Quote Originally Posted by redshepherd View Post
I apologize I brought up the dog thing haha
But this is a myth- mutts are just a random draw, like buying raffle tickets. It totally depends on the individual unknown genetics of the mutt, just like it depends on the individual genetics of the purebred. Many purebreds that come from long lines of health tested and proven dogs are setting their chances high of producing more healthy dogs. While mutts are never bred ethically/are randomly bred/some stray dogs had puppies on the street, so really are luck of the draw and mostly have lower chances of being healthy than well-bred purebreds. There are well bred and poorly bred purebreds.
Not to be a pain, but I have to disagree. I see dozens of dogs a day, the purebreds and designer breeds have more chronic issues - as an example it is 100% known fact that boxers as a breed have a higher chance of dilated cardiomyopathy than random mixes (dobermans and Irish wolfhounds too). A golden-doodle is more likely to have allergies than a jack russle/poodle/beagle/lab mix. All toy breeds have much higher chances of dental issues - because they have been bred to be small - genetically as canines they are trying to fit the same number of teeth into a skull that nature never intended. Therefore the more breeds you throw into a genetic make up the less likely genetic issues are to be expressed - it's called hybrid vigor.

I do agree that mixes can have the issues for their parent breeds - which is why if you have a "white-footed" mutt that develops cancer, you should have it genetic tested for the MDR1 gene to ensure it can tolerate certain chemo-therapies and other drugs. The MDR1 issue stems from collies and other herding breeds. I have met and treated very sick mutts too, it's just not as common for the chronic issues that I see in other breeds.

Again: no disrespect, but I have this talk with clients on an almost weekly basis - hybrid vigor will win out over line-genetics more often than not