Are the Maltipoo and the Cockapoo breeds? Pedigree and the ACCC explained

A Maltipoo is the offspring of a Maltese and a Poodle, or of two Maltipoos. A Cockapoo is the offspring of a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle. These planned crosses between two breeds are sometimes called “designer dogs” or, when one parent is a Poodle, “doodles”.

They are not “criollo” dogs, as mixed-breed dogs are called in Colombia, and they are not the result of an accident: some breeders plan them with the same care as a pure breed. But planning a cross doesn’t make it a breed.

A recognized breed has a standard — a document that describes what it should be like — and a closed population that, generation after generation, resembles that standard. The FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale) publishes those standards for much of the world, Colombia included. Its list of breeds includes the Maltese, the Cocker Spaniel and the Poodle. It does not include the Maltipoo or the Cockapoo.

And they are unlikely to be added soon: two Maltipoos can have puppies that differ widely from one another in size and coat. As long as that happens, there is no fixed type to describe.

A pedigree is the document that certifies a purebred dog’s ancestry: who its parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are, all of them registered. In Colombia it is issued by the ACCC (Asociación Club Canino Colombiano, Colombia’s FCI member kennel club), a private organization.

Its breeding regulations require breeding with dogs that are purebred by pedigree. A cross of two breeds, by definition, doesn’t qualify, so a Maltipoo or a Cockapoo cannot be registered. There is no exception and no official alternative registry: Colombia has no government registry of breeders either.

If someone offers you a Maltipoo “with pedigree”, ask for the registration number and check it with the ACCC. Most likely the paper belongs to one of the parents, or comes from a private registry with no standing.

The same one that should matter to you in a pure breed: the parents’ health, demonstrated. A pedigree tells you who a dog descends from, not whether it is healthy.

Add to that what applies to any puppy: a written contract, a vaccination record signed by a veterinarian, going home no earlier than eight weeks and the legal guarantee under Colombia’s Law 1480 of 2011 (Consumer Statute). The parents, if they are purebred, can be registered: ask about it.

It is a widespread idea and only half true. Crossing two breeds lowers the chance that two copies of the same recessive defect, specific to one of them, come together. But if both breeds share a problem — patellar luxation and retinal atrophy, for example, appear in several small breeds — the cross doesn’t erase it.

Put another way: a cross of two untested dogs is not healthier than anything. A cross of two tested dogs does start with an advantage.

Because the law asks for it and because it is what we would want to be told. The Consumer Statute requires truthful information about what is handed over; presenting a cross as a “breed with pedigree” is misleading advertising.

And because people looking for a Maltipoo or a Cockapoo are almost never looking for a piece of paper: they are looking for a small or medium-sized dog that is sociable, sheds little and is healthy. That can be offered honestly. If a pedigree matters to you — for dog shows, for example — your dog is the Maltese, and the comparison Maltese vs Maltipoo will help you decide.