Frankendog vs. Purebred: Can Designer Dog Devotees Get Respect?

The first sign that the Dog Establishment was under attack came in 1988, when a fringe Australian breeder named Wally Conron mixed a labrador retriever with a poodle. Conron’s cocktail, a labradoodle, didn’t immediately upend an old guard teeming with breeders, trainers, chewy bone manufacturers, and psychiatrists—until word of his dogs spread to the U.S. By the late ’90s a rogue market had been born, and bespoke canines the size of Birkin bags began fetching more than $1,000. By the shameless Aughts, the dog community’s dirty little secret was out: Uma Thurman, Miley Cyrus, and Jake Gyllenhaal bought their own designer pooches. Later, President Barack Obama announced that he, too, was considering a labradoodle. In January, YouTube sensation Caesar the Puggle, a gangsta-rapping cross between a pug and a beagle, became the world’s first haute mutt celebrity.

The designer dog market has now grown into its own niche industry. Ten years ago there were only about 40 such breeders, says Rex Meyers, who breeds cavachons, a cross between King Charles spaniels and bichon frisés, on his Iowa farm. Now, Meyers claims, “thousands” are feeding a growing demand. A custom-bred goldendoodle puppy, a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle, costs up to $1,500—twice the price of either of its parents. In spite of such success, however, the industry lacks what it covets most: respect from the Dog Establishment, and the financial opportunities that come with that respect. Tensions come to a boil on July 7-10 as thousands of carefully honed purebreds descend on Paris’s Nord Villepinte exposition center for the World Dog Show 2011, the Art Basel of the canine universe.