Ploafmaster General

Yesterday I had a rather nice exchange with a co-worker. I say nice because she’s not on my team, and in fact is in a department that’s frequently at odds with mine, and folks in her group don’t typically just socialize with folks on my team.

The content of the conversation was a little funny, however…she just launched into a story about how she’d just purchased $150 worth of dog supplies in an effort to show her husband that she was ready to get a dog she’d been waiting on. This wasn’t just a little puppy she wanted…this was a dog that’s on hold for her…a “yorkie-poo.”

WTF is a yorkie-poo? It’s one of them new-fangled “designer” dogs, where a breeder combines two pure-breeds into what is essentially a specialized mutt. That costs money. Sometimes as much as a pure-breed.

So why on earth would somebody do this? Well apparently to obtain a dog with desireable attributes from two different breeds while weeding out the defects that come from in-breeding. Poodles have become very popular because of their intelligence and general lack of shedding, though my mom’s late poodle was a strong argument to the contrary in the poodle intelligence camp.

The rise of cross breeding poodles with other dogs has led to the development of the most sickeningly saccharine names, like yorkie-poo, doxie-poo (dachshund + poodle), and schnoodle (schnauzer + poodle).

I’d personally like to mix a Boxer with a Poodle and see if I end up with a Box-o-poo.