The mutt is the all-American dog. Call him a random-breed, a mixed-breed or a mongrel, at his best he’s loyal, healthy, smart and friendly – a virtual melting pot of positive canine characteristics. For many animal lovers, owning a mutt is a badge of honor. Many come into the world as “surprises,” born of a homeless stray or a roaming house pet, then sent off to an animal shelter. Others are simply abandoned in parks or at highway rest stops. Adopting one of these unwanted dogs means you are literally saving a life – and the odds are he will make a great companion.

What Makes a Mutt?

The terms “random breed” and “mixed breed” usually refer to a dog of unknown gene pool. A “cross breed” is a dog whose parents were purebreds. If two cross breeds mate, their offspring are also mixed breeds. By the time four different breeds combine in one dog, there’s little chance to predict what breed traits, if any, will dominate in the dog. The common belief that mutts are superior has some truth to it. Over generations, unscrupulous breeders have perpetuated and magnified genetic flaws in many of the most popular purebreds. Today’s generic mutt most resembles the “prototype” or “pariah” dog, the robust original wild dog that was amiable enough to become man’s first canine companion more than 14,000 years ago. This “ideal” dog weighs in at 35 to 50 pounds, is medium brown to dark blonde in color, and measures under 2 feet tall. He has perky ears, strong legs, an alert expression, a back that isn’t overextended, and a long tail that curls slightly at the end.

Choosing Your Mutt

There are some common cross breeds: cockapoos are a cocker spaniel/poodle mix; pek-a-poos mix Pekingese and poodles; labradoodles are bred of Labradors and poodles;…

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Manchester Terrier
A Breed in Crisis?
by RG Benton

The Kennel Club has designated Manchester Terriers as a “Vulnerable Native Breed” because registrations are below 300 per year. That the breed is in decline is not in doubt, and it is not just numbers that are cause for concern, the quality of the dogs is also falling. After several years gap, I attended a Championship Dog Show. These events are intended to showcase the very best dogs. A few years earlier the judge would have had the exceedingly difficult, but pleasurable, task of selecting the best Manchester Terrier from a line up of very good dogs. Not so on this day.Of the assembled Manchester Terriers only two or three could be described as good, and none outstanding. I felt sympathy for the judge who was forced to pick the least worst for his winners.

I am no longer directly involved with Manchester Terriers and do not anticipate the breed becoming extinct in my lifetime, though expect it will pass the point of no return within that time unless effective action is taken to arrest its decline. I firmly believe this is an inevitable consequence of the actions of those within the breed over the years since the end of the Second World War.

What has lead up to this Crisis

A number of significant problems have, over the years, found their way into the Manchester Terrier world. Perhaps I should say Show World, because the reason Manchester Terriers exist at all is because they are Show Dogs, and the Dog Showing Fraternity have been the only people breeding and using these dogs so the root of any problems can only lay there.To my mind the most bizarre fact is that breeders, judges and exhibitors do not agree what the dog actually is and what it looks…

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