Understanding how dogs are classified is not exactly easy. Not even for me. But it’s not something some research can’t shed light on. So join me in my journey of figuring out the ins and outs of the different kinds of dogs.
The way I understand it, is that there are three major classifications of dogs: Pure breeds, Cross breeds, and Mixed breeds.
Pure breeds are precisely that… pure. Meaning a pure breed dog of a certain breed comes from purebred parents of the same breed, and in turn reveals an entire ancestry of many generations of that same breed. For example, pure mommy Labrador and pure daddy Labrador will bear purebred baby Labradors. With Pure breeds, you’re sure that no characteristics of other dogs get thrown into the mix. What this does is that it preserves the gene pool of the breed, so that that breed, in our example a Labrador, will still always look like the Labrador we’ve always known.
There is a long list of recognized breeds of purebred dogs, most of you may commonly know, like the Beagle, the Chihuahua, the Dalmatian, the English Bulldog, the Pomeranian, the Great Dane, the Saint Bernard, and so many more.
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| Bruno: A Shih Tzu and Miniature Pinscher Hybrid Dog |
Cross breeds on the other hand, or sometimes also known as Hybrid Dogs, are dogs that are products of two purebreds of different breeds. For example, a purebred mommy Shih Tzu and a purebred daddy Miniature Pinscher will give rise to a cross of the two breeds, what may be called a PinTzu. Our guest doggie, Bruno, is actually a PinTzu. With cross breeds, the look of the dogs, even coming from the same litter, may vary. Bruno, for example, got the body size of a Shih Tzu, with the leg proportion of a Pinscher. Bruno got his semi-long wavy fur from the Shih Tzu side, while some of his siblings from the same litter are shorthaired from the Pinscher side. So with crossbreed dogs, it’s going to be like a box of chocolates… you’ll never know exactly what you’re going to get.
These days, the list of different Hybrid Dogs is slowly being recognized. Some examples would be a Dachschund and a Yorkshire Terrier making a Dorkie; a Shih Tzu and a Poodle making a Shih-Poo; a Pomeranian and a Shetland Sheepdog making a Poshie; and a Pekingese and a Toy Fox Terrier making a Foxingese. Naming cross breeds seems fun, doesn’t it?!
Mixed breeds, meanwhile, are your typical mutts or mongrels, or as we Filipinos know them, askals or aspins. It is usually no longer known which breeds are in these dogs. Perhaps a wrinkled forehead could be signs of a Pug heritage, a small size could hint a Chihuahua ancestry, and so on, but only heaven knows.
So there. Pure breeds, Cross breeds, and Mixed breeds. I think that’ll be enough for lesson number 1. Let’s all mull over this, and perhaps delve into each one further in the future.
So where does being a Sosyal Dog factor into all these?
We’d honestly like to refrain from the tendency of branding Pure breeds as the only Sosyal Dogs. Because truth be told, any breed, no matter how pure, when mistreated and uncared for, won’t make for a Sosyal Dog at all. And on the other extreme, even if your dog is so Askal-ized that it looks like a Siamese Cat, if it’s pampered, cared and loved enough, then it would certainly still belong in the ranks of our Sosyal Dogs.
So is your best friend Pure, Cross or Mixed bred? Or is he just plain Sosyal bred?! Let us know!
