Mutts aren't breeds?

Any mixed breed is a mutt. However you have a point about a "lab/rottie is pretty damn different from a pug/chihuahua" You are right. But they are still mutts. Personally I refer to my mutts by what ever breed I know is in them Example, I used to have a boxer mix. That is how I defined him. Mixed with what I have no idea, but he was (maybe) half boxer cause the boxer in him was evident. So he was my sweet boxer mix. I had a Terrier mix as well. She seemed to be terrier of some sort and mixed with what you know as much as I do, so she was my terrier mix. I don't think any of the people I think you are referring to have a problem with "boxer mix" or terrier mix". It is when people start calling mutts by those silly made up names that we get upset. Those dogs are mostly bred by BYB/PM types purposely to scam gullible people out of money. "Not all mixed breed dogs exist because of purposeful breeding or mills. Accidents happen," I disagree, accidents do not happen with breeding, irresponsible owners that can not keep their intact dogs controlled happens. If people are not going to be responsible with their pets they should spay/neuter. They also need to learn AKC, Cute, Sweet, Loveable does not mean breeding quality.

I don't know if I answer your question or not but there you are.

I do volunteer at a shelter and roughly 75% are mutts of different discriptions.

I don't understand why people get so offended by the word mutt. It simply describes a dog that is a mix of two or more breeds, why is it offensive? I have two mutts, and have no problem whatsoever calling them such. I can't call one of them a mix of such and such, there's no many breeds in her none are identifiable. So I call her a mystery mutt. No to mention most of the time what mix of breeds people think their mutt is is completely wrong, unless the dog was purchased from a "breeder" it's just a best guess. You can guess, but you'll never know for sure because the way mutts turn out is not predictable. Also not all mutts are the product of purebreds, some have never had a single purebred in them ever. Most mutts are not a direct cross of two breeds either, but many. I think there's very few (a couple, yes) people here that dislike mutts, what most people dislike are stupid designer names. If you want to call your dog a yorkie/chihuahua/poodle mix great, but it's not a "yorchipoo".

There's nothing wrong with calling ones dog a lab/husky mix..because that's what it is. But to mash up the names and call it a "Lusky" or "Habador" is just plain silly and spreading a marketing tool used by bybs to sell their products.

While it may sound cute to some, other people actually believe that these dogs are new breeds and jump on the band wagon to get one. Then the next year, we have a shelter full of "Luskys" because people woke up and found out that the dog isn't what the breeder said it was. Just for kicks, check back when the puggle first hit the scene, and then check the stats for the next two years..there was a huge spike in "puggles" at the shelters due that very reason.

I'm not sure when the term "mutt" became derogatory,because it's not. There's nothing wrong with a mutt..slapping on a fake name and trying to sell it as something it's not..is.

Added: again, there's nothing wrong with calling your dog a lab/rott/husky mix(example) if thats what it is, and you're right..knowing what's mixed in can help you figure out the dog, and how to deal with it. I've yet to see anyone get worked up over someone doing that, so maybe I'm confused as to what you are trying to say...

The whole matter of breeding mutts and BYBs aside... I don't see what's wrong with calling a dog a "mutt". That's what it is.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with calling your dog a Labrador/Rottweiler mix, if you know for certain that's what it is. There's really nothing wrong with calling it that even just for the heck of it, either. BUT, what people do is they come here asking "what sort of mixture is my dog" because they genuinely want to know (whether for learning more about the individual breeds or knowing what they should be calling it). Or they ask because their dog doesn't quite look purebred like the BYB told them it was and they think they got "ripped off". But the thing is, NO ONE here will be able to accurately tell them what's in their dog. If they don't, personally, know what the parents were and they don't have papers which shows the family history, there is absolutely no way that they are going to accurately guess what mixture the dog is.

There could be any number of breeds in that dog's lineage (most of the time it's not only two). All of the genes mixing and matching can often create a dog that looks nothing like the parents or any before it. A mutt can fit many of the traits of a certain breed, even without having any of that breed in it's lineage. People tend to pick out a single trait and then label it as belonging to a certain breed when multiple dogs share that exact same trait. He's got a bushy tail? German Shepherd! He's got short hair and drop ears? Has to be Labrador! Looks bully-esque? Most definitely American Pitbull Terrier!

And, there's a funny thing that happens also...In every single one of those questions, the asker (or the first answerer) will guess a breed and then every answer after that will just agree with the first one. "Yep! You mentioned it, so now that's what I see! I agree with you! We're such smart people!" And they do this, even though absolutely nothing about the dog suggests that it "most definitely" has that particular breed.

I'm not against people guessing what breeds are in a mutt's lineage as long as it's all in good fun. What I am against is people saying "It's definitely THIS for sure! I'm 100% positive!" It's amazing how many psychic mutt-family-history readers we have around Yahoo Answers. But really, they're misleading the person who asked the question.

Again, there's no real harm in guessing, but they really need to understand how genetics actually work and they need to understand that any guess provided here is no better than them guessing, themselves.

Why the word mutt/mongrel/cur or otherwise brings some slightly over emotional PETA activists to tears puzzles me beyond reason.

If the dogs a mixed breed, it's a mutt/mongrel, cur. There is no scientific analysis needed, just a bit of something called "common sense". If it hurts you to call your dog a mutt/mongrel or cur, or to at least use proper English, by all means, call your dog a Doodlesh*t, like so many other ignorant people do.

