Designer dogs - why are people paying for them?

Some interesting points here...

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jody-thompson/designer-dogs_b_4557368.html

A really good article. Yes, in my day these dogs were all called mongrels and it is crazy to pay that sort of money for them. There was a documentary on TV about designer dogs and they were bringing the breeders in so much more money than the pedigree pups.

To my mind - anyone who buys a dog simply because it is 'in fashion' is not going to make a very good owner at all.

Interesting article, and yes they are mongrels at the end of the day, but not necessarily the worse for that. The problem, as the article points out, is that unscrupulous breeders can throw any two dogs together, call their offspring a cute sounding amalgamation of the breed names and people will queue up to buy these puppies at exhorbitant prices.

That's the problem, of course. It isn't so much that they are cross breeds, but bred without any thought for health & well being. Getting on for 90% of the 'designer dog' breeders don't do health tests for problems prevalent in the breeds they are using for the cross, and they charge exorbitant amounts for the pups.

An old work friend of mine from way back, who I am in contact with occasionally, bought a puppy upon her retirement from work. It is a Bichon Frise/Poodle cross - I think she calls it a BichonPoo. I have no idea what she paid for it cos such things are not discussed in polite society! The pup was gorgeous of course, as pups are, and I haven't seen it recently what with one thing and another, but unless I was told I would never have guessed its parentage, I would have said a sweet little long-haired scruff!

People have become so brain washed that they always want the next 'hot', 'new', 'better' thing - be it a cellphone or a dog. I think that's why they're so popular. They're marketed as the must have accessory.
It makes me so sad.

I'm not in the least bothered if a dog's a cross breed, just so long as it hasn't been bred purely as the next fad & for a huge selling fee & that health is paramount!

Seems like it all comes down to image and prestige.

I dont get it at all, how they went from being wee mongrels to must have dogs. It makes my head hurt a bit thinking how they managed to get each cross look a certain way in a short space of time. Millies gran was a lab, her mum looked like a tri collie, her dad was a lab and none of the pups look alike, all different colours and sizes. There must have been a lot of close breeding to get a certain look   

It started off with the Labradoodle, which the 'creator' is now regretting, as he's now getting annoyed with designer breeds as well. A lot of designer breed pups get chucked off to rescues if they don't look the way the breeder wants them to look.

Eleanor wrote:It started off with the Labradoodle, which the 'creator' is now regretting, as he's now getting annoyed with designer breeds as well. A lot of designer breed pups get chucked off to rescues if they don't look the way the breeder wants them to look.

I suppose a first cross from two healthy parents is OK, hybrid vigour and all that, it's when these crosses are mated to each other and so on down the line (particularly if there is small gene pool to start with) that problems start occurring.

I think you're right. Horrible thought!

I haven't read the article (lazy) but i know in my world there is deffo a pressure to buy the designer horses. Aka the ones that can't breathe and have so many problems they die, but they look good for a year!

I'm not sure how somebody can justify that, even when they pretend the problem isn't there.