Mixed breeds are sooooo much healthier.
Myth.
Not really provable-my vet believes that the oldest breeds are healthiest-those that have not been crossbred to change their appearance, size etc-and that are not high on the popularity list-which invites over-breeding-such as what has happened to German Shepherds and other popular large breed dogs. That all produces a higher risk of health problems/defects and a shorter life for the dog. I think she is right-I prefer the larger working/guard breed dogs as companions, and I always purchase a puppy from an AKC recommended kennel-never an adult dog-so that they become part of the pack along with the cats and they are taught to recognize me as the alpha leader from day one, which greatly minimized the chance of attack and bites on family members-I haven’t owned a dog that was not on the “bad dog” list in many years-and I have never had a badly-behaved dog.
I had two German Shepherds-they died at 12 and 13 respectively and both had arthritis. Since they are longer lived, I chose a Chow Chow for my next dog-he died in his sleep at 17, having never had a serious problem-he just slowed down and stopped. I got my Siberian Husky from an AKC sled-and show kennel in WA, near the Canadian border-she stopped in her sleep nearly 2 years ago, having never had a problem at all-she was 4 months shy of 18. Long healthy lives for dogs that weighed 85 and 80 lbs respectively-both of those breeds are centuries old, and have not been tinkered with by breeders much-neither breed is terribly popular or in demand enough to have been overbred...
Some breeds have health problems because of design. The pushed in face breed who have breathing problems because they have been bred for flatter faces is one such health problem. If you breed two very flat faced breeds together the fact that it is a mixed breed will not help the problem. It is a design flaw.
A number of the toy dogs have fragile bone problems. If you breed two different toy breeds together this will not make the problem go away necessarily.
Instead of having a healthier dog a mixed breed may end up with the problems of both it's parents.
That’s odd. Two of my purebreds lived past 18 and two others lived to see 17.