Australia is following America with the designer dog fad too. They're becoming very popular here (although I guess it was our Labradoodles that started it, but no one bothered with them until the maltipoos and yorkipoos started to arrive in the pet shops). It doesn't help us that one of our biggest TV celebrities (who hosted the most popular lifestyle show for many many years) is behind the designer mutts 100%. *sigh* He promoted them (and a puppymill) on his show. So freaking sad. It disgusted me. It wasn't a one time thing, he did these things called 'road tests' which basically profile a particular breed of pet and he had a lot of the designer mutts road tested on his show with big promos for the bastards who bred them.
I'll bet he's a huge reason why they've gained popularity down here.
This is the 'road test' section of his
website.. check out the archives as well.
Cass.