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October 27, 2007 10:30pm

DESIGNER dog disasters are flooding animal shelters, dumped because of deformities, disease, and overshot jaws.
The fad varieties, which include cross-breeds such as Labradoodles, Cavoodles and Pugaliers, are too often being bred with genetic faults, experts say.

And a surge in demand for designer dogs has resulted in production-line breeding, causing health problems for dogs and their puppies.

The Animal Welfare League and South Australian Canine Association have called for regulations on cross-breeding to stamp out the health problems.

Animal Welfare League spokeswoman Donna Sullivan said its shelter received designer-dog disasters daily, including puppies with genetic defects and others that had been used excessively for breeding.

"Their reproductive systems are so overworked to feed the want for `designer dogs', their mammary glands are loose or enlarged and occasionally the uterus of an overworked dog sits outside the body," she said.

"They are abandoned when they are unable to produce more pups."

Ms Sullivan said the designer crossbreeds came from unregistered breeders who were under no obligation to limit the number of litters they forced their dogs to have. "The parent dogs in many cases have no paperwork to guarantee they have no genetic health disorders," she said.

Sue Whelan, who runs the Hahndorf Interim Animal Shelter, said designer cross-breeding was a massive industry with no rules to stop faults being bred.

"Our records over the last seven years show a dramatic increase in these designer dogs ending up at our shelter with all kinds of defects," she said.

"There is a whole pet farming industry and you don't really know what has been crossed with what and a lot of these dogs aren't bred responsibly," she said.

"Most of the time they come in totally matted because people are buying these cute and fluffy poodle crosses and not realising they need to be almost sheared like a sheep at least twice a year. We clip them back and find all these problems with their shoulders and hips and jaws."

SA Canine Association president John Carter said he was "fed up" with overpriced crossbreeds and their associated problems.

"We have spent years literally breeding out the faults in dogs and here these people are just putting dogs together and breeding the problems back in," he said.

"We're talking hip dysplasia, eye problems, temperament problems – all kinds of things.

"And they are not under the control of anybody. Pedigree breeders are disciplined if they breed a dog under 12 months of age or use a mother and son or father and daughter."

Mr Carter said puppy farms had become money-making ventures where thousands could be paid for "what is essentially a mongrel".

"These people have no conscience – they aren't dogs to them, they are animals," he said.

State Government Dog and Cat Management Board chief executive Deb Kelly said all breeders – whether pedigree or crossbred – had a responsibility to ensure they were producing healthy animals.

"In relation to genetic deformities, it is something we are monitoring and if there is a need to regulate, we would be making such recommendations to the minister," she said.

Original article:
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22659935-910,00.html

What does he mean they are not dogs to them just animals??? I thought dogs were animals You can breedcrossbreeds and breed them to be healthy. as for interbreeding, show people do this all the time breed mother to son ect. to get certain traits and drown the ones that are not right I think this guy needs to get a life and mind his own business I know people that only breed akc pure breeds and they are more unscrupulous than the things he is describing!!!!!!

Jane, what he means is that these unscrupulous people breeding cross bred dogs view dogs as a money (puppy) making machines - it is a figure of speech indicating that these people treat dogs just as if they were a commercial, money producing farm animal such as a cow, pig or sheep. In many cases, these cross breed pups are bred in horrendous circumstances in puppy farms. The 'lucky' ones bred in the comfort of someones home rarely if ever have appropriate testing done on the breeding stock (CERF, BAER etc). Most of these home based backyard breeders tell prospective buyers that "their' dogs don't have those problems - despite the fact that they cannot know if their dogs have the problems UNLESS they are tested (which is part of the point of this article).

In this particular instance the article is referring to 'designer' cross breed mutts that are cute,fluffy and bred for the pet 'market' purely for the purpose of making the "breeder" money (an absolute FACT as many of these designer mutts are far more expensive than a genetically healthy purebred dog from a reputable breeder). Ethicle, responsible breeders should only be producing a litter of puppies for the betterment of the breed, not for purpose of making money. There are millions of unwanted dogs of every description being euthanaised around the world that would make beautiful pets.

