Cross Breeds - Cross Breed Dogs?

Cross Breed Dogs?

Good or bad?? I posted another question and someone has really put me off, saying that a cross breed gets all the bad traits of both breeds...is this true!? And why would that happen!? Mum and dad are both loving family pets, friendly and well trained - so why would their puppies be bad news, just because they happen to be cross breeds?! I had a pure bred German Shepherd dog before, I never ever want to replace him, so thought I'd go for a cross breed Shepherd, so I could still get the Shepherd traits, but in a different physical form (it's a Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross). I am paying a token for the dog to ensure I am serious, but I now feel put off, by someone saying there are no guarantees with cross breeds, so I should steer clear.

Public Comments

That is a lie. I have a cross-breed dog and i think she's even better than a pure bred
Cross breeds can also get the best traits of both parents....it just depends. I personally own two purebreds, but only because AKC competitions are purebred-dogs only. Otherwise, crossbred dogs can be great
I problem with purposefully breeding mixed bred dogs is that you really never know what you are going to get All dogs have positive and negative traits, at least with pedigree's you know what traits they are going to have, with a cross its a complete gamble
If you're paying very much for it, then NO, don't do it, because you're supporting a person who did not take the time to spay their B itch. Crossbreds are as varied in tempramenst as any purebred litter.
cross breeding dogs is actually better its like if you dont cross breed them eventually most dogs will have problems like being blind or deaf
There are no guarantees. You could get traits more like a shepherd, or more like a bull terrier. No way to tell. If they are badly bred dogs to start with, their offspring has the possibility of inheriting both parents' bad traits (temperamental and health). There are a lot of shepherd mixes out there in shelters, why not get one from there instead?
No whoever said that lied. It's not true that the offspring will get all the bad traits at all! That would put me off too. The offspring will either get recessive or dominant or both genes from the parents. and who knows which one is bad???? lol but don't pay attention to whoever said- go out and get your puppy! he (or she) will be GREat!!!!!
Cross breeding is something that has been going on for ages. That is the main reason why there is a vast variety in the species of canine today. The last big boom of mixed breed was in the late 1800's, early 1900's when small dogs were brought over from China. The Americans and the English went nuts and wanted small dogs. It was supposedly fashionable, so they began controlled breeding with different species and so forth.
Here's the deal. Mutts can come out with any mix of traits from the parents...that's how genetics works. That being said, mutts aren't bad dogs. However, there are more than enough of them sitting in shelters (puppies included,) so it is not right to pay someone to breed more of them. The people that would willingly breed a mutt are not responsible breeders. To find a cute mutt in your area check out http://www.petfinder.com Good luck!
Cross breeding happens all the time....most the time probably by accident. But now it's the newest craze in dog breeding. Just make sure your getting your dog from a reliable breeder if that is where you are getting them from!! My sister cross bred her mini chihauaha(sp??) with her mini dachshund.....to cute!!!! Best of luck to you!!
Hi,my girl is a cross she is lab/terrier.She is now 13 years old & has a lovely temperament.I got my girl from the animal rescue center.
Hybrid dogs are fine. there is nothing wrong in general with every hybrid dog. that someone probably had a hybrid that did something bad of was sick so they don't want that to happen to anyone else. steering clear in most definitely a good idea in this situation. i say get a hybrid train it good and it would be a perfect dog
ive had dogs all my life-my cross breed dogs have always lived a lot longer and have cost me hardly anything in vet bills-my pedigrees on the other hand have always cost me a fortune in vets bills and have had shorter lives-there are no guarantees with any dog so dont let people put you off
Actually, a cross bred dog get all the BEST traits from both breeds. Mutts are generally stronger because they get the strongest and most dominant traits. When you breed dalmations, for example, you're just breeding for spots, head shape, body shape, etc. When they do this, you end up getting dogs with allergies, physical and health problems, like hip displasia, etc... Also, in purbreds, they do in-line breeding, which also can cause some health problems. So, in all actuality - a mutt usually a healthier dog! As far as traits and personality - you can get traits from either parent - luck of the draw!
