it is a health problem if the Dam is a small breed and the Dog is a large breed, no matter what health checks you've had done beforehand IMO... the pups are simply going to be too big for the Dam to carry responsibly... thus the health of both pups and Dam are at risk...

but we already have enough breeds, and we have breeds to cover every purpose. breeds were crossbred to produce a dog to suit a specific purpose... but whats the purpose of a ESS x CS? or ESS x Lab?? etc... it is so breeders can make money and give crossbreeds a stupid name.

Not a pleasant experience for the Dam

couldn't agree more with these 2 posts

What is the point of a dog with a brain to big for itself, what is the point of a dog with a face so flat it cannot breathe, what is the point of a dog that cannot give birth naturally, what is the point of a dog with a back end so low it can hardly walk, what is the point of a dog with no fur, i really could go on the point being most cross breeds can function as normal everyday dogs a lot of pedigrees sadly cannot anymore so maybe it is time to breed out the pedigree and widen the gene pool, i do however agree about large to small mating but a lab to a springer is not really too wide a gap as with a cocker to a springer both matings give you what i call a proper dog.
i do not see deliberate cross breeds as a problem, i do see close gene breeding as more of one.
Great forum this sparks so many good debates and can only enhance good dog care, sadly the ones we need to educate would never be on here.

This cross has been around for a long time as has the Spingador they just didnt have the silly name. They make very good gundogs from what my BIL says (he has one he is bringing on at the moment). If the lab was small and the cocker a working type there wouldnt have been that much difference in the size so maybe we should be less quick to judge.

both springador and sprocker are excellent working dogs, i agree about the stupid names though, in my day they were called mutts but very useful mutts.

I think my main problem is people giving them names and calling them a breed That is what gets me so angry, they are NOT a breed!!

Also how anyone can justify the bitch being the smaller of the 2 breeds just beggars belief Irresposible doesn't even come close to what I call these people!

Round here there is a whole litter of working type cocker spaniels cross working type labradors, I'm not entirely sure who is the mother and who is the father, they all came from someone in another local village, I thought it was a accidental breeding until around six months later some more people got the same cross from the same people its just shameful IMO.

ETA the only saving grace here is that none of them are called 'Cockadors', they are all described as cross breeds, or how I described them.

i have a cross mum was a weim and dad was a springer, lady bred weims but her springer got to the mum first by accident and i call him a cross! no fancy names and hes a brillant dog .
people try to insist that hes a pointer but just put them right that hes a cross

When I was at college a few teachers would have working gun dogs, one of them became the college dog, she was a Spocker (father police sniffing dog apparently, mother working cocker) and her owner had previously only had Springer Spaniels for working, and said that she would never go back to a springer, she would always have the cross as she believed them to be better workers, and so did her husband, saying that I don't really get crossing spaniels to labs, but if they are bred by the right people, for the right reasons (a purpose other then money ) I don't really mind as much tbh, as then at least some thought is going into what the people are after and if they are then working and testing the dogs they have a chance of coming closer to what they want, and really I don't think many people who work for a living or a lot of the time really care whether the dogs a pure breed, I mean they would care more for a good worker, whether its a labrador with a stunning pedigree, or a cross breed bred from workers to workers as long as they work how the person wants them to, and does them proud I don't think that they will mind which dog they have, but I will say I don't like BYB just breeding crosses just because, that winds me up no end.