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A mixed breed argument, from a purebred owner

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This comment was left on one of my Thursday Thirteen entries – the one about the many questions that pop into my head when I read Kijiji ‘pets for sale’ ads:

I’m going to have to disagree with you on the puggle thing. First, purebreds end up at shelters (and in breed rescues!) all the time, it’s not just mixed breeds getting dumped.

Also, I totally agree that people while people shouldn’t be breeding crosses (or anything unless they know exactly what they are doing), BUT it’s been my experience that they tend to be healthier than purebreds. I will only adopt mixed breeds from shelters. Watching my parents as I grew up and now neighbors and friends spend a fortune at the vet with their Boston terriers, yorkies, schnauzers with their inherited diseases. My parents got all their dogs from an AKC breeder/judge and not one lived to see ten. Epilepsy, breathing problems, Cushings, bad knees, pancreatitis…etc. I don’t want to go through that. My large mutt is sleeping underneath me, at age 12, healthy and on no medication. While crosses are no guarantee of good health, there is something to be said for hybrid vigor. My breeder friend seethes at me and says I’m totally wrong about this, but when his champion bitch died of a breed related cancer at a young age I could only think about the litters she passed it on to.

I’d take a puggle any day (at a shelter) over a french bulldog. Sorry!

I think that some people assume that anyone who’s an enthusiast of a purebred dog breed is automatically anti mutt. That’s just not so.

Like a lot of breeders, I’ve owned – and loved – my fair share of mixed breed dogs over the years, all of them rescues. I love almost all dogs, no matter what the breed, or the mixture therein.

That said, there’s also a lot of misconception over mixed breeds, in particular the issue of hybrid vigor. There is no truth in the belief that a dog that’s the result of a breeding between two different breeds will be automatically free of any genetic conditions, due to some kind of magic genetic alchemy. If both of those breeds, for example, are brachycephalics (such as ‘Miniature Bullies’, a cross between Bulldogs and either Frenchies or Pugs), the resulting offspring have just as much chance of being afflicted with brachy syndrome  defects (elongated soft palate, stenotic nares, tracheal collapse, etc) as pups resulting from a purebred litter of any the combined breeds.

The minimal benefits of hybrid vigor that do exist are first generational only – this means that a puggle resulting from two puggle parents has absolutely zero residual beneficial vigor.

There is no magic bullet for creating a healthy dog – there is only the tried and tested method of test, eliminate and alter.

First, we test the breeding prospect sire and dam for any testable genetic condition, such as hip dysplasia, eye anomalies, heart conditions and VWD. Then, we eliminate the dogs with obvious problems – dogs with elongated soft palates, or thyroid conditions, or structural defects such as hare feet. Finally, we repeat this in the second generation, and alter affected pups, removing them from the gene pool. All of this should count for just as much a ‘prettiness’ in the dogs we breed from.

Therein lies the rub with ‘designer’ mixed breeds – how many of the people who create them are doing even the most basic of genetic screening? I’m going to assume none.

I’m also going to assume that the dogs being used for these first generation mixes are, in general, not from the best lines in the world, because anyone who’s invested thousands of dollars and untold hours into establishing a line of tested dogs isn’t going to wake up one day and decide to let them be used to create a ‘new’ breed.

There’s truth to the statement that ‘all dog breeds came from someone mixing other breeds together’, but people conveniently forget what things were like back then, when today’s breeds were being established. Culling, for example, was rigorously used in the creation of many breeds, including Frenchies. For those who aren’t familiar with culling, let me give you the definition –

cull    (kŭl)
tr.v.   culled, cull·ing, culls

1. To pick out from others; select.
2. To gather; collect.
3. To remove rejected members or parts from (a herd, for example).

n.   Something picked out from others, especially something rejected because of inferior quality.

Bluntly put, culling in dogs in the earlier part of the century usually referred to ‘bucketing’ – the habit of drowning ‘inferior’ pups at birth in a bucket of water.

From the 1901 edition of Dogdom Monthly comes this excerpt from an interview with an early breeder of ‘French Bull dogs’ –

When a pup with the wrong ears would come up in the litter we would just cull it out so as to not contaminate the rest. There being no space for the inferior. The same for those with a size obviously not of ‘what’s done’ so to speak. In this way did we set the type that you see today.

