You won’t see them strutting their stuff at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, but mixed-breeds (aka mutts) bring their own special charm.
While purebred or designer breeds offer predictability in looks, size, temperament, and traits such as prey drive and energy levels, don’t sell short the “super mutt,” as described by Michelle Cote, trainer and founder of Mutts Melding Mankind. With “multiple breeds in their DNA,” these dogs have diverse personalities “due to a more diverse gene pool.” For this reason, she prefers them for her organization, which places service dogs with veterans.
While opting for a purebred or designer breed offers what some owners want in a canine companion, such as when looking for a dog for a senior, adopting a mixed breed dog not only provides a loving home for a deserving animal but also helps reduce the demand for puppies from puppy mills and unethical breeders, Cote says. If you go to a reputable shelter or rescue, you will be exposed to an abundance of cute, charming mutts looking for a home. And, at most reputable shelters, the staff can guide you to choosing the right mixed breed pup (or abandoned purebred).
What Is a Mutt Dog?
While definitions may vary, mutts (aka, mixed-breed dogs) result from breeding either purebreds or other mixed-breed dogs. What sets them apart from designer breeds is that they are usually the result of accidental matings. Therefore, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to predict what puppies will look like or how they’ll behave. Each mutt is a blend of its parents’ breeds, resulting in a combination of appearance and temperament. You never quite know what personality and physical traits you’ll get, making every mutt a special surprise and a unique personality.
Are Mutts Healthier?
Like many simple questions, the answer to “are mutts healthier than purebreds” is a complicated one. A recent study led by researchers at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, based on data collected from the Dog Aging Project on 27,000 dogs (13,923 mixed-breed dogs and 13,618 purebreds), attempts to answer it.
The results, published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science, suggest that while certain breeds may be more prone to specific medical disorders, purebred and mixed-breed dogs are mostly equal when it comes to the frequency of overall health condition diagnoses. According to the report, some conditions, such as dental calculus and osteoarthritis, were reported at roughly the same frequency in purebred and mixed-breed dogs. However, other conditions were more common in one than the other: Extracted teeth and dog bites were more common in purebreds, while ear infections were more common in mixed-breed dogs.
The Science of Mixed Breeds
Overall, the number of health-related issues may be similar. However, according to the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, there is a scientific reason why some issues are more prevalent among purebred dogs. Mixed-breed dogs usually mate randomly and whelp without human intervention, suggesting some natural selection involved if an individual fails to thrive. “The occurrence of common genetic diseases in mixed-breed individuals occurs randomly due to dispersed ancient liability genes,” according to the association. “Uncommon and breed-specific recessive or complexly inherited disease is far less likely in mixed-breed individuals.”
Mutts: the American Dream Dog
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, approximately 53% of dogs in the United States are mixed-breed dogs. For a country based on a healthy mix of nationalities, it’s fitting that more than half the dogs in the United States are mixed breeds. But mutt, designer breed, or purebred, there is no bad dog.
