We’ve all heard the old advice about getting a mixed breed dog, which generally goes like this: “if you get a mix, you’ll be getting a dog with a lot less health problems, because you’ll avoid the inbreeding issues that are always there with a purebred”.
Is this true?
The best answer is, “usually”. But, not always. The fairly recent explosion of “hybrid breeds” or “designer breeds” (i.e. Labradoodles, Bullmations, Bichon Yorkies, etc., the list goes on and on and on) has shown that sometimes you get a combination of the health problems endemic to both breeds involved, as opposed to the eradication of health issues specific to each breed.
And, that’s just the health part of the equation. There’s another huge component of breed mixing, and that is the behavioral part of the puzzle. Most people who get a purebred dog get it for aesthetic reasons (they like the way the dog looks), and, because of the breed’s known behavioral traits. As an example, a person with a family that has children in it gets a Lab because it’s a big, friendly dog, and it probably won’t attack little Jimmy if he crawls too close to the food dish while the dog in question is eating. And that’s an important attribute to consider if you have a little Jimmy.
So, if you get a mixed breed dog, do you get a wonderful mix of the behavioral traits associated with the two breeds in question?
The answer this time is not “usually”, but, rather, “sometimes”. While it’s true that lots of mixed breed dogs have wonderful personalities, sometimes you get a combination of the very worst traits of both dogs. As an example, there is a hybrid breed called an Akita Pit, which is, as you can probably guess, is a mix of the Japanese Akita, a large guard dog, and a Pit Bull, a dog that needs no further identification to you. Both of these breeds should only be owned by a very experienced dog owner.
I have a friend who has this mix, and he is a very experienced dog owner. But the dog he has is quite difficult to own. The combination of behavioral traits that this particular dog has do not work to the owner’s advantage in this instance.
As an example, Akitas are not easy to train; they’re quite wilful and take a long time to accept any sort of commands consistently. Pit Bulls are eager to please, and are easy to train. His mixed breed dog has the Akita’s personality in this regard.
Here’s another example. Pit Bulls tend to be quite unpredictable around other dogs, and particularly with small dogs, will often consider them prey, and go after them. Akitas, although a very dominant breed, and a tremendous watchdog for hearth and home, are generally pretty good and fairly predictable with other dogs, even small dogs. His mixed breed dog has the Pit Bull’s personality in this regard.
I have two mixed breed dogs myself, and have owned many others in my lifetime, and I loved all of them, but this behavioral aspect of mixing the breeds definitely should be a consideration when selecting a dog to share your life with. For instance, if you live in an apartment, and you have a sedentary lifestyle, a dog that’s a mix of an Australian Shepherd and a Vizla is probably a very, very bad idea. Those are two very active breeds that thrive on a lot of activity and love to work (herding for the Shepherd and hunting for the Vizla), and asking that type of mix to just sit around the apartment all day and be happy about it is a recipe for disaster.
Just think about what you’re getting when you decide to take on mixed breed dog, and you’ll be fine.