I think it’s clear that there is no place in modern breeding for culling, but the simple fact is that we can’t claim that creating mixed breeds today is the same as it was when most current breeds were established.

It’s also true that today’s modern dog owner expects more from their pets than the often referenced ‘good old mutt that never went to the vet’ that’s so often mythically referenced by mixed breed proponents. That ‘healthy mutt’ quite possibly was crippled with hip dysplasia and lived out its life in utter agony – agony that went unnoticed because the dog spent most of its life tied to a dog house in the corner of its yard.

We live in much closer proximity to our dogs today – we’ve integrated them, for better or worse, into the fabric of our families, and pay as close attention to their health as we do to our own. We want dogs that don’t limp, don’t scratch, don’t get sick unduly or die too young. We want all of this, plus a dog that ‘looks’ the way we want our breeds to look. I’m going to reiterate, once again, that there’s only one way to get this – test, eliminate and alter. The process is no different for a Puggle than it is for a French Bulldog.

As for the argument that just as many purebreds end up in shelters as mixed breeds, that’s specious logic. Dogs don’t end up in shelters because of their breed – they end up in shelters because of owners who don’t train or who can’t be bothered to care for dogs with medical issues, or because they have no breeders willing to take them back and re home them themselves.

I believe, based on my own experience, that the dogs who end up in shelters, or any breed, are in an overwhelming preponderance dogs who came from impulse purchases. Pet store pups, cheap newspaper buys and give away dogs – dogs that people put little worth on.

Does this mean breeder dogs are immune? Of course not. But a breeder who remains in contact with their owners – who remains available to them, and supportive, is a breeder who makes it clear that they will welcome back any dog who needs to be re homed.

This could be as true of a breeder of designer breeds as it is of someone who breeds purebred Frenchies, but it’s also a simple fact that few back yard breeders or breeders of designer pups are in it for the long haul. They lose interest, or change ‘mixes’, or just disappear. They’re not there for the owners who can’t keep their pups, and they have no contract insisting that pups come back to them for re homing.

I support the right of people to develop ‘new breeds’ – personally, I’d love to see true Toy Bulldogs (an AKC breed until the ’20s) make a come back. I don’t think it’s unreasonable, however, to expect just as much in terms of ethics from a designer breeder as I do from someone breeding Frenchies.  Commitment to your breed, or your mixed breed, is always the hallmark of someone who’s in it for all the right reasons, as opposed to all the wrong ones.

Your puggle deserves just as much care and forethought put into his breeding as my Frenchie does – for your sake, and for his.

A Sucker's Game

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I have, from time to time, decided that breeding dogs is a sucker’s game, and that I’m personally not going to play it any more. Usually, this takes the form of my ignoring all email, and just recently I added in “and I’m not blogging anymore, either”, for good measure.

Breeding dogs is a sucker’s game when you learn that a dog you love has died, without you there to hold her in her final moments. When you arrive home too late to even go with her on that final trip to the vet’s office. When you cry tears of frustration and anger at your own ineffectualness at doing anything to save her life, to keep her safe, to make her better.

Breeding dogs is a sucker’s game when the emails start to trickle in, with stories of how the ten and twelve and thirteen year olds you’ve bred are dead, or dying. Old age is never old enough, and the pain you feel for yourself, and the people who’ve lost their companions just doesn’t seem justified. Words fail you – what words are there when someone tells you “And then I told the vet it was time to let him go”?

Breeding dogs is a sucker’s game when you learn that the bitch you’d been waiting on isn’t actually pregnant. Haha, seems those ultrasounds aren’t so reliable, and I guess she was just fat. All that extra protein and those mid morning scrambled egg snacks sure can pack the weight on a gal. I guess there’s always next time. Or not, since this is the fourth time you’ve tried to breed her.

Breeding dogs is a sucker’s game when it all hits you at once, and you have to pull off the highway to cry it all out, because you can’t see clearly enough to drive at the moment. It’s a combination of frustration and anger and disappointment and a sense of overwhelming failure that can culminate in your throwing your hands up and saying “This is a sucker’s game, and I quit”.

