"Fashion" cross breeds - please enlighten me?

Tashanlouie's introduction thread (and my subsequent reply) reminded me of something I had intended to post. I think I may have posted a similar thread before, but I can't remember!
Tash (and anyone else who owns one of the "breeds" of dogs I am about to write about), I really, truely and honestly don't mean this as a personal dig - it's more a comment on how people I have met have behaved that I had found strange. If I offend anyone, I am truely very sorry - but I am honestly asking for an end to my own ignorance. I do not show, and have little experience in the field of dog breeding. I know many "accepted" breeds of dogs came around as a result of cross-breeding in the beginning to produce a particular type of dog to do a particular job.

Whilst looking for a puppy (we looked at rescue websites, newspaper adverts, online adverts) I kept coming across "breeds" of dogs I had never heard of before - "Yorkiepoo", "Dashuahua", "Peekapoo", "Yorktease"..... It was a bit baffling for someone who had been out of the dog world for some six years!

My first real life experience of this "trend" was almost a month ago, sitting in my wheelchair outside a fish and chip shop with Sam. He is very Dalmation looking, and a complete stranger came running across the road exclamining "Is that a Dollie?!"
I completely misunderstood, took her for a mad woman and replied, "No... it's a dog!"
Apparently, for those "not in the know" (as I was) a Dollie (Dolly?) is a Dalmation cross Collie, and as this woman told me "all the rage at the moment" and she is having a very difficult time obtaining one. When I explained that as far as we know, Sam is a Lab x Springer, she said
"Oh, just a cross breed then" and it seemed she was no longer interested in him (although she did think he was very pretty at first).

There seems to be a little group of people I vaguely know (people I would pass the time of day with, but don't class as "friends") with these sorts of dogs, a few of whom have Labradoodles. I only really know one of them well enough to have a casual chat with, and she was very excited when I said I had a new puppy, and wanted to know what she was. I said she was a GSD cross Staffy, and she gave me a "look" and said that she would have thought I would have wanted a purebred, and she could have told me of a lovely Labradoodle breeder if I had wanted. (We had actually wanted to get a rescue, but found Amber by chance.)

As far as I understand, these dogs are also cross breeds. A Pomerpoo is a pomeranian x poodle, a labradoodle is a labrador x poodle and a Yorktease (despite sounding like a Yorkshire streetwalker ) is apparently a Yorkie x Maltese... they're cross breeds with a shortened name and some kind of "fashion status" attached. I'm certainly not accusing anyone of owning one simply as a fashion accessory (so please don't jump on me! ), but for some people seem to look down their noses at my two beautiful cross-bred dogs, but think that because their dog has a "proper" breed name, it is in a higher "class" of dog .

I have heard whispers through the few dog people I know that there are plans to standardise some of these "breeds" and actually acknowledge their breed status, but I can't understand why some people can't just think dogs in general are fabulous (like most of us on Dogsey seem to) and that because their cross-bred dog has a fashionable lable attached that my cross-breed isn't as good :smt102

So please, someone, can you elighten me? Are these dogs with daft names (no offense intended, honestly ) now recognised as actual breeds? I still stand firm on my thought that unless you intend to show or breed, ANY dog can make a perfect companion, and I am not swayed in my opinion of a dog because of it's breeding. I just love dogs - big, small, shaggy, short-coated, mucky, immaculate... I think they're fab!

Do you think if I started calling Amber a Staffordshire Shepherd, and Sam a Springador, they will accept me into their elite?

I also found this list of amusing cross breeds that I thought you all may enjoy.

No they aren't true breeds until they have a closed stud book, i.e. no more introduction of outside blood from the parent breeds, and are reasonably standardised. This would take a good 20 years or so of dedicated breeding and retaining all puppies bred so as to get the right stock for the next generation.
I have nothing against people attempting to create a new breed if that is what they so wish but I feel that they should be honest with those that buy the puppies as to what they are really buying i.e a cross of a breed in progress or creation rather than hyping them up into something they aren't really!
Becky

Ah Sez! I know just where you're coming from!

As far as I know, the majority of those kinds of cross breeds are just that. The KC has no plans to regulate or recognise labradoodles etc at the moment.

