Picking the runt of the litter..?

SensibleSarah

Definitely the breeder description raises all the same flags for me as mentioned previously. I'd not be buying a dog from these circumstances at all with no health checks being done, no certainty on who the sire is & advertising pups with visits at such a young age. All the signs of a backyard breeder who is in it for the money & not the best interests of the parents or pups.

Another recommendation to look for a rescue pup instead.

teddysmum

I agree with lots of posts above.


If you want a cross breed, buy one from a rescue, where your money will go to good use instead of to line someone's pockets.


This smacks of backyard 'breeder' who doesn't even bother to keep to a breed and it does loom as though the little one has a different father (It is possible with human twins and certainly with dogs, where the female stays fertile for a number of days).


I once believed in the 'hybrid vigour ' of cross breeds, but in fact,my only cross breed was the shortest lived of all my dogs, dying aged only 7.


Crossing may bring together the healthy parts of two or more breeds, but it also brings the bad bits. An example being of the adorable to look at) cavapoo; across between cavalier and poodle, both of whom have a high chance of heart disease, so you could have a dog who has an even higher risk of heart failure,together with any other diseases inherent in the individual breeds. The only advantages being a cute dog, who may be non-shedding, but the latter has no guarantee.

Person_one

I'm not opposed to cross-breeding at all, in fact I think its going to be absolutely essential to preserve some really lovely breeds and to fix some terrible health problems.

It should be done really carefully though, with lots of thought put in to why and what benefits you 're hoping for, what health tests need doing, possible risks etc. For example some dalmatian breeders are looking into introducing some pointer genes to get rid of a problem dals have with uric acid, and there have been successful programmes with schnauzers and pinschers to reintroduce some genetic diversity.

Throwing together a random staff with a random patterdale in a house with 9 dogs, and selling the pups at 2 days old, does not seem to be an example of the good type of crossbreeding. If accidental litters happen, resulting in lovely cute mongrel pups needing homes, they shouldn't be charging hundreds and they certainly shouldn't let it happen again!

Person_one

I hope the OP is still reading.