When I was a kid, we had two pekinese. Their difficulty breathing always distressed me, and I could never understand why such a dog would be bred to extremes where it's difficult to breathe. I still can't, TBH. I think it's a similar situation with Shar Pei's who, although brilliant dogs, are prone to skin problems.

As for crossbreeds (mongrels, let's face it) I am of the opinion (and it's MY opinion) that they tend to be healthier than purebred dogs.

I have Shibas, and love them to bits, but I have had three die at 9 years old. The breed should go to around 15, and I know of one who's 17 years old.

I had a lab cross, brought home from Battersea Dogs Home who was around for 17 glorious years.

and do you think they would have to tweak the breed standard to do this? change the eyes slightly ? breathing mechanisms etc?

Shar Pei round here hun....think it's black, very hard to tell, there is no fur on it's body, and the skin is like hide......it's always at the vets....sorry sorry state. Bless

and do you think they would have to tweak the breed standard to do this? change the eyes slightly ? breathing mechanisms etc?

My shiba breeder has a shar pei - it's fab - such a friendly dog and loves attention. I've only met it twice, but was shocked that it was a bit smelly. Of course, this could have been anything, but considering the breeders other dogs were all fine, I suspected some kind of skin problem.

In a monthly dog magazine Bruce Fogle sees a positive slant on the combining of two pedigree breeds - any views?

This is the vet who also believes that Labradors x Standard Poodles produces healthier dogs-overlooking the fact that Labs & Standard Poodles have the highest incidence of epilepsy for pedigree dogs, they both have PRA/severe HD in their genetic make up & also Std Poodles have SA & Labs Narcolepsy as genetic conditions

so out of interest do labradoodles have even higher recorded incidences of epilepsy?

Pugs have been around for a long time & haven't changed much over the last 100 years or so(if anything they had even flatter faces in Victorian times)

really? he provided a picture to back up what he had found in the archives while researching his book and ive just google'd images of victorian pugs and they havent got flatter faces, have you the images youre looking at?

Beagles are the same-however it was found when someone had two litter mates Hip Scored that they can have severe HD. So what is acheived by breeding these crossbreeds ? Well it could be all good of course provided that the parents are perfectly healthy on the otherhand they could inherit severe HD & the Beagles hunting instincts & Pugs skin fold problems !! making them not such a good cross

but no worse a one?

The problem is with "designer"dog breeders that they do not on the whole bother with health testing quoting hybrid vigour ! but hybrid vigour in domesticated animals doesn't really exist(for example mules may be hardier than horses & donkeys but are infertile so cannot be developed as a separate species)

so what does a pug bring to the table that this 'designer breed' doesnt...what function does a pug perform and if it doesnt perform one specific to its breed then why cant someone have one that does look as squashed up and could outlive a pug by a few more years? , isnt a pug just a designer breed that has had a stamp of approval and arent half of them bought themselves as designer acessories ?

The pug x beagle is touted as the idea "apartment"dog !!!!! indicating they do not need to have outside access, except on the lead, in cities-not something I would want to condemn my dogs to

where is it touted like this? - i agree thats a bad pitch because the beagle is a small dog that apprecaites a lot of exercise

It's an urban myth that mongrels are healthier than pedigree dogs-it's based on Insurance claims & as more Pedigree dogs are insured than mongrels naturally there are more vet claims for pedigree dogs.

so why would a vet advocate a mongrels health over a pedigree dogs health - that would be bad for business and all i get told is how the vets are just in it for the money by pushing dry foods?

Real mongrels(produced by "street"dogs)rarely have good temperaments because the most aggressive "stud"will mate the bitches & the resultant puppies become more aggressive with each generation.

but you know we are talking about mongrels as in cross breeds - do you really think the vet is talkig about feral dogs

really?

do you??

sorry bad editing but my replies to joedeeuk are in bettwen her ones - except for the one at the end ...