Mutt owners uniting

Mutts are getting a whole lot more respect.

Already riding a surge of unprecedented popularity, dogs of mixed or unknown heritage are getting another boost. Whether short-legged, spotted, curly-haired, barrel-chested, pointy-eared or snub-nosed — or a combination of all of them — multibreed mongrels will be welcomed and extolled at a new registry and Web community launching this week at muttigrees.org.

The American Mutt-i-grees Club — created by the Pet Savers Foundation, the developmental arm of the massive North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, N.Y. — will give voice to the estimated 25 million owners of mixed-breed dogs, send mutt certificates to their pets and ultimately elevate the mixed-breed choice in the public consciousness, says J. John Stevenson, president of NSALA and managing director of the foundation.

"People are incredibly proud of their mixed breeds, and the time is ripe for there to be a way for them to communicate, share ideas and celebrate their choice," Stevenson says.

A parade of proud owners

Indeed, mixed-breed ownership has become something of a badge of honor in some quarters in the past decade or so. Many people who in previous years would not have considered anything other than a purebred now proudly parade about with an obvious mongrel at the end of a leash. They join the millions of mixed-breed owners who have long been almost rhapsodic in singing the praises of their mystery-breed canines.

Stevenson figures that the new club for mongrel lovers will not only be appreciated, but will "change, over time, the way many people view mixed-breed dogs in shelters." The club's efforts will be coupled with upcoming outreach initiatives by the more than 2,000 NSALA partner shelters across the country and educational programs to be launched next year.

The fact is that purebreds that enter shelters nationwide (25 percent to 30 percent of the intake numbers at most facilities) are generally adopted far faster than the mixed breeds. And it is believed that the vast majority of approximately 3 million dogs euthanized in shelters every year are mixed breeds. They are either the result of random encounters between neighborhood dogs, or the overflow from breeders and puppy mill operations that have begun creating litters of specific mixes called hybrids, such as the union of beagles and pugs (known as puggles) or Labradors and poodles (known as Labradoodles).

"Everything we're doing is an effort to promote the desirability of mixed-breed dogs," says Stevenson.