brookcove
Posted : 12/19/2008 12:09:37 PM
In reality let's just take two breeds with lots of breed-related health
problems and cross them so hopefully the arithmetic of genetics might
not work so badly against it.
I just want to scream when I hear that rationalization. People look at mutts and think they are healthy because they are cross bred. In fact, they are healthy because in the world of random bred dogs, it's survival of the fittest. That's the reason truly random bred mutts tend to be sounder both physically and tempermentally.
We have shelter workers and the Real World in general, viciously culling the "pool" of the All American dog. When your average chow/shepherd/husky mix takes a snap at someone, or comes down with epilepsy, no one says, "Gosh, that's really bad but Ch. OTCh Windjammer's Dancing in the Rain MAD HD is THE LAST OF HIS LINE." Ol' Spot just gets the needle, and the world goes on somehow.
When two lines of unhealthy breeds are put together, the results are completely unpredictable. Lines of dogs are developed so tracking things like genetic flaws, is possible. Bringing in a whole new gene pool means starting from scratch with an unstable genetic pool, not somehow "purifying" the waters. It's not like pouring fresh water into mucky water - it's like pouring mucky water from a different source - there's no difference in water quality.