The Fashion Trend Hits the United Kingdom
Celebrities like Graham Norton and Richard Hammond own Labradoodles, Puggles, Jugs and Chugs.
Breeders are supplying the British public with grotesquely 'designed' dogs such as the Cockapoo and Bull-Shitz, who can be bought in America for $500 and sold for upwards of £1,500 on these shores.
Pedigree Beagle breeder, Michelle Kingsland is concerned as to the psychological health of the designer dog. She said:
| “After all you have a Beagle that was bred for hunting and he has a long neck so he can reach the ground easily and wide nostrils so that he can sniff. The purpose of his large ears is to surround the scent, and the dog is able to go all day, all weathers, all terrains. So you take that dog and you put it with a breed that was bred specifically as a lap dog and what happens? It’s a disaster. Pugs can suffer from heat stroke; they have a heat intolerance, a very short neck, short nose. You don’t get a happy medium, you get an unhappy dog." |
Many pedigree breeders in the UK are expecting their champion, the UK Kennel Club to refuse to register any of the new breeds of designer dogs. Some pedigree breeders have jumped ship as they rush to cash in on the demand for designer dogs in the British market.
 Over the past few years the demand for these dogs has risen rapidly, so much so that these crossbreed 'designer' puppies are now fetching as much as £2,000. If people are prepared to pay out this much for a puppy, then surely they should be paying those kinds of figures to respected, experienced, registered and accountable breeders of dogs which have a proven history of happiness and good health spanning tens or hundreds of years.
Unfortunately this is plain idealism, and the sad truth is that people pay more for what something says about them, than for what it actually is or what it has taken to create.
As it stands the Kennel Club will not acknowledge the dogs as a spokesman said:
| “The crossbreed phenomenon seems to be fashion motivated so we can’t condone it. We wouldn’t want unscrupulous crossbreeders, who are out to make a fast buck, to compromise the welfare of dogs for purely commercial reasons." |
Eddie Cumberland runs Foxisle Gundogs kennels in Yorkshire and swapped from breeding Beagles to breeding Puggles. There is a waiting list for puppies which are selling at £1,800 each. Puggles (the result of crossing a male pug and a female Beagle) are the second most popular crossbreed dog after the Labradoodle in the UK.
 Mr Cumberland’s new business venture is extremely successful despite losing him friends amongst the Beagle and Pug breeders community. Mr Cumberland only breeds first generation Puggles and admits that he has no idea what would emerge were a Puggle to be mated with another Puggle, saying:
“The truth is that we just don’t know what happens next”.
Vet and co-ordinator of the Beagle Club does not agree that Puggles are healthy dogs at all:
| “You are taking something with the will to run and putting it into a body that cannot cope with it” |
Puggles are often described as being “handbag friendly” with the Pugs short muzzle and the Beagle's big brown eyes. Perhaps it is these endearing qualities that led Kelly Osborne to purchase one?
The UK Labradoodle Society was formed in 1991 as an informal organisation, set up to advise buyers, owners and breeders.
 The society encourages ethical practises on the part of the Labradoodle breeder. There is a Labradoodle Code of Practice for Breeders, apparently to help control irresponsible breeding and to define the criteria by which a responsible breeder can be assessed. This is as follows:
"Labradoodle Code of Practice for Breeders"
No bitch to be bred from in the same 12 months as having a litter.
No bitch to have a litter before 2 years or after 7 years, bitches to be limited to 4 litters.
All tests relative to breed carried out on parent dogs and KC and vet certificates available for viewing by prospective purchasers (Potential purchasers should be aware of the hereditary problems that can crop up in the breed).
Puppies are wormed with a veterinary preparation and schedule provided.
Puppy comes with puppy pack of information leaflet, pedigree, registration documents where possible, photos of parent dogs and the next 48 hours of food.
The breeder must supply a contract with their puppy stating that they will remain responsible for the future of the pup, in that they guarantee to assist with rehoming of the dog at any time in the future, if it should become necessary.
All bitches and puppies must be kept in warm comfortable conditions.
In the breeding of Miniature Labradoodles care must be taken that too large a dog is not mated to too small a bitch.
All adverts to have the breeder's full name and landline number, address to be supplied in full to puppy viewers.
Members of the UK Kennel Club may be horrified to learn that not all of the club officials are opposed to the idea of designer dogs. The Kennel Club is considering registering some of the new crossbreeds in the interests they say of keeping track of the breeders and preventing puppy farm and backyard breeding. Dr Sampson of the Kennel Club said:
| “We are already criticised for registering the pure bred progeny from puppy farms, but we do it because this means that we actually know where the breeders live, and can communicate with them, contact them and work with them in the same way that we work with Bulldog breeders to see if we can improve the breed. If we don’t register them, it won’t stop them being bred and we will lose control. The way forward is not through legislation but education.” |
A fine speech but one may well ask if the Kennel Club really want to cash in on this lucrative new market. After all at £12.00 a time to register a dog, and with the designed dog population in the United Kingdom set to explode, the Kennel Club could stand to make a lot of money.
Summary
 With designer dog breeding escalating and humans designing dogs to match their fashions, what lies ahead?
Just how far will breeders and their demanding public go in this race to manufacture and market 'must-have' fashion accessories under the guise of a love for companion dogs?