You are not a professional breeder, what your looking to do does not happen, you can cross breed any 2 pure breeds but that does not mean your going to get the hundreds of years of natural instinct from the german shepard into the cross bread puppy. Most likely you will get twisted jaws, hip dysplacia and health issues if you do not know what you are doing it takes generations of breeding to breed out defects, behavior and health issues. That being said there are a lot of good mixed breed dogs out there go get one and leave the breeding to people that know how to breed. Go to a local shelter and find the dog that is right for you.
Cross breeds tend to be the BEST of both worlds. They tend to get the dominate traits from their parents. Just like humans. The plus side, not counting cost, is they tend to be healthier. Pure bred dogs tend to be in-bred. Think cousins marrying. Every dog I have ever hed is a cross breed. and I love them. Would never dream of paying for a full breed. So love a mutt. They'll love you as much as any prue breed and probably live longer. Besides, its fun trying to figure out which trait came from which breed
There are no guarantees with ANY dog. I have seen some terribly unstable and aggressive mixes. I have seen some terribly unstable and aggressive pure breeds. I have seen some wonderfully sweet mixes that would never dream of hurting anyone. I have seen some wonderfully sweet pure breeds that would never dream of hurting anyone. If you have met the dog and he seems friendly and without major issues, go for it!
Honestly I think that this topic gets far more discussion than it is warrented. Seriously why do ppl care so much? Pure breed...cross breed...who cares? Totally ridiculous. That whole bad trait thing with cross breeds is a whole load of crappy misinformation. I just bought a cross breed dog yesterday (Maltese/Bichon)...did I care it was a cross? No not at all. She is a beautiful dog with an even more beautiful personality that I felt would fit so wonderfully in my family. That is all that matters. If you find the dog of your dreams forget the pure and cross BS and just look at the dog as a single entity and how it will fit as a new member of the family. Good luck to you and don't let this ongoing back and forth conversations on here disway you in anyway. Jade
Mutts are not guaranteed to get only the bad genes same as they are not guaranteed to get only the "good" genes. That's the problem, you really have no clue what genes the pup will get. Let me give you an example. A friend of mine, some years ago, adopted a rottweiler/german shepard mixed pup at 8 wks of age. This was one of the cutest little rott pups you could imagine. It had a rott build and the rott coloring. 6 months later, this dog had morphed into the ugliest german shepard you could imagine. Note: I think german shepards are beautiful dogs, same as I think most breeds are beautiful. But this dog was not. It's coloring and it's build had both changed, and hadn't quite made it to completely look like a german shepard, but it no longer even closely resembled a rott. So what you see, isn't always what you necessarily get. I wouldn't do it. Especially if you have no experience with breeding. There's a lot of research and learning that needs to be done before breeding dogs. There's more to it than simply getting a boy and a girl, and turning on some mood music and lighting the candles. It's a lot of work, and it doesn't always turn out well, especially when the owner hasn't researched, or saved up the time and money for the "OMG something's gone wrong" moments.
Well it is mostly down to the dogs upbringing but with a breed like that your putting a protection dog with a fighting dog. I wouldn't like to own one and i have 3 German shepherds and a staffy. I think that i will get some thumbs down for this but i think that your going to end up with a really big strong powerful and aggressive dog. I also cant even imagine what its going to look like people shouldn't be letting dogs like this breed together. Pure breed dogs should stay pure and only bred from by the right people and the dogs having the right tests. I would just leave that puppy alone and buy a pure breed.
"by someone saying there are no guarantees with cross breeds, so I should steer clear." There ARE no guarantees with cross breeds. You don't get to selectively pick what traits from which parents you get. You might get a Staffie Bull personality in a Shepherd-like body, who knows? Cross breeds are basically a crap shoot. The reason that breeds are BREEDS is because of the predictability that comes from breeding them, as a result of many, many generations of selective breeding. You know basically what size and shape a German Shepherd is going to be. You have no clue what size and shape a German Shepherd/Staffie Bull is going to be. The closest you can get is "somewhere between Staffie size and German Shepherd size" and "somewhere between shorthaired and double-coated" and "probably brown or black" and "temperament somewhere between a GSD and a Staffie". "Mum and dad are both loving family pets, friendly and well trained " That's nowhere near a good enough reason to breed them. Adopt from Rescue and save a life. Don't encourage people to add to the overpopulation problem that kills millions of animals every year.
mutts are great don't discriminate
No, they are lieing to you. Any crossbreeds I've had have been more loveable than the purebreds. The purebreds were also more hyper while the crossbreeds were more laid back. Get the dog you want.
