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Indiscriminate Breeding Needs To Be Stopped!Sarah Tucker |
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With careful selective
breeding over many generations we have some of the finest dogs of all breeds
in this country - generations of pedigrees which are all held safely under
the auspice of the Kennel Club.
Dogs for all sporting activities, dogs for the blind, deaf and disabled, and dogs for just the sheer pleasure of owning them and the companionship they give us. Dogs to guard us, work for our police and work for us on our farms.
However, this is fast running out of control as new unregistered breeds hit a needy market place, some selling at extortionate prices.
Let us give three examples of this. Firstly, the Labradoodle, a straight cross between a Labrador and a Standard Poodle.
The Labrador's official recognition is in Gundog Group 8. The Labrador Retriever is a keen and adaptable dog which loves to please, is excellent on a day's shooting, retrieving game, and is a good water dog. It is also very adaptable as a guide dog and sniffer dog, detecting explosives and drugs. It has a short head, dense coat and a water resistant undercoat.
The Standard Poodle was originally bred in Germany as a gun dog, then used for pulling milk carts where obviously they became stronger and heavier. The smaller poodles were either as companions or as circus dogs where they proved themselves doing tricks.
Their coat is curly, dense and profuse and needs clipping. Their breed information states that they are part of Utility Group 9.
The straight cross between these two breeds produces a Labradoodle, which is a nice looking animal standing about 19-21 inches. This cross seems to command £800 plus per pup and is constantly in demand.
Another new breed is the Springador, a cross between a Labrador and a Springer Spaniel, the traditional dog for shooting.
Possibly the origin of all land spaniels (except the Clumber Spaniel), the English Springer Spaniel is of ancient and pure origins and is the oldest of the sporting gundogs recorded. The coat is straight and weather resistant with a moderate feathering on the legs. This breed's recognition is in Gundog Group 8.
The Sprocker is the best of crossbreeds, being Cocker x Springer. However, puppies never turn out the same, as with all designer dogs. Some are legy and laidback, while some are short-legged and keen-not uniform and not true to type.
All these dogs may have Field Trial Champions as parents but let us wait a while and look into the future. Then what may happen?
To illustrate this let us think of the Plummer Terrier which was bred and worked for over 20 years by the late Brian Plummer. Brian was a brilliant man with great knowledge of genetics. He was also a biologist.
Great skill was needed to produce this terrier with trial and error being the name of the game untill finally the perfect red and white terrier was achieved and could be guaranteed perfect in conformation, eyes, ears, nose and limb.
Now nearly 30 years after Brian started work on these Terriers it is imminent that they may be recognised and accepted by the Kennel Club - the little working terrier bred to be a ratter. Indeed, if Brian were alive today we would no doubt see many articles penned by him on this subject!
Face it, these 'new breeds' are nothing more than mongrels, which after all is a breed of dog that is a result of crossing different breeds and types. One cannot mess around with strains and bloodlines without severe problems showing in future litters.
Are we dog lovers anymore or have we just become a mercenary society breeding for financial gain?
If this continues to escalate we may even see a toy breed of Yorkdoodles, Yorkshire x Toy Poodle, or maybe even a Doberman x German Shepherd!
It was not very long ago that if a bitch 'slipped out' the mongrel puppies of that making were either given to good homes or sold on for £5. The marketing of this sort of rubbish has got to stop before it runs out of control and 'new dogs' turn into fighting machines or something worse.
Dogs for all sporting activities, dogs for the blind, deaf and disabled, and dogs for just the sheer pleasure of owning them and the companionship they give us. Dogs to guard us, work for our police and work for us on our farms.
However, this is fast running out of control as new unregistered breeds hit a needy market place, some selling at extortionate prices.
Let us give three examples of this. Firstly, the Labradoodle, a straight cross between a Labrador and a Standard Poodle.
The Labrador's official recognition is in Gundog Group 8. The Labrador Retriever is a keen and adaptable dog which loves to please, is excellent on a day's shooting, retrieving game, and is a good water dog. It is also very adaptable as a guide dog and sniffer dog, detecting explosives and drugs. It has a short head, dense coat and a water resistant undercoat.
The Standard Poodle was originally bred in Germany as a gun dog, then used for pulling milk carts where obviously they became stronger and heavier. The smaller poodles were either as companions or as circus dogs where they proved themselves doing tricks.
Their coat is curly, dense and profuse and needs clipping. Their breed information states that they are part of Utility Group 9.
The straight cross between these two breeds produces a Labradoodle, which is a nice looking animal standing about 19-21 inches. This cross seems to command £800 plus per pup and is constantly in demand.
Another new breed is the Springador, a cross between a Labrador and a Springer Spaniel, the traditional dog for shooting.
Possibly the origin of all land spaniels (except the Clumber Spaniel), the English Springer Spaniel is of ancient and pure origins and is the oldest of the sporting gundogs recorded. The coat is straight and weather resistant with a moderate feathering on the legs. This breed's recognition is in Gundog Group 8.
The Sprocker is the best of crossbreeds, being Cocker x Springer. However, puppies never turn out the same, as with all designer dogs. Some are legy and laidback, while some are short-legged and keen-not uniform and not true to type.
All these dogs may have Field Trial Champions as parents but let us wait a while and look into the future. Then what may happen?
To illustrate this let us think of the Plummer Terrier which was bred and worked for over 20 years by the late Brian Plummer. Brian was a brilliant man with great knowledge of genetics. He was also a biologist.
Great skill was needed to produce this terrier with trial and error being the name of the game untill finally the perfect red and white terrier was achieved and could be guaranteed perfect in conformation, eyes, ears, nose and limb.
Now nearly 30 years after Brian started work on these Terriers it is imminent that they may be recognised and accepted by the Kennel Club - the little working terrier bred to be a ratter. Indeed, if Brian were alive today we would no doubt see many articles penned by him on this subject!
Face it, these 'new breeds' are nothing more than mongrels, which after all is a breed of dog that is a result of crossing different breeds and types. One cannot mess around with strains and bloodlines without severe problems showing in future litters.
Are we dog lovers anymore or have we just become a mercenary society breeding for financial gain?
If this continues to escalate we may even see a toy breed of Yorkdoodles, Yorkshire x Toy Poodle, or maybe even a Doberman x German Shepherd!
It was not very long ago that if a bitch 'slipped out' the mongrel puppies of that making were either given to good homes or sold on for £5. The marketing of this sort of rubbish has got to stop before it runs out of control and 'new dogs' turn into fighting machines or something worse.
reprinted with kind permission from Laoni Weeks, Features
Editor, The Countryman's Weekly
Unit 2 Lynher House, 3 Bush Park, Estover, Plymouth, Devon, PL6 7RG
www.countrymansweekly.com
Unit 2 Lynher House, 3 Bush Park, Estover, Plymouth, Devon, PL6 7RG
www.countrymansweekly.com