Fame and fortune may follow a champion purebred dog at dog shows like Westminster. If your family dog is a purebred, chances are that it was eliminated from such competitions at birth, with a breeder designating it as "pet quality" as opposed to "show quality." They keep those dogs. But what advantage do these champion purebred dogs hold over our beloved pets? Sure, they could win at dog shows, but it comes at a cost.
Purebred dogs are bred with other purebred dogs that display the standard attributes of that breed. Over time, this will involve some measure of inbreeding, a situation that tends to protect recessive genes and mutations. This leads to a tendency toward chronic health problems. In mixed-breed dogs (mutts) that mate fairly randomly, these weaknesses appear much less often, and even die out. While they are all good dogs, the "imperfect" mixed breeds tend to be healthier. As a Fark member put it:
Gumball is a pure-breed.
His father was a dog and his mother was a dog.
That makes him pure dog.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Read about the advantages that mutts have over show dogs at Time. -via Fark
(Image credit: Andrea Arden)