Breeding dogs is a sucker’s game when you have to inform all of those people who’ve been waiting patiently for puppies that there aren’t any – no puppies, no idea what went wrong, and no idea when there will be another attempt. Politely referring them on to other breeders, and still getting angry, irate emails from people asking why you’ve ‘wasted their time’ with waiting can be enough to make anyone decide to quit.

Breeding dogs is a sucker’s game when you get email asking how does one, exactly, know when a dog is about to go into labor? Because, you see, they threw their dogs together into the yard, and now she’s really big and she’s making a nest in the closet, and she’s leaking milk, and what do I do now? And what’s a c section? And can you help me sell them? And you’re polite, and helpful, because it’s really all about the dog, at this moment, and not about giving in to your urge to scream in frustration and lecture about uterine inertia and why breeders have homes lined up before they whelp a litter. And then you realize you’d have to explain what ‘whelp’ means.

So, you contemplate quitting, because really – who needs it? You could raise orchids, or maybe Koi. Perhaps get into goats (cheese making might be fun). Dog breeding, after all, is a sucker’s game.

Until you get an email with photos of a girl, who goes back to your girl, who is out of your favorite girl, and did you want her? Then you get another email, and it’s that puppy you sold, and he’s playing with his soccer ball, and they sure do love him. There’s that other email, from those people who lost their dog to old age, and they think they’re ready now for another one, and do you have one, will you soon?

And you realize you miss puppy breath, and that a litter now would mean puppies playing in the grass, and there’s that play center you wanted to build for them, and then it hits you – it’s a sucker’s game, but it’s also your life, and it’s been a pretty good one.

Canine Pregnancy in Thirteen Steps

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Just for fun (a statement which cries out for the writer to get a real life, or at least some better hobbies), I thought I’d do a thorough break down on the steps involved in going from point ‘A’ (Bitch in Season) to point ‘B’ (litter of puppies).

It’s more complicated than you’d think.

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Thursday Thirteen – Top 13 Dumbest Dog Lies I've Heard

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A recent thread on a pet forum inspired this entry, which is pretty much self explanatory. Feel free to add your own in comments.

1. “My Frenchies don’t shed”

Really? I wish I could say the same. I have a feral herd of dust bunnies the size of my head living under my couch, and they are breeding.

2. “French Bulldogs are sweet little pets that never fight”

I have a three inch scar at the webbing of my thumb and forefinger that resulted from breaking up a fight between two girls, neither of whom weighed more than 20 pouinds. It took fifteen stitches to close, and I lost my fingernail.

The dogs, on the other hand, were just fine.

3. “I show my dogs for the betterment of the breed”

When ‘bettering the breed’ includes clipping your dog’s palate, shaving his face, dyeing his nails, and gluing his ears, I have to wonder just what it is that’s being bettered. I like to win as much as the next person — well, unless the next person is a professional handler — but I don’t pretend that a ‘Ch’ in front of my dog’s name is an automatic ticket to genetic soundness and breed worthiness.

Dog shows are to animal husbandry what the Miss America pageant is to IQ testing.

4. “Every dog in the ring has a chance of going on to win Best in Show”

Sure they do – and little Susie from East Podunk has as good a chance of winning Miss America as that slick, polished, professionally prepped contestant with 200 local titles under her belt. Miracles might happen in movies, but in the real world? Not so much.

5. “Membership in the National Club is the best sign of ethics in a dog breeder”

Until National breed clubs start instituting mandatory health testing, rigorously enforced codes of ethics, and vigorous policing of their members, breed clubs will remain social clubs that exist to hold specialty shows. It’s like saying that membership in the Elks Club makes you automatically a better parent.

6. “I don’t need to health test my dog, because I’ve never had a problem”

We call this the ‘ostrich’ approach to dog breeding – if I pretend to never see it, it can’t possibly exist.

7. “There’s no such thing as a back that’s too short in a French Bulldog”

Sure there isn’t – and while we’re at it, let’s counter sink their noses into their skulls and put their tails up on top of their backs. Every single examination of basic physiology text book tells us how wrong this — do we really want to encourage it just because it’s cute?