Yes, even purebred dogs came from mixing dogs, but these "purebred" dogs have been bred, culled, linebred, shown and worked over years to create a dog that fits the exact conformation and purpose it was bred for. This doesn't happen in just 1 day or 3 months, it happens over years and years.

I'm sorry, but the backyard breeder logic of breeding a Labrador and a Poodle together and calling it a breed is NOT TRUE/NOT LOGICAL.

You just don't get a Labardor, and a Poodle, bred it together and then call the product of it a breed. It's not, it's a mutt, mongrel, mix, no years of breeding went into it, it was not bred for any purpose, it surely wasn't bred for any exact conformation so how is it a breed?.... Every dog may have a purebed dog in them down the line, but after several generatoins of mutt mixing, does it really matter.

Most mutts today are several generations or more of mutts/mongrels and mixes.

There is no mutt hatred or discriminatoin, it's just people who feel the word mutt is lower than purebred and these poeple cry and whine when their dog is called a mutt. I'm sorry, but if you have a Chihuahua/Pug mixed, it's a mongrel and calling it a Pihuahua or a Pughuahua won't change the fact that the dog's a mutt. Most people who believe mutt hatred are those living in denial, constantly trying to think that their mixed breed dog is purebred or something better. No, it's not, it's just a mutt/mongrel just like the hundreds of other curs/mongrels in shelters.

Mutts are not bad, or negative, the WORD mutt is not bad or negative. Mutt purely means, mixed breed dog. I have owned mutts for years, but I won't call my dogs Sh*tdoodles or cry when someone calls them mutts because that's what they are.

There are only a couple of people I know of in here that will refuse to take a stab at what breeds make up a dog. Most people are more than happy to make a guess.

I have three mutts personally - one is a Heinz 57, one is a cross I am pretty sure of, and the last is a cross I am absolutely sure of. They're all mutts and I love them to pieces.

No, they shouldn't be purposefully bred (except for working reasons) and shouldn't be called by cute-sy names. And while there may be purebreds somewhere along the lines, for some they're so far back it's impossible to really tell.

Because many mixed breeds come from puppy mills and BYB's, people buy from them= people supporting unethical breeding.

I have no problem with mutts at all, most people don't, it's just when you see a naive person on here calling their dog a "Labradoodle" or "Goldendoodle" not knowing that those names are just crap names made up by crap breeders, trying to suck a person into buying a dog.

Buying a mutt from a shelter is one thing, buying a mutt from a crap breeder is a whole other thing. It's wonderful when you hear someone say they bought a mutt from a shelter, it's not so wonderful when you hear someone say they bought a mutt from a pet store or some BYB.

The word mutt or mongrel wasn't a bad thing to begin with but over the years its use has slightly changed that's why people get offended when their dog is called that. A mildest term is just "mixed breed". I find it ridiculous as well merging the names of two breeds into one but some of them are actually officially acknowledged as legit breeds. What annoyed me is what I saw in a question about a mixed breed husky owner who wanted his dog to have puppies. Someone said "a dog that's not worth breeding". All dogs are worth breeding if there is someone to take care of the puppies, the demeaning attitude of some people towards mixed breed dogs is the worst thing. These dogs are equally nice if not nicer than pure-bred dogs! I have one pure-bred golden and one mixed. My mixed is a Malamute with a German Shepherd and one of the best dogs I've met. Most people find it ridiculous calling dogs merged names. If they are first generation mixes it's okay to state the breeds but if your dog is 3rd or 4th generation mix nobody's gonna sit listen to you while stating that your dog is a poodle/labrador/chihuahua/german shepherd mix! Just say a mixed- breed and be done with it.

You are missing the point. I haven't owned a purebred dog once in my adult life. I adore my mutts and think they are the most wonderful dogs in the world but I detest the breeding of mutts. The "fad" right now is to take two dogs, breed them, slap a cute name on the puppies and rake in the cash. This is completely unacceptable. 6 million dogs died in shelters last year , many of then brutally gassed to death and the #1 reason for this was backyard breeding and puppy mills. Unfortunately dog breeding is a business and that results in supply and demand. People want cutesy "designer dog" mutts right now do every moron with a female is breeding litters. These litters end up going to the homes of other morons who want to be trendy and then they realize that it's not a toy but a living, breathing animal that takes time and money to care for. When they get tired of their trendy "toy" they dump them at shelters where they spend 45 minutes being gassed until they finally die a painful, excruciating death. Instead of the new batch of morons going to the shelters and saving these dogs they go right back to the BYBs and puppy mills that produced the first batch and buy a brand new puppy that will suffer the same fate. It is absolutely disgusting and, IMO demonstrates everything that is wrong with the world right now. Everything that people do is about ME, forget the innocent dogs that die in shelters, I want a brand new puppy and that is what I will get.

There isn't anger and discrimination about mutts

some people express anger when people refer to their "malti-poo"s and "labradoodles" like they're a legitimate breed.

and the reason for the anger is that these mixed breed breeder are breeding mutts and passing them off as something loftier than muts with magical hypoallergnic qualities that you should pay hundreds, maybe even a couple thousand dollars for... when mutts just like theirs are in shelters, available for adoption, with the clock ticking on a date with The Big Sleep.

ADD: I should say though, it's almost equally annoying when a Q-er asks a legit Q, and simply refers to their dog as a "labradoodle" or whatever, and makes no assertion as to it being a 'breed' - and a bunch of DBs ignore the Q in their rabid roid rage-like haste to indulge their own anger issues and jump down the Q-er's throat simply for using the name