Today Tonight story - designer dogs

That doggie in the window just got a whole lot more expensive. Because like Gucci and Armani, dogs have become fashionable brands, such as the labradoodle and the spoodle: “designer dogs” marketed to yuppies.

Ten per cent of dogs in Australia are so-called designer dogs, the latest fashion accessory, crossbred mongrels, cute and expensive.

Vet Rob Zammit is an aggressive critic of these trendy hybrid pooches.

“I’ve seen some at $3000 for some of the designer dogs, which is an incredible amount to be paying and with no guarantees,” Rob said.

His former colleague, TV gardener Don Burke, was the first to spruik one of the original designer dogs as a family pet: the labradoodle.

The bitter feud over crossbreds versus purebreds continues.

“The experiments failed and unfortunately we’re seeing a lot of dogs that don’t work out,” Rob said. “And its going to cost too much money to fix and the dogs become a nuisance and the dog is dumped.”

Donna Sullivan from the Animal Welfare league sees first hand the health problems and genetic defects of cross bred dogs gone wrong.

“We’re seeing a lot of adult dogs and puppies come through with things like soft pallet, ear and eye problems, hip dysplasia,” Donna said.

She wants greedy, unregistered breeders to be held accountable and shut down.

“They’re bred obviously to sell and when the breeder can’t sell them, they’ve got nothing to do with them and the responsibility is put on us.”

The clever marketing of these designer dogs is a reason unscrupulous puppy farmers are mass-producing dogs like they’re going out of fashion. But don’t be tricked: none of the breeders for these dogs can legally be registered.

“People are being tricked into believing these crossbred dogs, your cavoodles and your bealiers, are registered breeds - and they're not,” Donna said.

From: Today Tonight