8. “I offer a written health warranty”

Yes, technically you do – so long as the buyer returns the dog to you if anything ever goes wrong. I like how you stuck in a line about how ‘returned dogs will be euthanized’. What a convenient ‘get out of jail free’ card — you know no one will ever return a dog to you under those circumstances.

Best of all, since you live on the west coast, and the buyers on the east coast, you know they couldn’t ship the puppy back to you even if they wanted to, because no vet would sign a health certificate saying their dog is healthy enough to fly.

After all, most people don’t have access to the kind of ‘lenient’ vets you use to get your health certificates done.

9. “I breed dogs because it lets me show my love for Jesus. God bless!”

How nice for you – but do you really think Jesus wants you to keep 400 dogs in rabbit hutches in your back yard? I mean, isn’t this the same Jesus who said “Whatsoever you have done to these the least of My brethren, you have done unto Me”? I’m pretty sure Jesus would have a few choice words to say about your approach to animal husbandry – but hey! I’m sure he’ll get to tell you himself, eventually.

Also, could you please get rid of the blinky text and Midi hymns from your website? Bad graphic design makes the baby Jesus cry.

10. “Our pet store gets all its puppies from caring breeders”

Sure it does — and that ‘free’ bulldog really is in Cameroon with a missionary, and yours for $300 in shipping fees.

It’s hard to feel sorry for anyone who stills believes claims this blatantly stupid, but since they’re out there, let’s clarify – breeders who care are crazy people.

If we could, we’d do CIA background checks on potential puppy buyers before we let you take our babies home. I know breeders who do credit checks on potential buyers. I personally call veterinarians and check references and have a ten page lawyer checked contract that makes buying a house look like a walk in the park compared to getting a puppy from me.

Good breeders are the most paranoid people alive – do you really think we’d turn our puppies over, in bulk, to pet stores where they can be fondled by germ carrying strangers and sold to anyone with an Amex card?

11. “We import puppies from Russia because the dogs there are healthier”

You import puppies from Russia because you can buy them for $500, and re-sell them for $2500. The fact that the puppies will be traumatized, under aged, parasite infested and sickly are all just bonus points.

12. ” You don’t need to come and pick your puppy up – we’ll ship it at 8 weeks. Puppies don’t mind being shipped”

Well, sure! Eight week old puppies, which are emotionally the equivalent of two year old children, enjoy being stuck in a crate, placed in a cargo building, and then loaded into the belly of an airplane. The six hour flight, complete with plane transfer, doesn’t bother them in the least, even though new airline regulations mean you can’t ship them with water, food or blankets.

Hey, let’s ship the kids to Grandma’s house by cargo next Christmas!

13. “We don’t need to give our puppies shots, because naturally reared animals don’t get rabies or parvo”

The last time I checked, raccoons don’t eat take out food – and yet they still somehow manage to get rabies. And yes, canine rabies still exists, and is still killing dogs (and possibly people). Commercial dog food has been around since the 1940s, but distemper was the number one killer of puppies – puppies raised on table scraps and human grade food – at the turn of the century, with parvo a close second. I know a lot of ‘naturally reared’ puppies, that have broken out with parvo in their new homes, or have been crammed with worms.

Here’s a hint – all medicine isn’t bad medicine. Stop acting like raw meaty bones can cure anything – you’re making the rest of us who feed raw look like crazy people.

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What is a 'working' dog?

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I spent most of last week flat on my back, sick with the flu. Thank God for Jane Austen novels and French Bulldogs that love to snuggle, because they are the only thing that can get me through a week of enforced bed rest and computer abstinence. There’s something about a snoring Frenchie warming your feet that speeds up the healing process. I know I’m not the only person who feels that way, either. Years of doing therapy visitations has taught me that few things can cheer up a sick, lonely or isolated person faster than a lap full of Frenchie.

None of this should really be too surprising to us, when we consider what French Bulldogs were originally bred for. Unlike Border Collies or Jack Russell Terriers, Frenchies have only been designed with one ‘job’ in mind, that of being a companion.

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