Question on cross breeds

Why dont cross breeds or mongerals get used by the police and army/RAF.

[Brian Brassett]

They do occasionally. City of Manchester had a GSD/Rotty - Dorset has a Lab/Rotty - both quite useful dogs. Believe Steve judged the GSD/Rotty in Phase III at Epping.

brianb.

[admin]

In the main specific breeds are used because those breeds possess qualities or traits that make them more likely to be trained successfully as service dogs. An example is the use of the GSD & Malinois as patrol dogs, the use of the Spaniel & Labrador as detection dogs, the use of the Border Collie as sheep dogs. They have been bred specifically to have inherited qualities that make them easy to train for that specific job & therefore able to carry out that job with more success.

When you cross two breeds of dog, there is a huge element of unpredictability as to what inherited qualities the puppies will obtain from their parents, usually because the parents themselves are of breeds that don't possess the same qualities.

For example, if you mate a German Shepherd with a Border Collie there is every chance that you may get pups with the work ethic of the Collie (exercet missile) & the nose / bite / grip of the GSD. You may get the size of the GSD coupled with the speed & agility of the Collie, all in all a pretty good candidate as a police dog. However, you have an equal chance of getting a large, slow, excellent sighted dog with very good herding instincts - not so good as a police dog and no bloody good as a sheep dog (a slow herding dog won't be able to pen the sheep).

They may also be as ugly as Lucifer, making them not very attractive as a pet - so who wants them. Cross breeds are mostly the result of accidental or careless mating or dogs that are running wild. The other question that would concern a breeder, is if a cross breed turned out to be a super working dog - what do you mate it to, to try and reproduce its qualities?

The guide dogs for the blind run the only successful cross breed breeding programme that I know of. They mate pure Labradors to pure Golden Retrievers to produce the ultimate dog for work as a guide dog, however, they never use those cross breeds to breed on from, and they always return to the pedigree dogs for breeding purposes.

There is one other aspect why a cross breed usually isn't as good as a pure bred & that is image. The GSD & the Malinois have a reputation & look the part of police dog. It helps at a lot of public order events like football matches (soccer) in the same way that image is important as a police officer.

All that said, if a cross breed from a rescue kennel came to me that showed all of the aptitude to make an excellent police dog, then I would have to take its ability over its looks, but I wouldn't set out to buy a cross breed or breed one.

One last point, there is a health aspect as well. Most pedigree breeds have a clear record of what dogs within the breed carry certain health issues and this makes it easier to breed from lines free of defects, with a cross mating you have no idea what health issues you might throw up.

Hope this helps.