What are Pure breed Dogs?
Pure breed dogs are predictable in both looks and temperament. This is because such breeds have been formally described and recognized and generations recorded in Stud Books by registration bodies recognised by country governments.
Pure breed dogs are those whose pedigree or parentage has been formally recorded in this way for 5 generations. Each dog is given a number which is recorded by a registration system in a Stud Book which is usually recognized by that country's Government. These organizations, commonly referred to as that country's Kennel Club, keep the pure breed dog registry for that country. They are also responsible for the Breed Standards. These registration records and Breed Standards carry reciprocal recognition internationally.
Historically, the choice of two dogs whose combination produced a litter of pure breed puppies was to perform a specific function to assist mankind. This function could be choosing a dog and bitch that were excellent sheepdogs, great guard dogs, or simply wonderful 'lap' dogs or pets. In palaces and amid society circles, dogs with excellent temperaments plus good looks were selected for generations to become today's Companion Dogs. Recording their pedigrees in the Stud Book of one of these recognized Kennel Clubs, makes the dog a pure breed.
Crossed breed dogs
A cross breed dog has been bred usually without formalized breeding programmes run by recognised Kennel Clubs or controlling bodies. Some combinations result in having a name derived from the two breeds which have been deliberately mixed, for example Labradoodle (Labrador Retriever and Standard Poodle cross). These combinations often produce disastrous results because the mixing of different combinations of breeds has not stood the test of time of the pure breeds.
Responsible breeders with valuable pure breed dogs do not knowingly allow a misalliance. But sometimes poorer quality purebred dogs that irresponsible breeders own are allowed to mate with another breed and given a fancy catchy name which is derived from a combination of the two pure breeds from which they are supposedly crossed. But in reality they are crossed breeds.
Although misalliances sometimes occur, the deliberate mating together of two pure breeds to produce crossed breeds is usually purely a money making exercise. There is usually no participation in expensive inherited disease screening programmes. So, these crossed breeds are twice as likely to produce puppies that suffer from any inherited diseases the pure breeds parents may carry, copping the 'inherited' disease from both parents! The greatest pity of it all is that these 'inherited' diseases from the crossed breeds usually go unrecorded because there is no formal registration system by which to formalize this recording process.
The ancestory of a "mixed-breed" dog is usually not known at all. A mixed-breed dog may also be known as a mutt, mongrel, slut, bitzer (from "bit o' this, bits o' that") or random-bred dog.
The problem with mixed-breed dogs is that their temperament and instinctive traits are generally unpredictable. The result of not knowing the parentage of a dog is that they might behave in unexpected ways, such as digging or chasing.