Designer Dogs or Expensive Mutts?
The issue of designer dogs
A designer dog “is a dog which is the result of an intentional breeding between two purebred breeds, such as a Labrador and a Poodle — a Labradoodle.” Designer dogs seem to be the fad of the century, and more and more people want one, from A-list celebrities like Jake Gyllenhaal, James Gandolfini, Sylvester Stallone and Julianne Moore, to people like you and I, because of “their temperament, allergy-safe fur and plain cuteness.”
Mixed breed dogs, or mutts, have been around forever, but none with the stylish names we hear about today, such as a puggle, a labradoodle, and a multipoo. Designer dogs are a result of “clever dog owners coming up with labels for their all-American dogs — mutts, to people with less imagination.” People are paying a lot of money for a name! That is all it is! Designer dogs are “mutts in disguise.” Why pay a thousand dollars for a designer dog, when you can rescue, and save the life of a mutt in the pound. We need to open our eyes and do the right thing!
Those in favor of designer dogs believe that they are the dogs of this era because an owner may choose specific characteristics for the dog to fulfill certain needs and because designer dogs are healthier than regular purebreds and mutts. Honestly, these reasons are merely myths. The increasing demand for designer dogs has led several people to breed dogs in order make a quick buck. The price for a designer dog usually starts around $800, and it can range up to several thousand dollars, which is an outrageous amount of money for a puppy. I mean, if someone wants to pay the money, that is fine with me, but we have to remember that these are essentially mutts. The real problem comes from the ease of making money off of these dogs. One result is an increase in the number of “back-yard breeders, which leads to a spate of such novelty puppies that are poorly bred and many have to be euthanized because...