Oh, PLEASE NOOOOOO...............

[ttaylor508]

Lots of these designer mutts are intended to have a purpose. Almost all (all?) poodle mixes are designed to be more hypoallergenic, for example. Many are intended on being hardier/healthier due to diluting out breed-specific ailments.

Like TSPoet posted here, there were specific reasons to create some designer dogs. From Wikipedia: "The Labradoodle was first deliberately bred in 1989, when Australian breeder Wally Conron first crossed the Labrador Retriever and Standard Poodle for Guide Dogs Victoria.[1]. His aim was to combine the low-shed coat of the Poodle with the gentleness and trainability of the Labrador. This provided a guide dog for the blind with less shedding, and hence more suitable for people with allergies to fur and dander. Today, Labradoodles are often used as Guide dogs, Assistance dogs, and Therapy dogs."

So I think there is a purpose to some of these designer dogs, not just a "trendy thing". I know a few people who have labradoodles because they were highly allergic to pet dander. So I think the original intentions of some of these breeders was to create a breed that had a specific purpose as stated above.

[maillotpois]

I have a Labradoofus.

Actually, now I have two.

[tulip]

Don't Portuguese Water Dogs already fulfill the function of Labrodoodles? They don't shed, they fetch, and they swim. I don't know if they make good guide dogs, though. When I worked with a guide dog outfit in France, I saw mostly goldens and German shepherds.

Mutts can make fine guide dogs, drug dogs, cadaver dogs, bomb dogs, too. But you can't breed them to be so, some just have the right stuff, and there's no easy money in pound dogs like there is in breeding operations.