Cross Breeding - Mating Dogs of Different Breeds

I am sure you are aware of all the crossbreeds that are available today including probably the most famous being the labradoodle and the Goldendoodle. At first glance the question is why? In most cases, it is to create a breed with some favorable characteristic with others who know why. Let's talk about a few of these mixed breed dogs and why they came about.

I want to start with what is probably the best known highbred the Labradoodle. I am sure that you already know it is a mix of a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle. Because of the poodle influence they can be large or small depending on what size poodle was used for the breeding. They are also in several different colors from yellow, black, brown and even party colored.

The breed was actually first developed by Australian dog breeder Wally Conron in an effort to help a client that had dog allergies. Allergies and people who are allergic to dogs is one of the top reasons people select a labradoodle. From what I understand to be hypoallergenic the dog must be a 3rd generation labradoodle.

The introduction of the Goldendoodle was inspired by the successes of the labradoodle. Breeders started breeding mini size golden doodles by using the smaller poodle and this appealed to many people that wanted a smaller dog. Breeders are determined to produce a non-shedding hypoallergenic dog that can be enjoyed by more people either as a small or larger dog.

The list of the cross bred designer dogs can go on and on but here are a few:

Puggle - Pugg and Beagle

Chiweenie - Chihuahua and Daschund

Maltipoo - Maltese and Poodle

Chorkie - Chihuahua and Yorkshire terrier

Bugg - Pug and Boston Terrier

Wally Conron the Australian breeder who started the designer dog craze back in the late 1980's regrets the fact that he created what he calls a monster. Because of his efforts in breeding the first labradoodles he feels like breeders have gone crazy in their efforts to create more and more cross bred dogs.

Some designer dog breeders feel that they are doing a good job by breeding out bad characteristics from the breeds however other breeders feel that this type of breeding has actually caused more problems.

If you need a particular cross bred dog for a certain characteristic then go ahead and give one of these designer dogs a chance it may just be the perfect dog for you.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Cross-Breeding---Mating-Dogs-of-Different-Breeds&id=8419427