New dog how to begin the search?

[DISNEYNIC]

There seems to be a lot of negativity about crossbreeds on this post but I have an 11 month old cockapoo who is just perfect for my family. I haven't heard anyone use the 'mogrel' term for a while!

She is loving, well behaved, funny and doesn't shed which is good as I am allergic but she doesn't affect me at all.

[djewkes]

This is Amber, my cavachon (cavalier x bichon fries) a real character... with Ellie our tri cavalier King Charles spaniel

[Lisa123wm]

I don’t think it’s negativity about cross breeds/mixed breeds/Heinz 57s 😉, it’s just the cost of these ‘designer dogs’ that make people raise their eyebrows tbh 😳
People often get them because they think they’ll rule out certain allergies etc. But, it’s not always true. Also, you could get the positive parts of each breed or you could end up with the less desirable traits. You don’t really know.
Saying that, all dogs are different and aren’t all true to their breed’s characteristics - ours certainly isn’t a typical Cavvie 😆

[bernard301]

The breed decision is something I'll leave to you but in terms of finding the right dog I used pets4homes to get an idea of the right price for my dog and then looked up the Kennel Club breeder list for that breed. I then emailled all the breeders registered explaining my circumstances, requirements and waited for their replies. Some breeders couldn't help, some put me in touch with some other breeders. In the end I identified two potential litters

What I would say is:

Be prepared to travel for the right dog.
Be prepared to walk away the moment things don't feel right with the breeder.

As an aside, our breeder is a gundog trainer/breeder with a history of working dogs in the military, one piece of advice he gave for our Springer was not to assume that every dog needs hours of walking everyday and many dogs need stimulation rather than exercise so people end up with high drive, ridiculously fit dogs that are destructive because they have insufficient stimulation not because they need exercise

[Guest]

Originally Posted by DISNEYNIC

There seems to be a lot of negativity about crossbreeds on this post but I have an 11 month old cockapoo who is just perfect for my family. I haven't heard anyone use the 'mogrel' term for a while!

She is loving, well behaved, funny and doesn't shed which is good as I am allergic but she doesn't affect me at all.

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I made a comment about crossbreeds on this thread. I can assure you I have nothing against cross breeds, in fact I think I would be happy with any dog. Yours looks absolutely, heart-breakingly gorgeous. Also I worked for a pet insurer for a while and a cross breed is a better insurance risk and on average is expected to have less health troubles than a pure bred.

What I don't like though, is people using terms like "cavapoo" or "cockapoo" or "labradoodle" or "puggle" and then justifying charging high prices as if they are a pure bred dog. I think some people think "cavapoo" or whatever is an actual breed.

[Posiesmum]

I’d like to put a word in for Staffies. We’d always had dachshunds (great little dogs) but DH talked me into a Staffie rescue, very much against my will. However, our Boris is the loveliest, funniest (and stupidest!) dog we’ve ever had. We are fairly experienced dog owners, so a rescue was fine for us. Battersea knew all his past history and he was fully house trained. However Staffie puppies are just so cute and Staffies are excellent family pets.