A new study was conducted by Gina Bryson of the Royal Veterinary College, U.K., which provides plenty of new information for a cynophilist. The major focus of this research was on designer dogs that are created by intentionally breeding two different purebred dogs, with a view to combining all of their desirable traits. However, the findings of this research revealed something different, which was far from calling them desirable traits.
Understanding hybrid hearts
The popularity of designer dogs is continuously rising all around the world. Such hybrids of two purebreds are driven by the demand for their specific looks, their coats, and apart from these, in parts, it is widely believed that hybrid dogs have more desirable behaviours, including things like it is easier to train them and they have better behaviours towards children in comparison with the other ones. However, very little research has tested those beliefs!
The research conducted by Gina Bryson of the Royal Veterinary College, U.K., tested those beliefs specifically upon some major and highly popular hybrid hearts like Cavapoos, Labradoodles, and Cockapoos. Cavapoos are a dog created by crossbreeding a Cavalier King Charles spaniel with a poodle. Labradoodles are also a popular hybrid dog created by crossbreeding a Labrador retriever and a poodle. Another one is Cockapoos, which are crosses between purebred Cocker spaniel and poodles.
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Research details
The researchers adapted to take a quantitative method during the study and worked on analysing survey data, which was taken from the U.K itself. This data included the survey of all the dog owners who were the masters of a total of 9,402 cavapoos, labradoodles, cockapoos, and their purebred progenitor breeds. The survey tested their behaviours with the help of Canine behavioural assessment as well as by the work on a research questionnaire (C-BARQ), which is an extremely well-established way to analyse different dog behaviours. For each type of designer crossbreed and each of its purebred progenitors, the researchers compared C-BARQ scores for 12 different types of behavioural traits.
Major findings from the research
After the conduct of these tests, the researchers came upon the findings that were extremely challenging to the common beliefs of people. In all of the cases, a total of 44.4% of the comparisons, the crossbreed had more undesirable types of behaviours, which included separation anxiety, non-social fears and an extremely high level of excitability when they were compared with their progenitor breeds. In 9.7% of the comparisons, crossbreeds had fewer problem behaviours and among the rest, 45.8% no notable difference.
Among all the crossbreeds, it was found that cockapoos had highly undesirable types of behaviour overall. They scored the worst score against their progenitor breeds by getting a score of 16/24 among the behaviours. The behaviour cases of cockapoos included the cases of owner-directed aggressions, as well as aggressive states towards strangers, excessive barking, and excitability.
After these, the Cavapoos also achieved a lower score than their progenitors by getting a score of 11/24. They included several behavioural problems which were different from the cockapoos. Problems among Cavapoos included excitability, separation issues, as they frequently suffer from anxiety when left alone, even dog-directed fear, as well as the fear-based reactivity resulting in whining, howling or destruction.
Last but not least, labradoodles scored worse in 5 behaviours but better in 6, these included fewer aggression problems and no issues like owner or dog-related aggression than the purebred poodles. Their behavioural problems are rooted in their high intelligence and energy, including separation anxiety, destructive chewing, and excessive barking. They are prone to overexcitement, leading to jumping on people, leash pulling, and mouthing.
Conclusion
The research had challenged the common beliefs of people and found those beliefs to be false. With the help of this study, the researchers intended to create awareness among the people about the issues that are related to crossbreeding behaviours within dogs.
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