Designer Dogs

The presidential Labradoodle

Ah, the neologisms and compound fractured labels of dog breeding: labradoodle, cockapoo, puggle, Maltipom, "Frankendog." The last is imagined in a Bloomberg Businessweek article. The focus is the tension between "designer dog" breeders and established organizations, like the AKC (American Kennel Club), which support traditional "purebred" practices. Not surprisingly, money is involved. As the article explains, "while purebred puppies generally run $500 to $1000, designer dogs often cost 25 percent to 50 percent more." On the other hand, the AKC receives revenue for the cost of purebred registration, and at this point designer dogs cannot be registered as a proper breed. The Bloomberg piece outlines well the conflict between old breed groups and new designer groups like America's Pet Registry (APRI). While there are some warnings about combos gone wrong, like a German shepherd head on a dachsund chassis, the article does not address the serious genetic issues on both sides of the breeding fence.
If you have a purebred dog--Golden retriever, Labrador retriever, Cocker spaniel--you may have already learned the expensive or painful way that many of these dogs come with genetic predispositions to cancer, hip dysplasia, or blindness.  These problems occur, according to groups like the AKC, when breeders get sloppy and greedy. But critics of strict "breed standards" and the culture of purebred dog development see a broader problem.  London veterinarian Bruce Fogle, who has written several books on dogs, sees the human pursuit of extreme breed standards as endangering dog health. In a TV documentary "A Man and His Dogs" hosted by British actor Martin Clunes, Fogle talks of breeds (like the English bulldog) that must be delivered by Caesarean section because the puppies' heads are too big, and he shows one of the surgeries dogs endure for musculoskeletal disorders that have a genetic root. A counter argument is that responsible breeders pay attention to the health of a pedigree and the danger is in breeding for a mass market and ready profit. However, James Serpell of the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School is very dubious about dog-show culture and the quest for breed standards. In his research, Serpell has drawn attention to the emphasis on idealized appearance in dog breeding, with the Collie as case in point. The breed's early specimens generally had stockier heads and legs and looked more like an all-round working animal. Now Collies have slender and seemingly refined limbs and noses. The Barbi-fication of Lassie.
When Labradoodles first arrived on the scene, I heard a vet speculate that such crossing could freshen the genetic pool. But there were caveats. If you had two healthy dogs of each species, the cross might escape some of the inherited problems. However, if dog breeders keep crossing labradoodle with labradoodle, in-breeding problems would re-occur.
A fictional resolution is imagined in the novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski. The central family of the story breeds dogs for character and temperament in a quest for a transcendent human/canine bond. Even with a relative disregard to breed purity, there's still concern about potentially bad pairings. (Of course, the worst pairings in the Hamlet-influenced story are human.) While the novel suggests indirectly that the same genetic material can lead to very different outcomes with the Good Brother and the Bad Brother, it also refers to breeders' need to know what they're getting. This is particularly the case in the breeding of service dogs for military-police duties and for assistance to people who are highly dependent on the dog's skills and temperament.
Letting dogs mate willy-nilly may sound like Nature's solution to breeding problems. Except in the past that led to unwanted dogs and an overpopulation of animals--and high rates of neglect and euthanasia.
While the magazine article focuses more on the economic rivalries of purebred and designer groups, the scientific and ethical debate about  breeding practices will loom large for some time to come. You can get a "Morkie" (Maltese and Yorkshire terrier) that's teacup size--but why?

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