Dogs Worldwide

For those of you thinking of getting a dog for a family pet when you think about it you really only have two choices – get a Pure Bred dog, or get a Mutt, a Mixed Breed, a Mongrel call them what you will.

For a moment let’s concentrate on the pure bred dog. There is no doubt about it but a pure bred dog is a magnificent, beautiful animal to look at and own. Great care has been taken over the centuries to refine whatever characteristics that breed happens to possess, and they’ve all been bred for specific purposes, whether it be for hunting or just lying at your feet!

Great care has been taken in the breeding of pure breed animals and each breed has become more refined over the centuries, but if care is not taken by the breeders you can end up with in-breeding. This in-breeding leads to congenital defects and uneven temperament which can make the animal more difficult to train.

On the other hand there is the Mixed Breed, what do you get if you choose one of these animals? Well to begin with their temperament is generally much better than their full bred cousins; because they are not closely bred they are less likely to have congenital defects. However, because the animal is of a mixed bred you can sometimes get a mixture that will clash and in certain circumstances it can be a bit of a lucky dip. But because their bloodline can not be easily replicated you will at least have a unique animal.

When it comes time to train these animals then by and large the training regime will be the same, in fact because the Mixed Breed has generally a better temperament it all probability it will learn more and learn faster.

The mutt, has escaped the congenital problems of many of the typical pure bred dogs. The mutt might not always have the same handsome lines of say a Dobermen Pinscher or the gorgeous coat of the champion Pomeranian but more likely than not it has certainly inherited the better characteristics from both of these lines and sometimes even more.

The only real difference between the training of a mixed breed animal and a pure breed dog is the ability to cross platforms with less transition trouble. If your dog is a mix between, say, an Irish Setter and a Red Bone Coon Hound, then you have a dog that, quite possibly, could be trained in the hunting of both birds and game mammals without much confusion.

Perhaps the mix is between a Husky and a German Shepherd? This would give you a large dog with both good defense skills and the muscle for real workouts like long days of hiking and running. Thus by a simple exchange you can gain a lot with very little loss.

The animal may no longer be pure bred and the aesthetic quality may, or may not, degenerate a bit but you gain a lot in the way of a responsive and easily trained canine. When you weigh in these facts it is hard to understand why the world has such a population explosion of homeless mixed breed pets. After all, the mixed breed seems to be the better choice from the trainer’s view point.

That being said there are certain instances where a mixed breed of dog is just not acceptable at all. If you are training animals for the purpose of professional dog showing competitions then by all means choose a pure bred animal. Train them for the specific purposes for which that breed was created. Also for certain usages, such as military animals, pure breeds seem to be the animal of choice solely for the purpose of a uniform appearance albeit a number of military animals just do not meet this qualification.

Aside from these, or similar circumstances, this author sees no reason to limit your search for a pet to strictly pure breed dogs. Rather, do something good for yourself and for the homeless pet population – adopt a mixed breed animal. Personally, I can say that after having several of both “types” of dogs I am now much more inclined to own “mutts” from here on out!

Families happily have a mixed breed pet. These animals have the ability to display intelligence, show care, obey commands and circumvent obstacles.

Tags: dog training, Mutts, Pure Bred Dogs, training pups

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 23:23 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.