they sure do! here are some pics of street dogs that have had many generations of interbreeding -- they all have that proto-dog base canine look (bootleg dingo is so good! very accurate) check it out
here are street dogs from India
here are street dogs from Morocco
Now, sometimes, you want a dog to help you do something, like pull a sled, or hunt a burrowing animal, or corral herds, and those dogs will have attributes that distill into
etc. and that’s fine. But some breeders get hung up on aesthetic, arbitrarily deciding it is important to have an especially upturned nose, or especially short, bowed legs or whatever.
Their jaw bones don’t fit together properly. Their upturned noses cause breathing problems, which combine with other attributes to shorten their lifespan - on average they live half as long as, say, a golden retriever. The folds of skin around their face that breeders insist are so iconic to bully breeds trap moisture. Wrinkle faced bully breeds like frenchies, english bulldogs, pugs, and boston terriers are unable to do proper hygiene maintenance by themselves to prevent fungal infection in these folds of skin that can possibly rot their nose right off their face.
to OP’s point: Breeding different dog breeds can be a responsible thing to do, but only if done responsibly.
If you look at those street dogs and imagine hooking one up to a sled in Alaska or Russia, you can see where breeding for attributes we find in sled dogs would actually be the most humane thing you could do. Like, it snows in India. And those dogs mostly survive it. But it would be very cruel to take one out into the Siberian tundra.
On the other hand, some classic breeds have been twisted beyond their intended needs, and newer designer dogs are being thrown together with no sense of responsibility.
Labradoodles, for example, are super cute and backyard breeders were quick to take advantage of that for cash, without researching the bloodlines to avoid genetic problems.. in this case the fact that both labs and poodles have a genetic propensity for not only progressive retinal atrophy, which can cause blindness, but also von Willebrand's disease, a bleeding disorder. As a result, now Labradoodles are at higher risk for these specific health risks.
This is of special interest to me because I wanted a husky mix, and I knew about pomskies, these dogs:
a cross between huskies and pomeranians. But Pomskies are backyard designer dogs, bred with no thought beyond “omg cute”. They do not necessarily have good personality or health traits to combine.
So I found Klee Kais. These dogs:
Just as cute, much better dog.
Klee Kais were bred with a lot of research and forethought. Negative personality traits were diminished, positive behaviors were strengthened, genetic compatibility and health was of great concern. There were goals. There was a greater purpose, beyond just being super cute.
In the 80′s there was a responsible professional breeder in Alaska, a woman who had been breeding full sized siberian huskies. But she found herself wanting a husky that would be ideal for someone who lived in an apartment.
She needed to bring the size down, she needed to address some husky behavioral tendencies, and she needed to ensure she didn’t create genetic health risks. So she used two other breeds to do these things safely.
and the German Spitz (aka the American Eskimo Dog)
careful responsible breeding wound up with Klee Kais, which come in three sizes
They are very healthy dogs, genetically. Also, they are better pets for average people than huskies tend to be.
Huskies are often very independent, they will choose to not listen, can be difficult to train, and often escape to go adventuring. They don’t make good guard dogs, often being very happy-go-lucky and not caring what you do if you aren’t directly fucking with their actual body. So you can come in and steal the TV and they’ll be like “Play? No? TV? Fine, I never watch that thing anyway.”
German spitz were often used as circus dogs, because they are very eager to please. They are extremely trainable, and they are velcro dogs, they stick to you, there’s no way they’re going to run away, they want to come to the bathroom with you. Schipperkes are little herding and alarm dogs, so they are also trainable and make good guard dogs. When these attributes replace those troublesome husky tendencies to ignore you, befriend intruders, and escape on field trips, you get a very good dog, well suited to apartment living, ideal for following you around and behaving well in a city.
And that’s exactly what I got with my dog Badger
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