Agreed, I own a toy poodle/maltese/yorkie mix. I've also noticed people referring to any small poodle mix as a designer dog which may sometimes be the case but my dog doesn't fall into that category. She was a reasonable price at the time and well cared for but the people we got her from did not breed her or her siblings on purpose, it was before the mother was about to be spayed and it may be seen as irresponsible or maybe people might think it was wrong for us to have bought her, but I can tell you she is the perfect dog.
She is intelligent and in great health. She does exhibit some traits that aren't always good but she is not aggressive. She gets along well with everyone but she doesn't like being picked up or held for long. I make sure if she is around my younger cousins that she isn't uncomfortable and I make sure they know to be gentle and I never leave her alone with them of course. She hasn't bitten any of them ever and I will make sure that doesn't happen.
She is 8 pounds and I imagine things can be more frightening to her than they might be to larger dogs. She is small but she still has pride in herself and she is attached to me, I am home all the time and it is not an issue and she is still social when people let her do her own thing, like letting her sit by herself or walk around.
She is small but she is still a dog and she wants to be important and she doesn't let it get in her way. She is always on a leash outside my house and I don't bring her anywhere but to visit my grandparents (Who like having her there) or to the vet or to get her hair cut. If she wasn't spayed, I'd get her bred despite her being a mixed breed, she is just too good for me. She is small and kind of feisty at times but I never thought a dog could care so much for anyone.
She saved me and that isn't any exaggeration, I'd fallen asleep in my room and my laptop was plugged in and the charger overheated. It started a fire, it was a small fire but it would have gotten a lot bigger if she hadn't noticed, if she hadn't been there with me and she hadn't been nudging my head and growling I would have died or been severely hurt. It wasn't big yet but she knew what to do.
Maybe any dog would have done that, I don't know but when I am sick and throwing up, she runs to my parents to alert them. She is small but she really cares, she is my world. She isn't a rat or a designer dog, she isn't taking a home away from a pitbull or any other dog for that matter, she is some sort of miracle. Everyone I've introduced her to falls in love with her, men and women.
She doesn't bite unless provoked and if she does, it never breaks the skin, she gets along with cats and other dogs but she is aware that she is smaller than most people and animals and that is one reason I believe for her tendency to bark, which would be an issue in a city or apartment but we have enough distance from our neighbors.
I do fear for her safety even if pitbulls are currently banned here, I just worry one day she might be attacked and I am scared the ban may be lifted here. I live in Ontario but it is enough of a concern for me that I don't go out alone with her, I couldn't stop a pitbull or any large dog if it happened to go after her.
I wish she could have puppies however, I believe there should be more dogs in the world like her instead of aggressive pitbulls and pitbull mixes everywhere. I've seen and met people buying a puppy for their family and every family deserves to feel that when buying a dog, their children deserve dogs that won't send them to the ER or worse. Older couples buy dogs as well and they deserve a stable dog. In my opinion, I think pitbulls are bred too much and other dog breeds are more and more expensive and bred for looks instead of health or personality. I do not believe contracts need to be involved and I have noticed a lot of dog breeders seem to want a monopoly and this can make it harder for people to buy a suitable puppy and probably leads to people looking to adopt from a shelter or rescue.
It is a spectrum, there are breeders who aren't part of any organization but sell healthy puppies, purebred breeders who neglect health or dogs who simply should not reproduce. My dog fits this stereotype, she is a poodle mix who has a yappy bark and was born to a small middle class family who didn't breed dogs, she was cheap and not from any long line of prize winning studs. She should be some neurotic mess according to some but she is a better dog than any other I've met. The family who sold her to us had trained her before we bought her and she was old enough for a home. I wasn't going to take her originally but she was the only puppy who showed affection while we met them and I chose the best dog ever. I just wish there were less pitbulls and more dogs who were like her, in personality. Sorry for the long comment, I just wanted to share how I've been feeling and seeing all these pitbulls being sold to families with kids, well to anyone for that matter. Those dogs shouldn't be allowed to be unfixed, they shouldn't even be allowed at all to be owned by anyone in my opinion.