I've been around dogs all my life, and having been a dog sledder and a snowboarder who has been rescued by a St. Bernard before (no, there wasn't brandy in the barrel but rather a phone, a GPS transmitter, some sort of food bar, and a thermal blanket, I was very disappointed.
It is a common misconception that huskies are a breed, but infact, they are a constantly changing cross of breeds for the traits of strength, speed, endurance, long hair to keep warm and resilience to the cold. When I was sledding, there were always people in the bar discussing what cross of breeds made the best husky. There is one guy I know who is probably the most anal guy when it comes to husky breeding who won't breed 2 huskies as the traits from the original breeds will get diminished through breeding huskies together. He has one husky that's in it's 20's and still strong and healthy
St. Bernards are probably the most famous breed that was manipulated specifically for mountain search and rescue. The long hair, endurance to the cold, strength and stamina along with it's senses were all bred into it specifically for trapsing through the snow and finding people who are lost.
Breed manipulation like this, I believe is perfectly fine, and I encourage it.
However, breeding things like a chipoo (chiwawa poodle mix) to be like a poodle, but smaller and cuter, I don't agree with as they have so many issues it's just cruel and unfair in my opinion. Don't breed dogs to make a smaller version of another breed as people who do this generally don't take health complications into consideration.
