Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Good, The Bad and the Fugly ... Design-A-Puppy

While surfing this week I came across an ... interesting breeder. Company's name is Design-A-Puppy ... Good grief. What will we think of next?? I'm thinking ... beware ... BYBer ... possibly of the worst kind (if there IS such a thing ... 'worst kind' ... perhaps all BYBers belong in this category)!

Taking a parusal around their website, you may note that the only pages that have any info are the Index (home), Designer puppies for sale, Shopping (where you can get some paintings), and Contact Us.

These pages are "Under Construction". About Design a Puppy, Scrapbook Gallery, In The Press. I wonder why their Scrapbook doesn't have all sorts of pictures on it? I'm sure they have many pics of their "little darlings".
I have added these pictures of one of their dogs that was recently "Adopted" (uh ... perhaps they mean "SOLD"??). Personally ... I think it's fugly. What is with those ears? They just don't seem right on that face. Is that eye goop on it's nose? The colour under the eyes doesn't seem to match the rest of the pup's colours ... so I would conclude that it probably is something that most people would want to wash off before taking a pic.

Make your own decisions ... don't take my word for it. What do you think about this breeder? Design-A-Puppy ... WTF?!

Don't forget ... This is only my opinion. What's yours? What do you think??

9 comments:

Kathy said...

I don't like the idea of designer puppies... it just seems fundamentally wrong. I suppose in reality we can design a dog by just selecting a breed.

RedDeerSeeker said...

I checked out the site, and find nothing wrong with it. The tear stains under the puppies eyes are just a fact of life for some breeds. Many cross bred animals are hardier than purebreds and can make really good pets. Plus there always seems to be a market for the tiny breeds. At least they're breeding something that there is a market for. Unlike SOOOO many other people who just bring any kind of puppies into this world without even thinking about the future of the puppies.

DogsDeserveFreedom said...

ksr - I agree. There are so many "oops's" out there that we really don't "need" to set up planned breedings for mixed dogs.

eleanor_rigby - regarding the tear stains. I am aware it is a fact of life for some small breed dogs ... the question is why didn't the breeder bother to clean the fur before taking the picture?

Honestly, if there were that big of a market for tiny breeds, then there wouldn't be any in rescue, right? I see designer puppies go through all the time.
Last week - 10 wk old JRT mix
3 weeks ago - min pin/chihuahua mix ... this was a whole litter.
The list goes on. Not to mention all the adult dogs we see. We've adopted out a large number of poorly bred shi tzu mix dogs this year, not mentioning the purebred ones we've seen. There are MANY small dogs that go through rescue that are unwanted.

Barb said...

The problem I have with people who produce these "designer" breeds is when they say the dogs are healthier than purebreds but don't show any evidence of doing health testing on their breeding stock.
It's NOT true that mixed breeds are necessarily healthier than purebreds. They're less likely to have a recessive gene crop up, but there are lots of health problems that aren't recessive - like hip dysplasia or luxating patellas. Temperament problems will breed true also, regardless of whether the parents are both the same breed or not. The main difference is, with first generation hybrids like this you don't really know what the pups will look like as adults. And if you breed any of THESE dogs (which this breeder is doing also, to produce the Maltipoochi or whatever it is) then all bets are off as to what the offspring will look like.

Barb said...

OK, I have two problems with breeders like this... they don't seem to be spending anything on their dogs (no health testing, no show titles, registered with bogus registries) and the main reason for most of the crosses is what combination of breed names will make the cutest word. Yet they're charging as much for the pups as some show breeders do!
Buyer beware! I looks like a ripoff to me.

Unknown said...

You may definitely put a link to my blog on yours! I really enjoy reading your blogs...this one in particular inspired me to do a little "custom" breeding research of my own. That blog is almost finished. :D

RedDeerSeeker said...

I have talked to, and visited my local SPCA, and they say that the small dogs are adopted immediately. Doesn't matter if they're purebred or not. In my city, bichon, shitzu crosses have taken over, and I do occasionally see them at the shelter, but they are always adopted the same day as they go up for adoption. The shelter here however is FULL of large dogs, some of them even purebred. I personally think there are just too many dogs in this world, and none should be bred until all the shelters are empty. Another new thing around here is the golden doodles, which are a cross between the standard poodles and the golden retrievers. They have wonderful temperments, but are non-shedding. I don't have a problem with crosses if you are breeding for pet purposes, and are breeding a puppy that will be in demand. I personally think that the puppy in the picture is adorable, and they seem to have a demand for them.

dogsdeservefreedom....yes your right about the tear stains, seems a little weird that they wouldn't even bother to wipe the little guys face before a pic.

DogsDeserveFreedom said...

small dogs are more desired than large dogs in my area as well. I have written a post about desirability and my opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment :)

ChrisJ said...

eleanor rigby wrote: "Another new thing around here is the golden doodles, which are a cross between the standard poodles and the golden retrievers. They have wonderful temperaments, but are non-shedding."

I don't know where you live but the Labra/Golden Doodles fad has been running on for over 10 years. The temperaments are only as good as the parents and yes, I've met some with poor temperaments. What I hate is how the "doodle" breeders making their dogs like some sort of miracle dog (in terms of coat care) - or as one ad stated: "the low grooming requirements of a lab/golden and the no shedding of a poodle." As I tell folks in dog training class - there's no such thing as a free lunch in terms of dog coats. Low/no shedding coats are continuously growing (i.e. poodle, Shih tzu, Bichon, many terrier coats) and have a high grooming requirements. Neglect grooming such a coat, and the dog quickly gets terrible mats & suffers. On the other hand, neglect grooming a high shedding coat and the dog is pretty much OK but your house is wall-to-wall hair. Poodle owners know that regular grooming is a fact of life and typically poodles are gently exposed to the whole grooming process from an early age. Unfortunately many first time Labra/Golden doodles do not know this and have no idea about how much work this kind of coat takes. I have a dog groomer friend who regularly sees 1 year old labra/golden doodles matted up from nose to tail and non too keen about their first grooming experience.