I had a bit of a brain freeze on another thread, after a friend-of-a-friend said they were getting a labradoodle puppy http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=73607

IsoChick, on reading how much your friend intends to spend on her lovely cross-breed, I should have perhaps written

Amber cost me nothing but petrol money (about £30). I was giving an unwanted puppy a home. Fair enough, she had not had any jabs, not been wormed, hip scored, etc and not a lot is known about her parents except their breeds (well, we're 90% on who dad was!). I had to pay for her to have all the necessaries with my vet, and will have to pay for her to be spayed, but already, at only three months old, I've got a hell of a dog, with a cracking personality.

It amazes me that people will pay hundreds of pounds for a cross-breed - when I was a kid they were called Mongrels and were free to a good home!

I have absolutely nothing against any owner who has bought one of these dogs at all, it is the ethics behind the people who breed them that I object to and the fact they are effectively flooding the market with lots of dogs, some of whom won't get homes

Whilst I totally understand someone wanting a dog that doesn't shed hair if they have allergies, what is wrong with getting a pedigree that fits the bill? Poodles and other breeds don't shed hair and are great pets, why set out to breed another dog if not just to cash in on a trend? I fail to see why the rest of these crosses like Springerdors etc have spiralled in popularity and price.

It did seem to start with Labradoodles, now there are seemingly hundreds of crosses that people are 'breeding', giving them a daft name and charging a fortune for. Our local pet shop had Yorkiwowas for sale - Yorkshire Terrier, Chihuahua crosses I assume, but as they can't even spell the second part heaven knows!!

Now who can tell me the advantage of that cross?:smt017

It annoys me greatly that rescue centres are jammed packed with dogs and are at capacity already. The last thing they need is people deliberately crossing these dogs without a thought as to how they are going to sell them and no doubt a great deal of unwanted puppies/young adolescents are going to end up in shelters. That is without some owners 'getting rid' of their designer label dogs when they don't grow up into the adult they think they will be - for let's face it how on earth do you know what size/temperament/health issues they are going to have?

One more point to add, I am not anti-crossbreed/mongrel either. In fact the first two dogs in my life were both mongrels and were fabulous dogs. Both incidentally were free!:smt002

That's exactly how I feel, about any animal. If I wanted a pet, my first port of call would be a rescue, followed by a REPUTABLE breeder who is highly recommended, and knows their breed well. Amber has been the only pet I have that I did differently. I found her on the free-ads whilst having a flick through and was compelled to phone. The people I got her from hadn't bred her, but had decided (within 2 weeks) that they didn't want her. The way I saw it, I was saving a rescue a place for a more deserving animal, as they were going to call the RSPCA if she had not gone by the end of the week, and intended to tell them that a "stray" pup had wandered in to ensure they took her.

I would not, however, have bought Amber direct from her breeder (I don't think that was the case anyway - they were an accidental litter and I am told that the pups were given away for free), as then back yard breeders have the demand to produce the supply for.
Totally agree with that one. We have no idea if Amber will grow up to look more like her mother or father, or a combination of both (or something totally unexpected if Dad is not who we suspect!). We accepted that decision when we took her on, and we're prepared to deal with any health issues that may arise as a result. As far as temperment and size... we're convinced she's going to be big, and if she continues to be an inquisitive, friendly and confident character, she'll be lovely (hopefully, manners will come with training!).

So, the gist seems to be that I am right in thinking that these dogs are still cross-breeds, whether they have a "breed name" or not. I don't expect anyone to defend or justify their right to own one - I'm sure each and every one of them is a lovely dog and great companion - but I wish there were a way to let everyone who buys one from a breeder, at great cost, understand what they are really getting for their money. Some people seem to think they are some particularly "rare" breed, and the mis-information from breeders concerns me (especially if the breeder has bought a pair of labradoodles, for example, under the same misconception).

I agree with Becky 100% and really only thought I should post because when I saw the names "Peekapoo" and "Yorkiwowas" I was crying with laughter, they just sound so funny :smt042

The Peekapoo I saw was actually a very sweet looking thing with a great shock of curly hair that almost covered it's eyes... a bit like it was peering out in a game of "Peek-a-boo!"

Ohh believe me I did a double take at that one I can't say on here the first thought in my head, it did start with "For" and ended in "Sake" though!!!

I know, that's what I imagined, which just made me laugh even more :smt042