do animal welfare activists have a problem with pure bred dogs?

What animal activists primarily have a problem with when it comes to pure bred dogs, is that because purebreds command money, many unscrupulous people have "puppy mills" where inbred and frequently sickly puppies are churned out for profit. And, all this because someone wants a designer dog, thereby creating a market, when there are so, so many homeless, loving pooches in shelters literally dying for the opportunity to have a good home.

Jay provided a link for selling veterinary insurance. I have never heard of an Afghan Hound with hip dysplasia or paralysis. This is just hype to convince people that their dog will get sick, so they will buy insurance.

My hounds live to 18-22 years old, and a few are older. My friend had a wolf that died at 9 years. According to the 'wolf' sites, that is their normal lifespan.

According to wikipedia..gray wolf life span 6-8 years...Coyote Life span is usually about 4 years in the wild and up to 14 in captivity.

I have an acquaintance who is an animal activist and she is totally against Pure Bred Dogs. I have a pure bred dog, and so far he is perfectly fine. With some breeds you do have to watch for Hip Dysplaysia, etc.

Pure breed dogs have inbred congenital problems. It is frustrating that many breeders are irresponsible with their practices. In addition, some breed standards inherently cause problems (eg. brachycephalic animals). It is sad to see, especially when so many dogs and cats are unwanted and sitting in shelters. I will say that there are breeders that are responsible in their pairings but some remain that are uninformed or unconcerned. Here is a site with a nice table.

I took a look at PETA's website (www.peta.org) but they say surprisingly little about the fact that genetic inbreeding- which is used to produce so-called "purebreds"- is actually harmful to dogs. You make an excellent point here. I have long wondered why some of these bozos are so gung ho about treating their animals like royalty but the one thing that they could really do to protect them- to encourage outbreeding (i.e. mutts)- they totally avoid.

It seems the posh, media-hog PETA types, who tend to attract rich Hollywood celebs notorious for their love of purebred dogs don't want to offend their highest contributors by actually telling them that they are encouraging animal abuse.

Another example of society's double standard: protect dogs, but be damned if you take away those tiny Chihuahua's who used to be wolves.

I don't think it is at the top of their list.