What is a Designer Dog? A designer dog is a hybrid or a crossbreed between two different purebreds where the percentage of the foundation breeds is known, unknown breeds or mixtures are called mixed breeds. In designer dogs, the breeding is carefully chosen. Some may think that hybrid dogs is a new trend, but actually it is centuries old and is based on selective breeding.
Historically all breeds of purebred dogs have gone through their own period of being a so called "Designer Breed" at some point in their historical development or breed creation.
In fact all of today's recognized purebred dogs are by products of a breeder's or a group of breeder's creative endeavors to enhance or further develop specific traits within the canine species.
Today's purebred dogs owe their existence to dedicated breeders of the past who had the vision to develop new breeds or the desire to improve upon the existing breeds of their era.
Breeders of the past set out to design dogs that were more capable and better suited to perform a specific task or required function. Often out of necessity the purpose was to reduce their workload or to assist their owners in some helpful manner.
A few of the historical duties that dog breeds were designed or created for were pulling of carts, herding livestock, protection of livestock, protection of property or guardianship, pest and varmint control, hunting and retrieving and sports are just some examples.
One such example of a designed breed is that of a German tax collector named Louis Doberman. Louis Doberman began to develop his versatile breed in the Apolda region of Germany. He set out to create a type dog that met his own personal requirements and specific needs pertaining to loyalty and obedience, yet he desired a dog that was capable of protecting him while accompanying him on his dutiful rounds as a tax collector.
Over a period of time and with great dedication Louis Doberman’s dogs began to fix a certain phenotype and reproduce themselves true, the birth of a breed had begun.
No one knows with 100% accuracy what breeds or what percentages of those breeds went into the development of today's Doberman Pincher.
It is a common belief that Mr. Doberman himself may not have known with 100% accuracy which breeds were used in the development of his breed.
History tells us that Mr. Doberman fixed the type of his dogs afterwards and thereby creating his breed.
Today’s "Designer Breeds" or "Hybrid dogs" are created by similar methods of the past, often a decided mating is done between dogs of two different purebred breeds resulting in the designer dog or hybrid dog.
Most breeders of designer dogs utmost desire is to combine the best aspects and desired traits of each of the foundation breeds into one designer breed usually with an emphasize on creating a healthier companion dog.
There are those that state that the Cockapoo was the original modern day designer breed, as the Cockapoo was first known to be breed intentionally around the early 1960s.
Yet there are others of the strong opinion that the creation of the Labradoodle was the beginning of today’s designer breeds.
It is not easy to identify exactly when or where the origin of today’s designer breeds came about but we do know that today the designer or hybrid breeds have an ever increasing popularity and many believe justifiable so.
Many owners of designer breeds state that the enormous popularity of the their dogs is well deserved and in part due to the fact that most designer breeds are created with one or more of the so called hypoallergenic breeds such as the Poodle, Maltese, Yorkshire Terrier or Bichon Frisé.
There is a thought or common belief that some designer breeds such as the Cockapoo,
Labradoodle, Goldendoodle, Maltipoo and Yorkipoo are perceived to be safer for highly allergic persons than many purebred breeds.
Quite often people who suffer from severe allergies to pet dander and animal fur can often own a designer breed as a pet without any complications or side affects.
Although designer dogs are often celebrated for their cuteness and uniqueness, a fundamental motive for their creation and development is the attempt to reduce the occurrence of certain hereditary health problems frequently found in the purebred breeds used for the designer cross, while retaining their more appealing and often healthier traits.
The sincere objective of many of today’s breeders of designer dogs is to try and improve their health characteristics while emphasizing the companionship qualities of the designer breeds.
The vast majority of today's breeders of designer dogs believe that a large number of the health issues often associated with "purebred" dogs can be greatly attributed to poor breeding practices such as excessive line breeding and inbreeding.
These type of irresponsible breeding practices in the past have greatly inhibited the amount of genetic diversity within many purebred dogs, resulting in pure breed dogs inheriting a large range of diseases and disorders such as severe hip and bone issues and numerous skin disorders often resulting from suppressed immunities. As a result of their acutely suppressed immunities purebred dogs often suffer from increased susceptibilities to various highly contagious and lethal viruses such as the parvo virus.
Many of today's responsible breeders of purebred dogs are attempting to correct these mistakes of the past, by practicing more responsible breeding strategies and doing pre-breeding health screening and tests.
However, breeders of pure breeds are still working with a limited gene pool. Indeed, part of their strategy involves limiting their breeding dogs to those that pass various health tests and screenings thus effectively reducing the gene pool even further.
Most breeders of designer dogs believe that a more effective method to improving health within the breeds is by actively widening the gene pool or increasing genetic diversity, which is exactly what cross-breeding accomplishes.
It is this train of thought that has led to the creation and increasing popularity of today's Designer Breeds.
The appearance of the various designer breeds can vary a great deal. Appearance is based on the parents that were bred together to create that particular new hybrid litter.
The resulting designer pups will almost always have some variation.
The initial foundation crosses will almost always be more predictable and consistent than the lower percentage crosses.
However even within the same litter, each pup may look slightly different than the other. This may include coloring, markings, facial features, and stature.
Just as with the appearance of the designer breed, the temperament can vary as well. As in the case of all dog breeders, breeders of designer pups focus on preserving desired temperament qualities in their pups by only using parents that they themselves possess the desired stable temperament suitable to excel as a family companion.