything like the 'cute' one they saw on the internet ad!

Just as a case in point: this puppy is currently looking for a home in Ireland and is KNOWN to be a cavalier/cairn terrier cross:

babybuddy.jpg


Doesn't look like it has a drop of cavalier blood. That's the interesting thing about crosses -- they can end up as large as the larger parent or as small as the smaller, they can look entirely like a p/b of one of the breeds and nothing like the other or like a mix OR like *a completely different unrelated breed* simply due to the way the genes mixed; they can throw back to other mixes if the parents are not pure.
 
what a cute little guy. i hope whatever happens, he won't have early onset MVD or SM, and will have healthy genes and a good home.
 
How interesting. Don't see a bit of Cavalier in him. Maybe he was lucky enough to get a Cavalier personality. :D
 
He is a cutie, whatever he is. Let's hope he got a mix of terrier and cavalier personality!!
 
He is adorable, but I would never guess he is part cavalier, even if he had the personality and the waggy tail! Hope he finds a lovely home. :flwr:
 
This is why the deliberate 'designer' crossing is so idiotic. They are just adding to the massive pool of unwanted mongrels, already finding it a struggle to find homes. The Guide Dogs for the Blind people found that the experiment didn't work, years ago. Retrievers who don't moult are great news, but what about the rest who do moult and get the bad characteristics of both breeds ?
 
judy said:
i hope whatever happens, he won't have early onset MVD or SM, and will have healthy genes and a good home.

Sadly crosses aren't necessarily healthier than pure breds - they can end up with the health problems of BOTH parents...esp as it is extremely unlikely that the parents will have undergone any health testing.

It's also well known that health problems in cross breeds are under reported by vets...it's easy for them to remember that they have seen "X" number of Labradors with Hip Dysplasia for example, but they are less likely to remember how many cross breeds they saw with the same diagnosis.




The wee pup is gorgeous Karlin, I hope he soon gets a home - I would never have realised he was 1/2 Cavalier...
 
Nicki said:
....Sadly crosses aren't necessarily healthier than pure breds - they can end up with the health problems of BOTH parents...esp as it is extremely unlikely that the parents will have undergone any health testing...It's also well known that health problems in cross breeds are under reported by vets...it's easy for them to remember that they have seen "X" number of Labradors with Hip Dysplasia for example, but they are less likely to remember how many cross breeds they saw with the same diagnosis.
...

That makes sense. Tonight, my dear friend who i always get together with every christmas told me that one of his two dogs, both mutts from the pound, has canine degenerative disc disease--she just started limping and by two days later, she couldn't walk and was crying in pain. :( She's now doing better on prednisone but the future is looking sad and grim. She's about 5 years old.

When i was a kid, it seemed more rare than now for dogs to be getting these early onset diseases that undermine quality of life so young. Were they always so common? Fortunately, my Frank lived to be 13 and was still in great health, except for the cancer she died from--but she didn't have any autoimmune stuff or arthritis.
 
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