Are pure bred dogs really sickly dogs?

I've had purebred Basset Hounds for over 30 years. Nearly all of them lived full, healthy lives and died of age-related issues (we all have to die of something). The majority were rarely at the vet for anything other than check-ups.

Yet the purebred detractors will tell you that my breed is crippled and unhealthy.

How crippled is this?

http://photos.imageevent.com/freenite/miriamsphoto...

http://photos.imageevent.com/freenite/miriamsphoto...

http://photos.imageevent.com/freenite/miriamsphoto...

http://photos.imageevent.com/freenite/miriamsphoto...

1) It's an urban legend that mutts are less disease-prone then purebreds. If anything, they are generally MORE disease-prone due to faulty lineages. It's because one can simply not predict any diseases in a mutt, where as with a purebred, you know what they will likely get, that gives the false illusion that mutts have less diseases. Also, with a mutt, there is a high chance it'll acquire ALL the disease of both parents, or most of them. It's very rare a mutt will obtain only a few or none of it's parents ailments.

Furthermore, most diseases found in certain breeds are being bred out of the breed.

2) Most purebreds don't have many health issues IF bred by a responsible breeder and IF treated properly by their owners. BYB's can still breed purebreds, but they usually inbred them, and produce faulty purebred after faulty purebred.

3) Don't trust the labels of shelters. It's not even funny how many dogs are mis-labeled. For example, most shelters label all cats with the tabby marking as Maincoon, when in reality, over half are short-haired domestic tabbies. I've never heard of a shelter that correctly labeled a dog, and most will automatically label a dog as a mix, even if it is purebred.

4)Even if the labels where correct (which I doubt) PB's are worth more the mutts, and mutts are produced more then PBs, which means there are more mutts then people want. Also, many of the GOOD breeders are extremly picky on who get's their dog. They wont let someone who'll abandon their dogs buy one, and many have a policy where it's required to spay/neuter their purchased dogs.

The problem is that there are so many backyard breeders not paying attention to the health concerns of their breed of choice. I have several beautiful labs that I get lots of compliments on but I can't breed them due to some health issues. Nothing serious where they can't hunt, do performance events, but still. BYB's don't pay attention to those things, and just breed. So those purebreds do seem sickly and have bad temperaments.

There is also no truth to the rumor about Hybrid Vigor, meaning mutts are more healthy than purebreds. In fact, they have double the chance to get problems. For example, if you breed a lab and a poodle, the pups have the chance at getting all the health problems a lab can have as well as all the problems a poodle can have. Consider it a double Whammy!

Alot of pure dogs are amazing dogs what is ruining them is bad breeders. Alot of people are hyped up about owning a pure breed. Oh it has a great body, oh great coat, oh I love the look of this pure bred ect. They dont reserch on what to look for in healthy pure bred pups. So they go to the nearest breeder and buy a pup like people say ignorance breeds ignorance. The person breeding the dogs just made 1000 bucks and guess what in back he has sick dying dogs that he dosnt give a crap about. The female dying from cancer hes still breeding and guess what her pups will get the cancer gene to. The male suffering from hip dysplasia is still being bred because hes a good stud theres more pups with problems. Another male is getting older and starts showing hormon aggresion so they put him to sleep many of his pups will to. Why dosnt the guy improve conditions he dosnt have to hes making money off the dogs even if there unfit for pets. Mutts are pass over because thos ppl only see imprfection.

It is the ignorance of human beings. Some people don't see their dogs as family members, but as disposable creatures. Others don't take the time to correct a problem the dog has, just get rid of it.

As for mixes being desirable...it amazes me. People don't take the time to do research on so called "designer breed" mutts. They don't realize that they are supporting the puppymill industry by getting a little mutt puppy from a pet store as a "spir of the moment" or "children's present." People will believe anything a salesman tells them.

As for mutts being so much healthier...it really isn't true. If your dog is well bred from a quality breeder with great lineage, it will be much better off than the average mutt produced by a puppymill or on the side of the road. And as for the people that breed mutts on purpose because they have less health problems...they actually inherit health problems from both breeds.

At the shelter I volunteer at, we do actually get some purebred dogs. One was an 11 yo female Labrador Retriever...the family had her since she was 8 weeks...then the father stopped at a pet store and got whatever kind of mutt puppy it was...they decided the old dog was boring compared to the puppy and dropped her at the shelter.

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.

Pure breds are "pampered" because their owners value them ridiculously. Its like living inside and warm till you're an adult, then going outside. You're prone to the cold. Ever see Pocahontas? Remember that little dog?

Backyard breeders breed 2 purebreds to create a mixed breed just for money.

People buy these dogs and later find they don't want them so they either take them to the shelter or dump them somewhere. This is very wrong.

Mixed breed dogs DO NOT live longer or get sick less often its just the same for purebred dogs.

Pure bred dogs ARE NOT sickly and disease prone! where did you get all of this junk from?

I have a 6 year old dachshund and he is perfectly healthy(:

Purebred dogs are worth a lot of money, so people take better care of them, and are less likely to abandon them, more likely to sell them. That's why you see mixed-breed dogs at shelters.

Purebred dogs aren't sickly, but they have problems based on their careful breeding. German Shepards have hip problems. Collies have eye problems because they were bred for narrow heads for so long. You breed for one thing, you make problems somewhere else. Plus all the real show-quality purebred dogs I've ever actually known were very high-strung, not cuddly, not companionly at all.

For thousands of years, royalty had problems from 'inbreeding'. Not that they married their sisters (they did sometimes!) but they were such a small group of people that they had a very limited gene pool. The Hapsburgs or the royals of ancient Egypt were not -normal- people. It's the same with purebred dogs. They're bred to concentrate certain characteristics, and that doesn't result in a good all-around dog.

Because people want one with s named slapped on them, because its "cute". Purebreds who are genetically tested before reproducing are less likely to produce pups with health problems and since there are a lot of uneducated people out there they get from BYBS and that is what they see, poorly bred dogs being used and producing health prone pups.

Not all of them. Some breeders go to extremes to assure that their 'product' is healthy. They will even go so far as to import semen from other breeders to assure that their breeding stock is not tainted.

Unfortunately, these people are in the small minority. Most are simply interested in a pure bloodline at whatever cost to the integrity of the breed.