I disagree with the person who said that a cross-breed dog has all the bad traits of both breeds. Certainly, that is possible, but it is also possible that the dog may have all the GOOD traits of both breeds, as well. Paying a token fee to adopt a cross-breed is o.k.. I do hope that you realize that you are about to acquire a dog that may , in fact be quite tough to handle and I hope that you have done your homework on the two breeds and know what to expect. "Staffordshire Bull Terrier, is in fact just a fancy word for "Pit Bull" and I hope that you know that. (I know I'm going to get slammed for that comment...tough...it's the truth).There are no guarantees with any dog, pure bred, or cross bred. You must make an informed choice in either case. Just be sure that you are sure and , PLEASE, spay or neuter your new friend!! Good luck.
I like cross breeds, They have the look of both breeds but yet still there own little personality...
It isn't that cross bred dogs are more unhealthy than a purebred dog, just because it's a mix. What causes the problems in mixed breed dogs, is the method (or lack of) that is used to produce them. Most people who have an 'accident' or even breed them on purpose, do not test parents and grandparents for problems. The number of people who do this with pure bred dogs is greater, but by no means all either. The question is never whether or not it's better or worse to buy/aquire mixed vs pure bred. The question is what did the breeder do or test for to see that the health of the offspring is assured (or as close as you can get) If both or the parents and grandparents of your mix were checked for problems (bad hips, eyes,heart and so on) then there is no reason to think that the puppies would have these problems. Unfortunately, an accidental litter is just that, and accident, and no one has tested or has any idea really what kind of problems the parents/grandparents have/had. Don't worry about it being a mix,,,worry about what problems were in the backgrounds of the pups. Both of those breeds are known for hip problems, so I wouldn't touch them if the owners didn't know (from testing) that the dogs in the background were free from hip problems at least. Same goes for purebred dogs,,,if the mama dog is limping, daddy died from a heart attack,,,and both grandparents are blind/limping/dead early,,,RUN. It doesn't matter if they have papers, they can be just as unhealthy as any other dog, if the parents/background is unsound. That's really the bottom line,,,,a puppy is only as sound as what produces it, to several generations back, regardless of breed.
i have never had a pure breed dog since beena kid at the minute i have a border collie mixed with a terrier what i would say it make sure what mix breed it is example german sheperd mix with rotwerlier is definate no but border collie mix with a labarador should be ok make sure you know what they are mixed with
What type of guarantees are you looking for? When you bought your Shepherd were you "guaranteed" that the dog would be well behaved, easily trained, loyal, and loving? You may have read somewhere that these are the traits of a German Shepherd or maybe the breeder told you this but I know for a fact that you were never guaranteed any of this. That's because every pet has it's own individual personality to some extent and the environment in which it's raised also has a lot to do with it's behavior (just like people). So you don't need to replace your shepherd to have a pet with the same qualities, just raise your new pet with the same love and attention and I'm sure you want be disappointed. (with the exception of a Pit Bull....they are a real wild card)
Here's the deal with 50/50 cross breeds. Every purebred dog has 2 sets of genetics from each parent of their own. Only one gene is visible, the other is hidden. The genes could be the same (black coat/black coat, good temperment/good temperment, etc.) or different (black coat/white coat, good temperment / agressive tendencies). Now, each dog hands one of those traits down to each puppy. The process is totally random. So there is a 1/4 chance of any particular trait from one of the parents filtering down to any given puppy. Now, let's say you have a Staffy and a Shepherd (I gather that's what the mix is you want to get?) Let's say both of the Staffy's parents were sweet tempered, and both of the Shepherds parents were sweet tempered. Genetically, it's a fairly good guarantee that the pups will all be good tempered, since the traits run steadily down both bloodlines. Now, if the Shepherd's parents were both aggressive, that trait could also be passed down at random, so some of the pups could end up with an aggressive personality. Bottom line is there's no total guarantee, but the pups will not inherit only the best or only the worst traits, they will inherit a random mix of traits from both parents. If you think the parents are sweet and healthy, the pup probably will be too. Don't let anyone tell you that your pup is destined to be a bad dog, because it's not, but it's also not going to be any better or healthier than it's parents (hybrid vigor is a load of crap). If you like the parents and the puppies, take the dog.
