Pomsky's, Labradoodles and more... What are you thinking?

I can't stand it when I see posts saying “Look at this Pomsky” and then have THIS PICTURE

I’m not anti-crossbred dogs even though I’ve been involved in pure bred dogs my entire life - I’m against “designer dogs” and their “breeders”

Why you ask?

Designer dogs originated with the labradoodle, now in theory this dog is a brilliant idea - orginially thought of by Wally Conran, an Australian man who originally started breeding labradoodles - through careful selection, genetic testing and research - to create a dog for use by blind people needing guide dogs but were allergic.

His regret - not the creation of the dog, but the way the dogs have been used and abused as gimmick’s. He could have a litter, would test them all and maybe 3/10 would be hypoallergenic - yet here we have people selling entire litters claiming them to be great for people with allergies and having less problems than many purebreds.

Why do people think their dog will have less problems? Because they hear less of it. Backyard breeders will happily cross any breed with a poodle (and more it now seems with the Pomsky craze) and claim to have healthy, great puppies. These people are selling them for more than most pure-breds will cost and doing so without going into research of genetic testing, hip scoring, elbow scoring, testing for CLA, TNS, CL to name a few. Most (note, I say most, because there are breeders who are just as bad as backyard breeders) breeders will test for known genetic issues within their breed and will happily tell their buyers what’s been tested for and what’s known to be an issue within certain breeds. This then gets mistaken for pure bred dogs having more issues than their cross bred counterparts, when in fact much of the time it isn’t true.

Now the fact that many of these designer breeders go into it for the “profits” is insane. I have been around pure-bred dogs for my entire life, and their breeders and I’m yet to meet anyone making a profit - the amount of money, time and love that goes into finding a good dog for your bitch, doing all the relevant tests, caring for a litter, the trips to the vet, the importing of dogs (I know great danes that have been imported for upwards of $10,000 to improve a breeding program and expand the genetic pool in Australia) etc etc etc. Does NOT create a profitable business and most breeders are so selective with their puppy owners actually reject half the enquiries - or lead them on to breeds more suitable for their lifestyle.

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE wake up, smell the roses, stop supporting designer dogs and in turn puppy farms and pet shops (another two topics I could rant on for days)

If you have any questions, please ask me - I won’t ignore you and will try to answer to the best of my ability.

Just please do your research before committing yourself to support a dog, make sure you’re ready to commit and check out rescues and responsible breeders - NOT just the ones in your area *both rescue and breeders*, this is a big decision, often you have to travel to get what’s right for you and your lifestyle - you don’t just go out and buy the first car you test drive, why should you do the same with a puppy?