Malti poo

I think the issue here is not individual dogs, but overall dog welfare. These people buying mixes like Maltese/Poodle mixes, or Labrador/Poodle mixes, are just supporting "breeders" who real dog people work so hard to protest against. By producing more illicet dogs shelter dogs continue to die. I am a breeder, but I also rescue and offer certain guarentees on my pups, as any good breeder should. I also own 2 dogs taken out of puppy mills, my male Bernese Mtn dog I pulled out myself, my little Yorkshire Terrier came to me after his vet bills were rediculously high and the shelter who took him in needed help.

According to the Humane society of the US about %75-80 of dogs in animal shelters are mixes, so aren't there enough mixed breeds already?

Also in my opinion if the dog's initial price is something you worry about maybe getting a dog isn't the best thing in the dogs interest, as a breeder if I hear "how much for a puppy" as one of the first questions I am always very turned off, and often end up denying the people all-together.

I live in Canada and originally we were think of getting a dog from the SPCA but they said that they very rarely get little dog mixes and that when they get little dogs they asre tooken fast. The only little dog there when we were was a Minature Pinschur. Luckys Breeder showed us pictures of the litters dad. So we now it wasn't a dog jumping over the fence like others have been saying. The litters mom and dad were both maltipoos and so were his grandparents both maltipoos on both sides. But I have always known that maltipoos are not a purebreed.

Maltipoo

I also just got a maltese-poodle cross. My family was looking for a non-shedding small dog with good temperament and these crosses are adorable. She is from a reputable breeder who has been involved in breeding poodles and maltese for many years for good temperament and health. I have to comment though that some of the posters seem to have a "holier than thou" attitude about mixed breeds vs pedigrees. The going price for a particular dog is based on supply and demand. Maltipoos sell for up to $3000 (just check the internet!) based on the quality of the parents and the breeder. There is nothing about a purebred dog that is intrinsically "better" than a cross breed, and of course dogs with characteristics that people are willing to pay more for will cost more than other dogs (whether pedigree or crossbreeds) that have a different demand-supply dynamic.

The potential dog owner who is looking for a small dog like a maltipoo will not be able to find one in a shelter (at least not a young dog with no obvious health issues). I don't think it is realistic to think that if these mixes were not being bred that people would just go to a shelter and adopt a "heinz 57" variety or whatever else is in the shelter. It seems illogical to me that a buyer of a purebred maltese or poodle or yorkie or shih tsu would be considered to be doing a better service to "dog-dom" than one who is buying a mix breed of any of these types. As long as the dogs are healthy and the breeder is responsible, who is to say that the breeder of the purebred is somehow better than the breeder of the mixes?

I don't want to fuel any arguments but that's my opinion.

This thread is over 3 years old....

And for this to be your first post, somehow I think your intention WAS to add fuel to a dead fire.

Oops

Fluffy: I didn't realize that these posts were so old... sorry about that. I'll check the dates from now on..