The Dog Daily: Happy Hound
Adopt a Mixed Breed or a Purebred?
By Elizabeth Wasserman for The Dog Daily
The fundamental question when deciding to welcome a canine
companion into your home is whether to adopt a “mutt” or a purebred
dog. Mixed-breed dogs often populate animal shelters and need good
homes. Purebreds can be purchased from a breeder and are sometimes
available for a small fee through dog rescue organizations.
“This is a very important decision, especially for first-time
dog owners,” says Lisa Peterson, communications director for the
American Kennel Club (AKC). “Regardless of what you decide, you
first need to look at your own lifestyle when deciding to get a
dog.”
Questions to Ask Yourself
Before you select a dog, Peterson suggests asking the following
questions:
- Do you have time to walk the dog for about 30 minutes, twice a
day?
- Do you have financial resources for unexpected veterinary
bills?
- Do you have the time to train and socialize your dog?
- How much time can you spend grooming your dog?
- Do you have space in your home or yard for a large dog?
Now that you have a better sense of what size dog you want, what
activity level you can live with and what type of temperament you
seek, you can take a better look at the attributes of purebred dogs
and mixed breeds.
Purebred vs. Mixed Breed
The great thing about rescuing a mutt from a shelter is that you’re
giving a home to a dog that otherwise may never be adopted. Second,
you don’t have to pay the $500 to $1,500 that many purebred dogs
will cost. Adopting a mixed breed from an animal shelter can run at
$50 or less, usually to cover the cost of vaccinations or spaying
or neutering. Third, mixed breeds have more genetic diversity,
which can help them avoid some of the hereditary defects that
plague purebreds.
The great thing about purebreds is that they are very
predictable in terms of what you can expect when a puppy grows up.
These canines were developed as a result of selective breeding,
meaning that dogs with certain traits or genes were bred, and other
dogs with less desirable traits were not. As a result, the 161
different breeds recognized by the AKC have specific genes for
physical traits, such as color, coat and size, as well as
temperament. Also, you are more likely to be able to see the
parents of your purebred dog and make visual assessments.
Comparison Shopping
Here’s how mixed breeds and purebreds stack up on key
attributes:
- Size Most purebreds have standard size ranges,
which you can review on the AKC Web site. So if you only have space
in your apartment for a small dog, you can select a breed that just
grows to 20 or 30 pounds. With mixed breeds, you’re often more
likely to be rolling the dice. “A mixed breed that you thought
would be 20 pounds might end up at 200 pounds,” Peterson
says.
- Coat Purebreds are also predictable in terms
of what type of coat to expect in your adult dog. If you have lots
of time to brush and groom your dog, you may do well with a collie.
But if you don’t want to be bothered by finding clumps of dog hair
around your home, you may be better off with a short-haired dog,
such as a Weimaraner. Unless you know for certain what your mixed
breed’s parents were, it is hard to predict what type of coat a
puppy will have as an adult.
- Behavior and activity level “Purebred dogs
were developed usually for a specific purpose. There are hunting
dogs, pulling dogs, cattle dogs, guarding dogs and so on,” says
Bonnie Beaver, DVM, past president of the American Veterinary
Medicine Association. The Labrador retriever, for example, was bred
to retrieve game for hunters, and as a result, is a very “mouthy”
dog, prone to chewing in a domestic setting, Dr. Beaver says. You
may not know the parentage of your mixed-breed pup and therefore
you may have little idea about its likely behavior and activity
level.
- Health Because of inbreeding, certain
purebreds have become subject to hereditary health defects, some of
which can be crippling and potentially fatal. These defects include
bone and joint disorders, eye diseases, heart disease, cancer and
more. Mixed breeds have greater genetic diversity, so the chances
are better that both parents did not have the same defective
genes.
There may be ways of getting around the unpredictability of a
mixed breed. “In terms of mutts, we see so many cute ones,” says
Sophia Yin, DVM, a veterinary behaviorist in San Francisco. “If
you’re adopting them when they’re 6 or 8 months old, you will have
a good idea of what they’re going to look like, including their
size, and you can observe them a little to evaluate their
temperament.
Whatever your choice is, the most important factor is making
sure your lifestyle includes giving lots of love.
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