Crossbreeding Advantages and Disadvantages

[Violet Turner]

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What is a cross breed? A cross breed is an individual animal that has pure bred parents but of different breeds. Cross breeding is sometimes called designer crossbreeding. This is process of breeding an animal often with the intention to create off-spring that share the traits of both parents. While cross breeding is used to maintain health and viability of animals, irresponsible cross breeding can also produce animals of an inferior quality or water down a purebred gene pool to the point of extinction. 'Mixed breed' is a more accurate way of putting cross breeding, this term is used when a domestic dog of an unknown ancestry can only see one parent or grandparent on there family tree. Outcrossing is another type of crossbreeding used within a purebred breed to increase the genetic diversity within the breed, particularly when there is a need to avoid inbreeding. In animal breeding, crossbreeds are crosses within a single species, while hybrids are crosses between different species.
Top 5 Dogs In The World:
1.)Labrador
2.)Mixed Breed
3.)Jack Russell
4.)Staffy bull terrier
5.)Border Collie
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/uk-world-news/britains-favourite-dogs-itv-14165790

Advantages of crossbreeding:
1.)Unique looking fur colour.
2.)Can make wonderful pets.
3.)Could be the foundation of a pure bred puppy one day.
4.)Fewer congenital issues in a few dogs.

Disadvantages of crossbreeding:
1.)Difficult to know the temperaments of the puppies.
2.)You don't know how big/small they could be.
3.)There is a massive risk for deliveries.
4.)Could be more expensive than a 'purebred' puppy.

What spurs you on, the Advantages or Disadvantages? Would you rather breed purebred dogs together or crossbreed? For me I'm pushing my self towards crossbreed just because I would rather have less health problems and more love, instead of just showing the dog at cruft's or other shows and having a large variety of problems later in life.

 

[JudyN]

Where did you get the list of the top five crossbreeds from? There's some rather unusual ones there.

 

[Violet Turner]

Where did you get the list of the top five crossbreeds from? There's some rather unusual ones there.

Yeah there is its from - 20+ Crossbreed Dogs That Will Make You Fall In Love With Mutts but I'm not 100% sure its actually true.

 

[Mad Murphy]

I'm inclined to believe that old fashioned mutts might well have been healthier than the average dog but with the designer dogs of today? Nope.. I think they are just as inbred and badly bred as the worst of the pedigrees that everyone moans about.
My favorite dogs be they pedigree or mongy are dogs fit for purpose. ie they run without problems , they breathe freely, they do not need special diets creams and vet treatment every 5 minutes just to keep going, My neighbours Frenchie is so bad they have to wash its eyes and creases with special wash to stop infections and wipe its bum for it!
IMO thats not a healthy dog.

 

[Violet Turner]

I'm inclined to believe that old fashioned mutts might well have been healthier than the average dog but with the designer dogs of today? Nope.. I think they are just as inbred and badly bred as the worst of the pedigrees that everyone moans about.
My favorite dogs be they pedigree or mongy are dogs fit for purpose. ie they run without problems , they breathe freely, they do not need special diets creams and vet treatment every 5 minutes just to keep going, My neighbours Frenchie is so bad they have to wash its eyes and creases with special wash to stop infections and wipe its bum for it!
IMO thats not a healthy dog.

Omg wipe its bum. I also dislike squashed faced dogs because they have awful problems with health and they look weird.

 

[JudyN]

Yeah there is its from - 20+ Crossbreed Dogs That Will Make You Fall In Love With Mutts but I'm not 100% sure its actually true.

It doesn't say they're the top five - it's just a more or less random list of 20 crossbreeds, and BoredPanda is hardly a reliable source for anything!

 

[Violet Turner]

It doesn't say they're the top five - it's just a more or less random list of 20 crossbreeds, and BoredPanda is hardly a reliable source for anything!

Okay I will edit the above. thank

 

[PWDmum]

Omg wipe its bum. I also dislike squashed faced dogs because they have awful problems with health and they look weird.

That`s not strictly true, there are many brachycephalic dog of different breeds that do not suffer any more health issues than any other dog. its all down to responsible breeding, and breeding from the less exaggerated features . the reason the frenchie is getting a bad name is do to the popularity and supply and demand for this breed, a well bred frenchie that has been bred by responsible knowledgeable breeders should not be at any risk from health issues as any other dog . a dog that cant reach its backside to clean its self is probably over weight

the belief that crossbreeds are healthier is a myth, they are not and specially if the parents have no health records , many of the breeds they put together suffer the same problems, so breeding blind (without knowledge ) is increasing potential health problems. the reason they are so popular is down to being told untruths and being able to get one now instead of having to wait for a well bred pup .

