top of page

Understanding Purebreds and Hybrids

 

All purebreds dogs were originally produced by an allowable amount of inbreeding. This is done with care and expertise by experienced breeders. In order to guarantee a highly desirable trait, the breeding pool becomes restricted and narrow. This may cause something called homozygosity or inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression is a steady decline in the overall health of the breed. When the genetic pool is widened, there is a reversal of this depression that is referred to as hybrid vigor. Put simply, there is a beneficial result to overall health from the widening of the genetic pool in crossbreeding.

Hybrid vigor is a scientific fact.

 

The F1 generation (the crossing of two different purebreds) will likely result in an increase in healthiness beyond that of either parent. This is called HETEROSIS. This is one reason for the popularity of the hybrid dog.

Overall health versus genetic recessive mutations

Some breeds develop known weaknesses genetically. Mostly, these are controlled by experienced breeders. Hybrid vigor will not necessarily fix these. An F1 puppy will also have the same tendencies as the parents on both sides. Hybrid vigor is not a magic formula allowing carelessly selected parents. Healthy dogs on both sides must be chosen but there is NO GUARANTEE that an F1 puppy will be free of known breed tendencies.

F1b and allergies

The second cross of dogs in our program is the breeding back process to effect a certain trait.

Mostly, we breed back to poodles in order to increase the likelihood of hypoallergenic coats. We specifically will breed a yorkipoo or pyredoodle back to a full-bred poodle (not from the line) to create an F1b generation. These puppies have an increased chance of being hypoallergenic but there is still no guarantee and a buyer must visit and determine their response to a puppy.

F2 breeding

An F2 is the breeding of an F1 dog to an F1 dog. 

heterosis: the tendency of a crossbred individual to show qualities superior to those of both parents.

bottom of page