Mixed Breed Dogs Can Make Good Companions

I am a big fan of German Shepherd Dogs; many other German breeds like Rottweilers, Great Danes, Doberman have always found place in my favorite list. Whenever people have asked me a right breed for them, believe me, I have always talked about so many things for pure breed dogs... never a mixed breed. I have seen people more interested in pure breeds... prefer them to the mixed breeds. But from my very personal experience, I tell you mixed breeds are as good as the pure breed ones. Although I talked about the mixed breed dogs before, I think I should talk more about it!

I had one and I loved his company... he was a real gem, a blessing to me! Why pure breeds then? That's really tough to answer. Well, but what I think, someone who's interested in a mixed breed is willing to gamble. Gamble, because you won't know about his final size, physical and mental characteristics, coat type, and most importantly the activity level and temperament. For one simple instance, you know quite well what German Shepherds are and how well he pure bred german shepherd respond while protecting his owner. But you can't say for sure how a German Shepherd - Afghan Hound mixed breed puppy will grow to be! You can't guarantee which perticular gene will be dominant and why. These would all be your guess work... just no guarantee about it.

Liza again is one of my freind's lovely dog. She is a German Shepherd - Labrador mixed breed dog. Anyone would make a mistake at the first sight, thinking that she is a floppy eared solid black GSD. This beautiful medium-long coated dog has a cool temperament, highly active, quite a lot friendly, intelligent, attractive eyes, strong nose, a moderately bushy tail and naughty enough to make nuisense on the bed. One single fault with her is that she has thin and week bones, although his sire and dam are moderately heavy boned specimens.

Another instance is a Labrador - Dalmatian mixed breed dog, owned by one of my acquaintances. Rain is her name. She was the cutest dog ever as a puppy, but is now a nightmare for her owner. Sired by a normal size dog, with cool temperament, Rain is now 0.6 inches higher than her father at wither, and 0.2 inches longer than her mother, negligible though. Rain's mother is a beautiful cool tempered queen, who has right physical and mental configurations, but I still wonder how Rain became so aggressive.Well, it's all about the magic of gene.

I have only concluded that Purebreed dogs are comparative more predictable than the mixed breed ones. I mean to say, I most cases you can only predict them after they actually reach the adult age. While for a Labrador, you know well what exactly your puppy is going to be when he would grow adult. There's actually no harm owning a mixed bred dog. I think, mixed breed adult dogs are better choice instead of mixed breed puppies, because the adults offer higher degree of predictability than when they are puppies. If you've decided to get a mixed breed dog, just don't pick the cutest wooly lump from a litter. You may find it to be really tough but it's worth putting it to a temperament tests to evaluate its nature. If you are an experienced dog owner, I am sure you can pick the right puppy that would suite perfectly to your family and life style.

Mixed breed dogs are also known as feist, mutt, mongrel, tyke, cur, bitzer or random-bred dog and have the characteristics of at least two distinctive breeds of dogs, or are the descendants of pariah dog or ferals.

If you are looking around for the right books about mixed breed dogs the three best picks for you are:

• Second Hand Dog by Carol Benjamin
• Guide to Owning a Mixed Breed - Charlotte Schwartz
• Dog Adoption by Joan Hustance Walker

Stay tuned... I'll be talking more about mixed breeds shortly.


Pics have been collected from the web.