 

[arealhuman]

I have a mixed-breed rescue dog. He loves us and we love him, and he's fit and healthy as far as we can tell. 'Nuff said

 

[Violet Turner]

I have a mixed-breed rescue dog. He loves us and we love him, and he's fit and healthy as far as we can tell. 'Nuff said

I always have tried to rescue but is really quite difficult for me as I want the rare dogs

 

[Sezzy]

I have a mixed breed, not that I was particularly looking for one but it was love a first sight

 

[Mad Murphy]

Until now we have always had whatever dog needed us at the time. Breed was not an issue nor anything we had much say in. Now we needed a dog to fit us and the fact that we have a bird. All the rescues we looked at had staffies, jack russels or herders and all had issues , couldn't be alone/with men/with other animals/go in the car etc etc.
So this time maybe selfishly , we decided to chose a dog for us and Murphy was that dog.

 

[Violet Turner]

Until now we have always had whatever dog needed us at the time. Breed was not an issue nor anything we had much say in. Now we needed a dog to fit us and the fact that we have a bird. All the rescues we looked at had staffies, jack russels or herders and all had issues , couldn't be alone/with men/with other animals/go in the car etc etc.
So this time maybe selfishly , we decided to chose a dog for us and Murphy was that dog.

Lovely that you have given her a home

 

[JudyN]

I have seen a report (don't ask me to find it now) that said that statistically, crossbreeds are healthier and longer-lived than pedigrees. However, the pedigrees here would include those that, sadly, have a lot of health problems. Some of our breeds could be improved by crossing them with pretty much anything - and after all, this is how breeds often are improved.

Some of the crossbreeds I've met are delightful, healthy-looking dogs that do genuinely seem to incorporate the good bits of both breeds and, and pug crosses always look healthier to me than pugs. Breeding to produce a better dog I have no problem with - 'designer' crosses because the pups with be 'adorable' and the name will be 'cute' is another matter, of course. And many of these pups are the ones churned out by puppy farms

Of course, lurchers were the original designer cross

 

[excuseme]

With lovely temperaments, and a very good working dog too ( well, the ones that I have known! )

 

[leashedForLife]

.

There's a misstatement in that quoted section from BoredPanda, in the OP -

"hybrids" is not limited to "crossbreeding between SPECIES". Yes, that's one type of hybrid - but intraspecies hybrids also exist, & have existed for a very long time.
A deliberate or accidental cross between different strains of the same species is also a hybrid; gardeners might be more familiar with this use, as many hybrid seeds are sold annually which are hybridized for many reasons - better resistance to multiple diseases or pests, more fertility / heavier production, etc.

So for instance, in the USA there are 5 different & distinct body & head types in Labradors - the strain i seriously dislike is a tab-eared massive dog with a heavy frame & a mastiff-like head, the foreface is squared & the back-skull is a cube. They're hideous in my eyes - too much lumber, legs like an Angus steer, throaty, prone to blubber, lazy, giant-breed type joint issues [slipping kneecaps, ACL ruptures at a young age, vertical rear at their hocks & knees, etc].
If i were to cross one of these Labs with a houndy-looking hunting lines Lab, with a small frame, muscular tight body, neat moderate head & near-oval ears, the dam would need to be the mastiff-lookalike & the sire would be the hunting Lab - those pups would be hybrid type, & b/c the parents are true to strain, all the pups would look ALIKE, as they'd be F1 progeny of 2 distinct strains.
If we bred 2 litters of the same such cross, from 4 unrelated parents, & then mated the F1 pups, the F2 litters would have RANDOM traits taken from each of the 2 strains; homogeneity of phenotype would be lost.

Similarly when i cross a Beagle with a Pug, I create F1 pups who all look self-similar & indeed, are recognizable as a type - they are not, however, a breed, b/c they won't produce pups "just like the parents". // If U mate an F1 "Puggle" to a Pug, U intensify the Pug traits; a Puggle mated to a Beagle intensifies the Beagle traits; a Puggle mated to a Puggle produces a litter of Lord-knows-what random traits from both parental breeds, including pied coats, Irish pattern white markings, low-held sabre tail or high semi-ring, hound ears or tab ears, cobby thick body vs small hound body, etc.