You want to hear that you will get a wonderful mutt but the fact is, the person making the mutt likely has little knowledge about either what they are doing, breeding, or the dogs themselves. Health, temperament and structural evaluations were likely not done so there is no way to know these things about both parents so anything is possible but the most likely scenario is that these dogs are not the best representatives of their breed -- they likely are both poor quality dogs and depending on the mix there can be characteristics that they both carry (like hip dysplasia, instability of temperament, eye disease, heart disease, etc.) that they have in common, even if unexpressed in them these can often be recessives, like a lot of structural unsound characteristics and poor temperament characteristics, so you have no idea since they are recessive, that they are there and will be expressed. There are indeed no guarantees regarding getting a mixed breed dog except that the person that allowed the mix to occur was irresponsible so the likelyhood of it being a poor cross to begin with is pretty high. It is up to you to steer clear or not. The dog will not be your old dog, ever -- no dog will but sometimes the genetic dice end up decent, more often not though. If it was easy then good, knowledgeable, responsible breeders wouldn't be spending tons of time, money and effort to produce decent health, temperament and structure.... instead they would just do what this person did and throw a couple of dogs together and make puppies... I wouldn't pay even a token to someone like that ... go to the pound and don't support irresponsible greeders...
There is no guarantee with cross breeds, but There is no guarante with pure-breeds ether. I've had two German Shepherd crosses one had a bad temperament and one had a good temperament. cross breeds can get some of the good and some of the bad traits it depends on the parents and breeders. I have four cross breeds and I would not trade them for any thing.
Okay a cross breed dog is a mutt, lets get that part straight first off. No ethical breeder would ever breed mutts, period. It goes against the whole concept of breeding puppies true to breed standards. Second, purebred dogs are checked for any and all genetic disorders that breed is known to carry, mutts aren't so maybe the pups could inherit the bad side of one or both breeds. (responsible breeders know this) Charistics are set (the breed standard) in a purebreed such as size, coat, temperament, etc. Anything goes with a mutt and any 2 dogs of a given litter may not even look or act the same, so anything goes. I'm not against mutts! I am against people who breed irresponsibly and without any ethics for the sole purpose of making money from a litter! This is a good example of either a backyard or puppy mill breeder. So WHY would you give that much cash to somebody with those sort of morals, which only encourages them to breed another litter of mutts? I don't care what kind of garbage they give you for breeding mutts, there's no excuse for it when so many, many mutts are already out there, sitting in shelters waiting for a forever home. So if you want a mutt go for it!! But please don't encourage the scum, go to a shelter or rescue. Those dogs are every bit as good as any dog this 'breeder' would sell you and just as deserving, plus you get the added benefit of knowing you literally saved a life! Check out these web sites for rescue dogs: http://www.petfinder.com/ http://www.agsra.com/ GSD Club rescue site ADDED: Ok another thing to get straight...the dog can get anything from the parents, bad or good. Crossbreeds were done at one point, but it was done with the sole purpose of 'setting' certain traits to create a breed. This takes years and a very careful and select breeding program. These so called 'breeders' are not trying to set any sort of standard, they're just breeding any dogs they happen to have and it's all about money.