There is absolutely no valid reason that anyone should be intentionally crossbreeding dogs - the only reason to do this is to make money. These people are profiteering from the general publics stupidity and succeptability for falling in love with a cute fluffy puppy. While some of these backyard breeders may raise their pups in their homes (as opposed to in a 'farm' situation, very rarely do these 'backyard breeders' or 'puppy farmers' have any idea what genetic problems even occur in the dogs they are breeding, let alone test their breeding stock for hereditry diseases to ensure that genetic faults do not occur in the offspring. These unscrupulous people will strongly market their cute fluffy pups to the unsuspecting public pups without carefully educating prospective buyers about the requirements, health issues, grooming and excercise needs of the puppy, because they simply don't care - they just want the $$$.

Which is why rescue centres are being flooded with designer dogs with major genetic defects. If you read this article carefully, you will see that it is based on the facts relating to the number of 'designer dog' disasters that are flooding rescue centres - and the information and quotes come from a number of differnt sources, not just one guy, and dogs and their welfare are fact the 'business' and 'life'of every one of the people quoted in the article.

Yes there are some unscrupulous registered breeders, however, the vast majority of registered breeders are ethical and responsible and follow the Code of Practice regulations set down by the Canine Control (ANKC, AKC etc) which are "rules" that ensure the breeders dog's health and well being ( such adhering to breed required hereditry disease screening, limits to litter frequency, minimum breeding ages, etc) and there are repercussions for infringements.

There are no such regulations for cross bred "designer mutt' and backyard breeders which is why so many health problems are occuring in these dogs.

As far as breeding mother to son etc, that is called inbreeding, breeding to less closely related animals is called line breeding and this is done to fix the genteic traits of exceptional dogs to produce excellent quality offspring. Nut any breeder with half a brain cell is *very* careful that in breeding in particular is not continued to far because then benefits are outweighed by the negative consequences such as reduced fertility, and eventually after several generations, health issues appear in the offspring due to the limited gene pool and loss of vigor. Responsible, ethical breeders know when to outcross to maintain the overall health of the animals.

FYI in breeding and line breeding occurs naturally in many populations of animals including wolves, giant pandas and cats....while it definitely has long term consequences, in breeding in animals shouldn't be likened to in-breeding in humans.

To be honest Jane, your response to this article and your username suggest that you support and are one of these people producing these type of dogs for the pet market.

Michelle

A Pandora's box indeed! Putting aside the pros and cons my daughter has 2 designer dogs of the Labradoodle variety both of whom are healthy in body and mind. What I can't come to terms with is the price she paid for them!! In excess of $1000 Australian dollars each!

I know, I can't get over the price people pay for these mixed breeds as well - and I have heard of some people paying several thousand dollars for a 'designer mutt'.

The sad thing is, in most places, a pure bred Labrador or Poodle from good bloodlines, from healthy parents that have had the required medical testing to rule out genetic problems that might occur later in the puppies life from a responsible, ethical breeder who will provide 'after sales support' would most likely cost less than the $1000 mixed breeds.

Michelle

Ditto thats what gets me most about designer breeds and pet shop puppies - people spend and absolute fortune for them when they could get a purebred pedigree animal for a lot less. Its just screwed if you ask me.

I totally agree, and sometimes feel like spending a day or more camped outside the local "pet hypermarket" to protest - not that it would achieve much!, but as you rightly point out, it is so rediculous what unsuspecting people pay for a pup, be it designed or supposedly pure bred, the local place have signs saying "purebreed westies (west highland terriers) $1300 - $1500 and as a test i went in and asked to see papers etc, to be told oh we don't give papers and vet certs as the breeders just want to sell this stock because they have had an unexpected upsurge in breeding, well I nearly choked and had to stop myself from saying something i would regret, but honestly an" unexpected breeding upsurge". I did however speak to one lady in private - a customer, and advised her to contact the local Canine control council for phone numbers of reputable Westie breeders where she would get a dog with all necessary papers/ certs and at a much lower price.

Also I have noticed that the supposedly advertised pure breds often turn out, as they grow to be obvious mixed breeds, which of course as puppies is very hard to see due to likeness to the dominant breed, my own little fellow is a good example, he was reportedlya pure bred aust silk.

When born the pups were all black and tan and looked everybit the silky terrier, but of course by three months then six months it was very obvious the pups weren't.

