About Our Dogs
Click HERE to see which breeds of dogs that we breed.
Why Crossbreeds?
90% of all dog genetic health problems are recessive. This means that in order for a puppy to have the health problem, both parents must carry it. By breeding two dogs of different breeds, without similar health problems, we are breeding puppies with far less health problems! Though, we only breed healthy dogs to begin with. If a health problem could be found in any of our dogs, we would no longer breed that particular dog.
Crossbred dogs have far less health problems, (hybrid vigor), and are unique, and a lot of fun! True that the outcome is not as predictable as a purebred dog, though, we can predict a lot, by knowing the parents, past litters, and only breeding healthy dogs with great temperaments to begin with!
Breeding several generations of the crossbreeds together, may make the crossbreed a "purebred" of sorts, and if health problems would exist, they could then carry health problems more often to the offspring if both parents would carry it.
A mutt is defined by a dog with unknown parents. We do know the parents of our puppies. There are many crossbreed registries out there, and we register our puppies also. A registry is mostly a record of pedigree. Which is good to have for any puppy! Every breed was once bred from two or more other breeds. No breed is a true "purebred" unless it is a Wolf. And Wolves do not make great pets.
Though, we do have some three or more breed crosses planned. In order to get there from here, we do need to crossbreed some breeds, temporarily, in order to get the breeding stock that we desire. Such as our Dakota Sport Retrievers & Labbes. Though, these crosses have been bred by other breeders before us, and these crosses have proven themselves to be wonderful dogs in their own right! Puppies that are born, that we do not need for our future breeding plans, are offered for sale to private families. So, once in awhile, we may have a crossbred litter that is not in our normal breeding program. These are still wonderful puppies! We have a purpose in mind with every litter that we breed. Either for our own future plans, or by requests from many people!
Our family spends a lot of time with our dogs, and a lot of time learning about dogs! My kids have been the district champions in the 4-H dog quiz bowl for years! Even without studying, they know a lot about dogs! Much more then the average child, and even more then most adults. Though, we all are always trying to learn more! We know the best, and the worst traits of many breeds, and try to breed puppies with the best traits possible!
When at all possible, we do prefer to breed our own breeding stock. We then know the health and temperaments of the parents very well, since we know our dogs so well. However, this is not always possible, since we do not do any inbreeding, or line breeding.
Our primary focus is to breed healthy, cute, colorful, unique, family dogs, with great temperaments, and hopefully smart and easy to train. Family dogs being the key word. Though many dogs are bred for a more Nobel occupation, such as hunting, guard, rescue, search, service dogs, show, herding, ect.. We feel that many of these are not great family dogs. Such as a guard dog may be too mean? A search & rescue dog may have too much energy, too hard to handle, for the average family? A hunting dog may run off, wanting to go hunting. Herding dogs are also most often highly energetic, and get bored easily, which causes them to get into a lot of trouble. Of coarse, many of our dogs are hunting dogs, or herding dogs, ect.. But by crossbreeding, we are trying to breed great pets!
Many people may find a great, crossbred dog or puppy at their local Humane Society! Though, not everyone is so lucky. In some places, there just is not much available, sometimes, sad as it is, a dog is at the Humane Society for a reason. 20% of all dogs taken to Humane Societies, came from Humane Societies, and were brought back ;o( Training/aggression, and just not good dog problems.. ;o( 41% of all dogs brought into Human Societies, people had gotten free, or for $100 & under.. Free & cheap dogs/puppies are not looked on as valuable enough.. Not taken to puppy classes, owners not bonding with them enough ;o( Many are strays... Also, the breed, or breeds, of human society dogs are often just guesses. Parents of the dog or puppy completely unknown. I myself adopted a puppy at a humane society called a "Lab Cross".. He grew up to be crossed with a Doberman, was difficult to handle, (impossible for the kids), and eventually bit my daughter, without being provoked. He was also very hyper, and controlling with other dogs. Also, some people are searching for a particular cross, which may be very difficult to find at a shelter? Sometimes someone gets lucky, and do find a great dog or puppy at a shelter! Other people are just experienced enough, and do not mind, handling a dog that has problems. This is all good! Many purebred dogs can also be found at shelters. Which is why we believe that breeding healthy, and trainable dogs is very important! Good homes for our puppies is also very important!
