Bichon x westies

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Kaylum

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It seems these are another new fad that puppy farms are churning out for £400. Cant understand why people buy from puppy farms. Dont they understand what its all about? Surely when they get there they can quite clearly see as apparently you go to kennel to see the puppies (friend went by mistake!).
 
Next step up from bichopoos I suppose! And its not just puppy farms doing it, there are a lot advertised from people with just a couple of dogs, I refuse to call them breeders, imo the term breeders implies some knowledge before producing pups, the majority producing these designer crosses do it just for the money.:(
 
No, people who put any dog to any bitch to see what happens and then charge for it are not 'breeders' IMO either MM....

That cross just sounds like intentionally breeding something that itches....
 
MurphysMinder said:
Next step up from bichopoos I suppose! And its not just puppy farms doing it, there are a lot advertised from people with just a couple of dogs, I refuse to call them breeders, imo the term breeders implies some knowledge before producing pups, the majority producing these designer crosses do it just for the money.:(
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Bichopoos? Actually the correct name is Poochon! ;) YOu think I'm kidding? But I'm not. To be fair, the poochons I've seen have been from a 'reputable breeder' (honest!). The woman was actually judging at a grooming comp and did a talk on this cross...allegedly she was wanting to get it KC recognised, which raised a few eyebrows. One of the top groomers in the UK does really well competeing in dog grooming comps with his poochon. For some reason, I'm not terribly offended by this cross. I'm not sure why. But the price tag it comes with, maybe - but then the breeder that I know of does all the genetic testing for both breed types.

And how about schnoodles? Has anyone seen one of these? I have...I got beat by an irish girl who competed with one a few years ago (she beat me and my Tibbie, but it was a cute dog, and a nice trim, so...ho hum-- and the winner of hte class? The guy with the poochon!)
 
There are some mugs about..are there not? PAYING for a mongrel? Why not do the right thing and get a homeless xbred from a shelter?
 
I would choose a mongrel over a purebred anyday, mainly due to the health issues, most breeds seem to be prone to something, especially the overbred ones, but I don't think I'd pay for one! Some breeds might benefit from some kind of new blood being introduced to make them healthier if that's possible. (e.g. cavaliers! prime example) I also think all dogs should have to be health tested before being bred because you see so many GSD's with hip dysplasia, boxers with heart disease etc. I think Bichons are quite a hardy breed? Westies aren't too bad either besides the allergies.
 
IrishDQ said:
I would choose a mongrel over a purebred anyday, mainly due to the health issues, most breeds seem to be prone to something, especially the overbred ones, but I don't think I'd pay for one! Some breeds might benefit from some kind of new blood being introduced to make them healthier if that's possible. (e.g. cavaliers! prime example) I also think all dogs should have to be health tested before being bred because you see so many GSD's with hip dysplasia, boxers with heart disease etc. I think Bichons are quite a hardy breed? Westies aren't too bad either besides the allergies.
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I'm not in to breeding...so take what I say with a grain of salt. I've seen plenty of really healthy purebreds, and lots of seriously problematic mongrels (skin problems, hip probs, eye probs, etc). And some are just so stereotypical it could make you cry (westies with skin probls, bichons too!). But putting two breeds together ie westie and bichon just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Are they going to be hunting/ratters? More like wee yappy guard dogs as both breeds like to yap. And then coat type will be what? Wiry? Soft wool? So there won't be much TYPE for anyone to decide. At least with a poodle x bichon you have two similar breed types (bichons have poodle ancestry) and coat types. I'm a fan of terrier crosses - I groom lots of lovely border terrier x lakelands. I wouldn't mind having one - fab wee things the lot of them that I've seen!

I'm more irritated by the crossing of random breeds and giving them a cutesy "label" in order to charge a hefty price. And then people mistaking them for a "breed" when they are in fact a cross breed. Cute, perhaps, nice probably. Without health issues or temperament problems? Not necessarily!

When crosses were "created" to have a purpose (ie labradoodles for guide dogs) at least there was a good intent - a good reason with some thought about it. Unfortunately, some times the "thought" that goes in to producing puppies are purely thoughts about £££££
 
I don't really think every dog needs a purpose. For some, it's simply to be a pet/companion.
I have a westie/shitzu cross. I bought him as a lap dog. He's cute, almost like a real live teddy bear. I bought him from a one-dog breeder and I have had no qualms having paid money for him. I would have had a cavalier king charles again but couldn't cope with the heart problems...
 
aquamarine said:
I don't really think every dog needs a purpose. For some, it's simply to be a pet/companion.
I have a westie/shitzu cross. I bought him as a lap dog. He's cute, almost like a real live teddy bear. I bought him from a one-dog breeder and I have had no qualms having paid money for him. I would have had a cavalier king charles again but couldn't cope with the heart problems...
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There's nothing wrong with having a pet for the sake of having a pet. Don't misunderstand me. I think that when breeds are "created" with a purpose in mind, there's a fairly good idea of what hte temperament and conformation and coat should be like so it can do "it's job" and therefore you get some sort of uniformity in it's type. But breeders who just say "oooh, I've got a poodle, and one neighbor's got jack russel, and another has got a cairn - should I get a jackdoodle or a cairndoodle?" with no real thought as to WHY they're crossing them other than "I can get a few hundred quid each for the pups".

If you read my post above, I don't have a problem with crosses. Not even to sell, do I have a problem with them. Just a bit of thought other than money should go in to it. My dogs are lap dogs....each is a purebred and I'd not love them less if they were mongrels. But as it happens I wanted these particular breeds at the time that I got each one.
 
IrishDQ said:
I also think all dogs should have to be health tested before being bred because you see so many GSD's with hip dysplasia.
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Any reputable GSD breeder will do this and most on the 'Germanic' side do, in fact, the progressive GSD community in the UK pioneered hip scoring alongside Dr Willis, off their own bat, but still all these years later, the KC will not accept low scores as a pre-requisite to registering puppies. Oh well!

My mother was one of the early signatories to the scheme back in the 1970s.
As a result, thankfully, we've never had a dysplastic dog over many decades of GSD ownership.
 
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