DESIGNER PUPPYS: Everything you wanted to know about raising designer or mixed breed dogs,
featuring The BOYZ: Prince Alvin His Cuteness (on left) and Sir Simon The Sad, Cockapoo pups.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

"Designer Dog" Are NOT Dirty Words

Okay - I surrender!

Based on my blog The "Designer Dog" Controversy, the blog comments, and the fact that my post on the subject was deleted from a pet forum (so much for freedom of speech!), I guess this topic is way too hot for one person to handle.

People clearly have very strong feelings on the topic and are convinced that designer dogs all come from puppy mills and totally displace real dogs needing to be rescued.

I don't have to defend my use of the term "designer dog." It's America and we all are entitled to express our opinions as guaranteed by the Constitution.

And I also CHOSE to use the word "puppys" versus "pupppies." It's spelled correctly in this blog!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ignore the naysayers, Val. Just hug your beautiful "Designer Dog", and know that all the scientific research shows he's likely to live a longer and healthier life than any pedigree :)

Gemma

Emily said...

"Ignore the naysayers, Val. Just hug your beautiful "Designer Dog", and know that all the scientific research shows he's likely to live a longer and healthier life than any pedigree"

How is this a "designer" dog? How was it designed? Just because the parents were chosen breeds (or a cross-breed!) does not make it DESIGNER. If that were the case, every idiot who breeds their dog to a different breed would be producing valuble "designer dogs".

I know cross-breeds are generally healthier, and I personally would never choose a pedigree (though one might choose me), and I especially wouldn't buy one. This isn't about you and your dog, honestly. It's about the fact people are producing more and more cross breeds, and trying to sell them as something special, to make money. And you are promoting and encouraging this money making scam through your blog.

These "designer dogs" have such a high price tag, a lot more than some pedigrees, but why? Why should they cost more to produce? Truth is they don't, probably less, because these breeders don't care about health checks etc. The high price tag is simply because these breeders are in it to make money.

Anonymous said...

Hi Emily,

Puppy mills will breed whatever is popular. At the moment it’s “Designer Dogs”, but who know what it will be next? Remember all the Dalmatians pumped out by puppy mills when the movie “101 Dalmatians” came out? Or all the Huskys after “Snow Dogs”? Purebred or crossbred, they don’t care. Puppy mills will breed whatever sells.

Do you think they would simply shut their doors and go away if “Designer Dogs” became unpopular? Of course not! They’d just move on to whatever next breed or type of dog was in fashion.

However, I don’t believe this is any reason to discourage the responsible breeders of “Designer Dogs” (or crossbreds, if you prefer), any more than discouraging responsible Dalmatian or Husky breeders. To do so would be simply to push more prospective purchasers into the greedy hands of the puppy millers.

Gemma

Patrice said...

I was not able to read your post about "designer puppys" but it is good that you made things clear through this post.