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Most purebred dogs are prone to breed-specific diseases, for example, hip dysplasia in Labrador Retrievers.

Mixed-breed (mongrel) dogs are said to be less prone to genetic diseases than purebred dogs due to higher genetic diversity.

  • Does this also hold true for crossbred dogs?
  • How likely are crossbred dogs (aka "designer" or "hybrid" dogs) to inherit breed-specific diseases of either or both parent breeds?
  • Are crossbred dogs healthier in general, compared to their parents?
JoshDM
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Baarn
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1 Answers1

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I'm going to interpret the genetics portion of the Wikipedia article you cited in plain English, and add what I know from college Biology class:

It depends on the parents you use.

Crossbreeding dogs (hybridization) is a tactic used by breeders to reduce the chance of inheriting a poor trait from a parent. Before breeding, it is important to already know the chance of disease for the particular source breed, and knowing the disease / genetic history of the individual source parent. Genetic testing of the parents prior to breeding may help disqualify parents for crossbreeding.

As a bastardization of theory, inbreeding has traditionally shown to produce poor genetic results; while the introduction of additional genes through cross-breeding may introduce different traits to a line, based on the rules of evolution, the resulting crossbred dog most likely to survive will be the one with the best genes.

JoshDM
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