I was just at Petsmart and a lady was walking across the parking lot with a beautiful Golden Retriever. She stopped me and asked me some questions about my car, as she is thinking of getting one. She said she is a Breeder and was questioning whether a crate would fit in the back seat or not. She asked if I had a dog and when I told her I had 2 Golden Doodles, she rolled her eyes,turned up her nose and made an awful face. "Why would anyone ever consider paying that much money for a Mutt!! That's all they are ya know...mutts." And she went on and on about GD's and all kinds of negative things about them. She made me so mad, I think if she had not had the Golden Retriever standing there beside her, I probably would have run over her.
These are all great points and since Mattie is my first doodle (AKA mutt), after years of owning purebred terriers and showing one, I could have once been accused of having the same purebred issue--I never did, but I have heard all the stories. There are some really obnoxious breeders out there who have actually ostracized former friends because they decided to buy or breed doodles. My own family shakes their head at my doodle as they deal with their purebreds who all have ISSUES!!
However, a point no one has made thus far is that all of those purebreds out there were once mixes of other breeds! People have used artificial selection to get a breed to look and act the way they want for hundreds of years--we are the pioneers of the doodle breeding process, which has the sole purpose of creating an incredibly cute and smart family pet! But others have bred dogs to fight, catch rats, bring messages between boats, etc etc.
The price does bother me though. Some people are taking the "designer dog" craze all the way to the bank. Its understandable when the two parents have wonderful lineages but that isn't always the case...
Well yes they are mutts- and the most beautiful mutts I have ever seen. I actually wanted a mutt this time- I have experienced two pure breds both terriors. They thought they were above other dogs-they guarded their castle like the prince that they were. This time I wanted a "dog". A happy go=lucky clumsy oaf that would love everyone that came his way. Actually, our trainer told me that doodle breeders have applied to make these dogs " a breed" recognized by the CKC and the AKC. She told our class that all dogs started out as "mutts". Dogs were then cross breeded to match the needs, for example the collies were for herding, then terriors were bred for ratting, etc etc. It took many years to reach the stage where these dogs were a seperate breed.
I prefer mutts. The artificial construction of the gene pool is bad for the species as a whole. In a restricted gene pool, the defects pile up. The truly superior specimen is the outbred, not the inbred.
Michael Swift