Dog crossbreed

Dog crossbreeds (sometimes called designer dogs) are dogs which have been intentionally bred from two or more recognized dog breeds. They are not dogs with no purebred ancestors, but are not otherwise recognised as breeds in their own right, and do not necessarily breed true.

Dog crossbreeds are combinations of lineages of the domestic dog; they are distinguished from canid hybrids, which are interspecific crosses between Canis species (wolves, coyotes, jackals, etc.).

Several types of working dog crossbreeds date from the 14th century or earlier, such as the lurcher or the longdog.

Historically, crosses between dogs of different types were more well accepted at a time when modern purebred breeds (based on the eugenics principles) did not yet exist. These types of crosses were performed to aggregate qualities of two different types in the same dog or to perfect an already fixed type of dog, always for working purposes. An example to be cited is the famous case of Lord Orford's Greyhounds, which were improved by adding courage through the crossing with Old English Bulldogs, achieving the desired result after six generations. With the success of Lord Orford's dogs, the practice was adopted by other Greyhound breeders and became more common.

Crossbreeding has played a key characteristic in the development of sled dogs with various crossbreeds developing to meet the specific needs of the era and geographical region, including the Mackenzie River husky, in which European breeds were crossed with Native American dogs to produce a powerful and hardy freighting dog in the 19th century, and the Alaskan husky, bred specifically for sled dog racing. In the 1980s, a rise in Nordic-style sled racing in Scandinavia, characterized by shorter distances than typically seen in North American sled racing, led to the development of the eurohound and greyster, crosses utilizing German shorthair pointers with Alaskan huskies and greyhounds, respectively. While the Mackenzie River husky has been largely replaced by mechanized travel, Alaskan huskies continue to be the most commonly used type of dog for competitive sled dog racing today.

Other historical examples are the bull and terrier (Old English Bulldog and terrier cross) and crosses between foxhounds and Old Spanish Pointers that later resulted in the English Pointer.

The Encyclopædia Britannica traces what was the "designer dog" fad to the late 20th century when breeders began to cross purebred Poodles with other purebred breeds to obtain a dog with the Poodle's hypoallergenic coat, along with various desirable characteristics from other breeds.

The resulting puppies are called by a portmanteau word made up of syllables (or sounds) from the breed names of the two purebred parents, such as Schnoodle (Schnauzer and Poodle cross), or Shepsky (German Shepherd Dog/Siberian Husky cross). Other purebred breeds are being crossed to provide designer dogs described with an endless range of created labels, such as the Puggle (Pug and Beagle cross). There are even complex crosses (with multiple breeds in recent ancestry) being labeled in this manner, such as the German Chusky (German Shepherd Dog, Siberian Husky and Chow Chow cross).