As it stands already, our dogs are being automated with timed feeders and water fountains. Small dogs are trained just like cats to use litter trays as they hardly ever see the outdoors. The famous store Macy’s sold stuffed Labradoodle toys last year and Mattel has replaced the traditional Scottish Terrier in the game of Monopoly with a Labradoodle which will no doubt boost sales from the more fashion conscious board game player, especially those with a doodle about the house.
Scientists in South Korea produced the first dog clone in 2005 by taking genetic material from the ear of an Afghan Hound and placed it in an empty egg cell. It is not as easy to clone a dog as it was Dolly the Sheep (who died young) and only three pregnancies were successful from 1,000 embryos put into 123 female dogs. Dr Freda Scott-Park of the British Veterinary Association commented at the time that:
| “This demonstrates how fast the world of genetic manipulation is moving and no one should underestimate the far reaching consequences of this work.” |
In 2005, Marcia Mobley, a breeder of Labradoodles was asked by an interviewer if she felt she was acting like Dr. Frankenstein and 'messing with Mother Nature?' Mobley replied:
| “No, what we are doing is creating a nice, healthy dog that does not shed.” |
Not exactly true as even Labradoodles shed dead skin cells and fur.
Mark Derr, an author who has written books on the history of dog breeding says:
| “I always use dogs as the example of why we don’t want to be mucking around with our own genome. These people are using DNA testing to solve problems of their own making.” |
 Mutations began to appear in litters of top quality racing whippets. Dogs were appearing with huge muscular limbs. Scientists, at the breeder’s requests, took DNA samples from these “Bully Whippets” and discovered that the same mutation that causes the huge muscles also makes others the fastest on the track.
It is not only our dogs that are being genetically altered. On June 6th 2000, scientists working on the Human Genome Project announced that they now had a working draft of a genetic blueprint for a human being. It is believed that by 2010 parents will be able to genetically ensure that their babies will not mature into obese adults or be alcoholics and by 2050 an extra gene can be inserted into single cell embryos within 24 hours of conception to produce babies that are resistant to A.I.D.S.
Instead of made to measure dogs we could also see made to measure humans. Will they stand the test of time and nature? Who knows, we have but our opinions on that score, and ours is hopefully more than clear from this article. Anything done on the cheap, on the quick, or on the turn of a fashion is nearly always short-lived, flawed in more ways than one, and above all, ill-motivated. We reap what we sow. Except in this case, it's unwitting, undeserving and innocent dogs who actually reap what we humans sow.
Scientists in various countries are testing DNA samples from dogs for coat colour, scenting abilities and even the way a dog cocks its head to look at its owner. The door has been opened wide for dog breeding to become a selection of traits designed to suit the customer. Are we going to see toy dogs the size of a hamster, Greyhounds given huge lung capacity so they can run even faster than their current 45mph, or maybe a 160lb Great Dane increased to the size of a lion? Want a silver coloured dog, a small dog with a big dog’s attitude or a cute dog that cocks its head to one side appealingly yet has no fur? In the future, your every wish could well be met.
 Where we are now heading is a dog tailored to suit your lifestyle, your environment and your exercise regime as humans take over the role of Mother Nature, not through working with her, watching natural results of less natural selection by mankind (as in the case of the Dobermann Pinscher) but through quick-fix genetic techniques performed in a laboratory but borne out in the real world, a world with more than enough excuses for getting rid of a dog, without any need for
new ones such as..."He just isn't cool any more".
 As proud owners of various cross breed dogs, we at K9 Obedience do not want people to leave with the impression that we are similar to some of the extremist purebreed fanatics out there. We love a crossbreed as much as any purebred dog, we are not in any way suggesting that a cross breed dog is inferior to a purebreed at all. However, the irresponsible adventure undertaken by amateur scientists in their back yard, with only the two motivations of fashion and profit behind their actions, that is something we despise and something we believe can only overfill a world already chock full of unprepared and unworthy dog owners, ill-motivated dog profiteers and most importantly of all, unwanted homeless dogs.
In case anyone didn't already know, this world has no shortage of dogs, puppies, breed variations or breeders. If only the fashion-orientated go-getters out there could place as much emphasis on giving a homeless dog a loving and secure environment as they do on owning a quirky novelty item, perhaps there wouldn't be so many thousands of stray and unwanted, yet often deliberately-bred dogs in every nation, not least our own.
The 'designer dog' frenzy is certainly not singularly responsible for the dog welfare issues which tarnish our reputation as a nation of dog lovers, but it can surely only add to it in the grand scheme of things.
In our experience, whilst there can be genuine and unavoidable reasons for taking a dog to a rescue shelter, the great majority of dogs which are given up come from a home where their owner had little commitment from day one, often due to getting the dog for selfish motivations in the first place, such as "to guard the shop" or "to fill a gap after my kids left home".
The root from which you grow your relationship with a new dog is the most effective security for that dog's future, and your security for having a happy life with it. If the foundations of this decision are flawed, then the relationship and future surely will also be flawed.
To even think of the word 'fashion' during the serious process of choosing to take a dog into your home for ever is frankly sickening and shows a distinct lack of understanding and respect for what the word 'dog' represents to the human race.
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