A modern-day wolf is not remotely "related" to modern-day domestic dogs - OTOH they share largely the same genome, so biologists have decided to lump them together as a species. // I think this is a bad idea, as wolves may share a lot of genes with dogs, but dom-dogs are light-years separated from WOLF BEHAVIOR.
Humans share all but a few genes with chimps, less than 2% differ, but nothing U can do could make a chimp reared in a human family or a human reared by chimps BEHAVE EXACTLY like their adoptive species; it's an uncrossable gulf. So altho "wolf-dog" fans get their panties in a twist when folks refer to dom-dog x wolf as a hybrid, sorry fellas, but they are. :shrug:

Dogs don't pair for successive years, year-round; wolves DO.
Once the F won't let him mount, that dog's gone. Wolf pairs patrol a shared territory, defending each other & their turf from intruders. // Dogs don't.
M dogs don't feed the F when she's heavily pregnant & can't hunt; wolves DO.
M dogs don't bring game to feed her & the litter while they're nursing neonates; wolves DO.
Dogs don't argue over who gets to feed an orphan pup; wolves DO.
Dogs don't keep their pups around for 2 to 3 years, supporting them while they learn to hunt, teaching them how to co-operate when hunting, showing them how to patrol boundaries, show off a pending intrusion, & when to fight or flee; wolves DO.
Dog pups don't hang around to help their parents raise the next 2 to 3 annual litters, their full siblings; wolves DO.

So "hybrid" not only refers to a sterile cross of 2 unrelated species [e-g, a mule = horse x donkey] nor a sex-linked fertile / sterile hybrid of unrelated species [liger or tion - Fs are fertile, Ms are sterile]; hybrids can also be FERTILE, & can be same-species crosses of pure strains... the defining trait of hybrids is that hybrids do not breed true.
Hybrids can be useful, more valuable than either parent strain; they can be far-more productive; or they can be ridiculous & purposeless, like Lab x Poodle crossbreds produced solely to make oodles of money for their unethical, profit-motivated breeders.
_______________________________________________


Purpose-bred crossbreeds are a special case; crosses such as Border-Jacks are ethically questionable if the breeder doesn't do all the basics for both parent breeds [every apropos test for BC & JRT breed-specific heritable issues, as well as the dog-generic tests] PLUS they should mate 2 dogs who are themselves talented in the specific sport. // If U're breeding for flyball, both sire & dam should be great flyball competitors; not barking fools, they should focus on the task, tolerate other dogs including same-sex, be easy keepers [not requiring super-concentrated foods or half again the calorie-intake of other dogs of the same size], etc, etc.

Sport-crossbreds should additionally be desexed; they're not future breeding stock, & every pup in every litter should be reserved by competitors B4 they're even born; U aren't producing family pets. These dogs are not easy to live with, & even individuals who don't become super-stars are often unfit for homes that don't get them into a SPORT. // Washouts from flyball shouldn't be dumped in a public shelter; either the breeder or the national dog-sport association should place them with carefully-vetted adoptive families, as the demand for athletic dogs in their sport created these dogs.
Asking public or private shelters & rescues to rehome them "for" U is indefensible; they have more than enuf dogs, pups, kittens & cats to rehome already, thanks very much.

- terry

.

 

[Violet Turner]

.

There's a misstatement in that quoted section from BoredPanda, in the OP -

"hybrids" is not limited to "crossbreeding between SPECIES". Yes, that's one type of hybrid - but intraspecies hybrids also exist, & have existed for a very long time.
A deliberate or accidental cross between different strains of the same species is also a hybrid; gardeners might be more familiar with this use, as many hybrid seeds are sold annually which are hybridized for many reasons - better resistance to multiple diseases or pests, more fertility / heavier production, etc.

So for instance, in the USA there are 5 different & distinct body & head types in Labradors - the strain i seriously dislike is a tab-eared massive dog with a heavy frame & a mastiff-like head, the foreface is squared & the back-skull is a cube. They're hideous in my eyes - too much lumber, legs like an Angus steer, throaty, prone to blubber, lazy, giant-breed type joint issues [slipping kneecaps, ACL ruptures at a young age, vertical rear at their hocks & knees, etc].
If i were to cross one of these Labs with a houndy-looking hunting lines Lab, with a small frame, muscular tight body, neat moderate head & near-oval ears, the dam would need to be the mastiff-lookalike & the sire would be the hunting Lab - those pups would be hybrid type, & b/c the parents are true to strain, all the pups would look ALIKE, as they'd be F1 progeny of 2 distinct strains.
If we bred 2 litters of the same such cross, from 4 unrelated parents, & then mated the F1 pups, the F2 litters would have RANDOM traits taken from each of the 2 strains; homogeneity of phenotype would be lost.