I have kept in touch with another lady who purchased my fellows sister and while in personality they are te same, by looks Taz has the typical blue and cream/tan markings with very soft long hair (when not part clipped), combined with the pointy snout and big beautiful full round soft brown eyes compliments of his mum and his dads features include longer ears, taller body, and piglet tail, broader chest and head and bigger feet. His sister has the curliest thickest coat, more mottled in colour and similar to the dads, shorter pricked ears and not so broad snout smaller body, straighter tail etc.
But at 6 wks they were identical in looks.

The bottom line in this story is that when I went to purchase a pup I was told that they were pure bred Aust silky terriers, being a " knowing" dog person I questioned this and after examining the litter I suggested to the owner that 'possibly a phantom dog had been responsible for this litter', then she told me about what had happened The owner eventually discovered that it was her mum's old shih tzu who was the dad of the litter when they remembered a weekend visit which matched the gestation period.
This was why she was selling the litter so cheaply and without papers. Had I not been so astute I could have walked out of there that day beleiving I had bought something I hadn't.

As it turned out Taz's destiny was obviously designed for him from the moment of that chance mating, he has gone on to become an amazingingly trained 'Alert dog' which not all dogs who are selected for this job ultimately make the grade.
All of the other dogs that went through the program at the same time are pure bred and come from selected lines that have been proven to 'alert'. I have my own set of theories on this and that is a whole different storyline.

I am a huge dog lover but it has been a constant source of sadness to see all these crossbred dogs, intentional or otherwise, being sold off to unsuspecting buyers and then ending up in refuges and often put down due to temperment or physical problems which make them unwanted rejects in the human world.

Our state canine control body has been working closely with the government to envoke a legislation to ensure all non pedigree dogs and cats are sterilised before sale, this ultimately would mean the end to unscrupulous breeding and also stop the escalting cat population, and also though stricter regulation legitimate breeders would be closely monitored to ensure their breeding and disposal (showing(cats/dogs) and other working dogs (eg guide dog breeding program) excempt) would be done according to this legislation, so if someone just buys a dog for pet purposes a guarantee has to be made that this animal will be desexed before 12mths with obligatory paperwork having to be completed by both the seller and buyer. So far after lengthy discussions and studies to support proposels this whole legislation has hit a stumbling bloke.

Dogs - gotta luv em .......

Ceebrah

I have this wonderful dog poem book titled "Dog lovers Poems"

I thought you would all like to share this particular poem........

In the Beginning

When the first great cause of all things
Left man to evolve with time
He built in a lesser body
A fragment of love devine.

To give to the poorest beggar
A love that makes him a king
and kiss the hand which is empty when
Friends and fortune take wing.

As a name for this rare being reflecting
the name of God,
Man spelt his creator backwards
And called his small likeness - DOG.


Ceebrah

There is no problem with breeding crossbreds, as long as it is done ethically. All the studies that have been done in this area in fact show that crossbreds are generally healthier and live longer than many purebreds.

The real problem is that many unethical breeders are trying to cash in by jumping on the "designer dog" bandwagon, and are breeding dogs without any regard to their health or welfare.

Oracle wrote:
There is no problem with breeding crossbreds, as long as it is done ethically. All the studies that have been done in this area in fact show that crossbreds are generally healthier and live longer than many purebreds.

The real problem is that many unethical breeders are trying to cash in by jumping on the "designer dog" bandwagon, and are breeding dogs without any regard to their health or welfare.

Thanks for your post and I agree that any breeder should only be breeding for the right reasons. However I think we will have to agree to disagree about the ongoing breeding of cross breeds. In my view I have no issue with people owning cross breeds, however I do have issue where people continue to breed cross breeds.

While your studies (researched) may show some cross breeds as working very well and being quite healthy and live long lives I wonder how many studies there are (or should be) where the cross breeding has not done well and the dogs health has been very poor. I guess I look at it from a point of view of the context of the study being questioned. Is it pro cross breeding, or pure breed biased? It is easier and more positive to write a paper about what went well rather than one that did not.

I have a big issue with cross breeds being sold as purebreds when in fact they are not.

I dislike greatly pet shops that sell dogs period let alone one that sells cross breeds, or as the topic title suggests 'designer dogs' at exorbitant prices.

Cheers and a good discussion...