As most people have said, you are no more likely to get all the bad points from a mix than you are to get all the good points. Problem is, mixes like this aren't done by resposnible breeders so chances are neither the Staffy nor the GSD will be particularly good examples of their breed and may not have the best temperaments either. Both breeds have inherited diseases like hip dysplasia and hereditary cataract so there is a good chance the puppies could be affected by these diseases too. If you are looking for a Shepherd in Staffy clothing, you've got a very good chance of being disappointed. Both are great breeds, but that cross is not a good one. The biggest compliment you could pay your old dog would be to find another GSD - maybe a b1tch this time, or one of a completely different colour. Not to replace him of course but to help fill the gap he left. There's no other breed like it!
I have a cross breed jrt/ border collie and she is an angel she was a complete accident my friend the farmer who has both the mother and father did not think the jrt would be able to do anything with the collie which proved wrong she is a very good natured dog just like her parents so don't go off what other people say if you have seen the parents and r sure about there temperament's i don't see why you should not get one the only down fall i have with my cross is she chases anything small like a jrt but has the speed of a collie but i would not change her for the world. My parents also have cross breeds Rottweiler/ lab and a chocolate retriever cross whippet and again we they have never had a problem with them i always say it is the way you bring a dog up that sets there temperament .
There would be no problem with crossing breeds if we, as in America, did not have such a terrible overpopulation crises. It is bad enough that the purebred breeders are breeding so damn much, but to then add the breeders of mutts to it is just ridiculous! It is true that you have no idea what traits you will get when you have a cross bred dog. There is no genetic basis to go off of.
There are pros and cons involved in getting any dog, purebred or mixbreed doesn't change that. Which ever way you choose to acquire a dog there will be compromises. Isn't it neat that there is a dog for everyone? Why can't I have my own opinion of what I want for a dog? You will find that the animosity is for the *person* that adds to a problem by breeding dogs in an irresponsible way. There are more than enough mix breed dogs to go around without breeding more on purpose. The mix breed dog it's self had no more to say about who it's parents were than you did. Guarantee is a funny term when buying a dog. As a breeder I can promise to replace the pup if there is a problem. I can test and certify that the dogs I am breeding are free of problems. But, there isn't a way in the world that I or anyone else can guarantee that any pup will never have a problem. As to your question about inheritance of defects, the correct answer is "depends". But, the reality is that the odds were not changed either way. If the parents were not properly tested, there is no way of knowing what they may or may not throw. That doesn't change just because the dog is or is not a purebred.
Cross Breed Dogs.... I have had cross breeds and pure breeds. I am not an expert, but however at 50 years with pets , I have seen, and still know some mixed breed dogs that have been alive 16 years and are still very healthy. I also note have known some mixed breeds to be smarter that pure breeds. My recomination would be to call your local vet, I supose he will tell you same as I did. It's in how you care for , love and feed your animal .
You should never pay someone for a cross breed for just this reason. They don't do health clearances and other things I mentioned in your previous Q. I'm not saying you shouldn't get a mutt ( As you can tell, I hate all mutts :P ) I'm just saying that you should adopt one from a shelter if you have to have one. I promise you they will have a shep mix and then you wont be helping perpetuate the byb/puppymill problems. Secondly, yes the dog is VERY likely to inherit both good and BAD traits of both breeds! There are NO guarantees with a mutt no matter what the "breeder" tells you. The people that breed these dogs have no regard for you or the dog's well being, they are looking to turn a profit and will say/do anything to do so.
If your dog fits your needs then the bloodline is irrelevant. Do not be fooled into believing one dog is better than another. Remember that the people who promote purebreds usually sell them or show them. It is in their own best interest to promote them. I sell purebreds too, but I wont' lie to you about it. If the dog is what you want, then any cross/mix is fine. It just needs to suit your purpose.
I have a cross breed and her mother was a rough collie 'Lassie' and her father is i have no idea but she is amazing, the thing with cross breeds is that the all have their own personalties unlike pedigries.
There are no garuntees with pedigrees either! Make sure you do as many of the checks as possible that you would do if buying pure breed like seeing the parents and the whole litter etc. Yes you will get the traits of each breed and there are no garuntees what but research of each types will stand you in good stead for what lies ahead. Don't treat the pup as a 'crossbreed' just treat him as a dog and bring him up well and you will be fine Best of luck
all dogs have been crossed with somethink during there family tree