Similarly when i cross a Beagle with a Pug, I create F1 pups who all look self-similar & indeed, are recognizable as a type - they are not, however, a breed, b/c they won't produce pups "just like the parents". // If U mate an F1 "Puggle" to a Pug, U intensify the Pug traits; a Puggle mated to a Beagle intensifies the Beagle traits; a Puggle mated to a Puggle produces a litter of Lord-knows-what random traits from both parental breeds, including pied coats, Irish pattern white markings, low-held sabre tail or high semi-ring, hound ears or tab ears, cobby thick body vs small hound body, etc.

A modern-day wolf is not remotely "related" to modern-day domestic dogs - OTOH they share largely the same genome, so biologists have decided to lump them together as a species. // I think this is a bad idea, as wolves may share a lot of genes with dogs, but dom-dogs are light-years separated from WOLF BEHAVIOR.
Humans share all but a few genes with chimps, less than 2% differ, but nothing U can do could make a chimp reared in a human family or a human reared by chimps BEHAVE EXACTLY like their adoptive species; it's an uncrossable gulf. So altho "wolf-dog" fans get their panties in a twist when folks refer to dom-dog x wolf as a hybrid, sorry fellas, but they are. :shrug:

Dogs don't pair for successive years, year-round; wolves DO.
Once the F won't let him mount, that dog's gone. Wolf pairs patrol a shared territory, defending each other & their turf from intruders. // Dogs don't.
M dogs don't feed the F when she's heavily pregnant & can't hunt; wolves DO.
M dogs don't bring game to feed her & the litter while they're nursing neonates; wolves DO.
Dogs don't argue over who gets to feed an orphan pup; wolves DO.
Dogs don't keep their pups around for 2 to 3 years, supporting them while they learn to hunt, teaching them how to co-operate when hunting, showing them how to patrol boundaries, show off a pending intrusion, & when to fight or flee; wolves DO.
Dog pups don't hang around to help their parents raise the next 2 to 3 annual litters, their full siblings; wolves DO.

So "hybrid" not only refers to a sterile cross of 2 unrelated species [e-g, a mule = horse x donkey] nor a sex-linked fertile / sterile hybrid of unrelated species [liger or tion - Fs are fertile, Ms are sterile]; hybrids can also be FERTILE, & can be same-species crosses of pure strains... the defining trait of hybrids is that hybrids do not breed true.
Hybrids can be useful, more valuable than either parent strain; they can be far-more productive; or they can be ridiculous & purposeless, like Lab x Poodle crossbreds produced solely to make oodles of money for their unethical, profit-motivated breeders.
_______________________________________________


Purpose-bred crossbreeds are a special case; crosses such as Border-Jacks are ethically questionable if the breeder doesn't do all the basics for both parent breeds [every apropos test for BC & JRT breed-specific heritable issues, as well as the dog-generic tests] PLUS they should mate 2 dogs who are themselves talented in the specific sport. // If U're breeding for flyball, both sire & dam should be great flyball competitors; not barking fools, they should focus on the task, tolerate other dogs including same-sex, be easy keepers [not requiring super-concentrated foods or half again the calorie-intake of other dogs of the same size], etc, etc.

Sport-crossbreds should additionally be desexed; they're not future breeding stock, & every pup in every litter should be reserved by competitors B4 they're even born; U aren't producing family pets. These dogs are not easy to live with, & even individuals who don't become super-stars are often unfit for homes that don't get them into a SPORT. // Washouts from flyball shouldn't be dumped in a public shelter; either the breeder or the national dog-sport association should place them with carefully-vetted adoptive families, as the demand for athletic dogs in their sport created these dogs.
Asking public or private shelters & rescues to rehome them "for" U is indefensible; they have more than enuf dogs, pups, kittens & cats to rehome already, thanks very much.

- terry

.

I understand what you mean by the shelter cant take them for you. Thanks for the information on hybrids