Someone’s trying to tell you that a Morkie or other designer dog is a hybrid dog? Don’t listen. Morkies and other designer pooches are NOT hybrid dogs and they’re not necessarily any healthier thanks to “hybrid vigor.” Here’s why.
Hybrids are different species
Dogs are all the SAME species
Dogs are all the same species: Canis lupus familiaris
In the scientific world, all dogs are members of the genus Canines. Check out the direct line from the grey wolf to our dogs today.
Are designer dogs HYBRIDS?
Well, actually…..There’s really no such thing as a hybrid dog… unless you’re crossing a dog and a cat.
A mule is a hybrid animal since it comes from breeding a donkey and a horse which are two different species.
The Myth of Hybrid Vigor
Are designer dogs actually healthier?
Some fans of the mixed breed believe that the offspring of two different breeds are actually healthier than purebreds.
The theory goes that mixed breeds with their deeper gene pool – are less likely to have common genetic disorders found in virtually all purebreds. By combining two different breeds, these problems in effect, cancel one another out. But in reality, combining two different breeds can result in the problems doubling!
For example, both Yorkshire Terriers and Maltese dogs can be prone to collapsed trachea or windpipe. It’s important when breeding Morkies, that the breeder watches for this tendency in either parent.
All dogs are the same species
No matter how different they look from one another, all dogs are the same species: Canis familiaris.
All originate from the grey wolf.
Thousands and thousands of years ago, there were five distinct types of dogs:
- Mastiff
- Wolf-like dogs
- Greyhounds
- Pointer-type
- Sheepdogs
Over the centuries, interbreeding, genetic mutation and man’s desire to ‘refine’ certain qualities in some dogs, resulted in the 400+ distinctive dog breeds we know today.