For many decades, the prevailing advice to bitch owners about selecting a stud dog involved picking a mate that had the phenotypic attributes called for in the breed standard. Visions of pups destined for championships, specialty wins and Best in Shows danced in our heads as we struggled with analyzing pedigrees to figure out which of our candidates were most likely to produce the smaller ears and darker eyes that might prove to be the missing piece of the puzzle. After a train wreck or two involving acquisition of the missing trait along with devastating health problems like epilepsy or autoimmune disease, we learned to include a hopefully thorough investigation and analysis of health concerns as well.
As the concept of a preservation breeder gains momentum in the world of dogs, we are forced to once again re-evaluate many of the truisms that have been accepted over the last forty to fifty years. Plummeting populations of purebred dogs, extreme loss of genetic diversity within breeds and increasing numbers of onerous diseases appearing within families of dogs have led many to warn of the importance of maintaining and increasing the diversity within our breeding stock.
Jeffrey Bragg in his essay Principles for the Breeder recommends the following, “The breeder should strive to ensure that at least two of every litter (unless it should happen to be one of those litters that really had best be forgotten) contribute to the next generation; half the litter should be the ideal, though perhaps a difficult one to maintain. In every instance in which only one progeny from a given mating contributes to the next generation, automatically and infallibly half of the available genetic diversity in that line is lost permanently! If two progeny contribute the theoretical average loss is reduced to 25%, still less if more littermates contribute. This single point is a major source of losses of genetic diversity among purebreds, yet it often goes totally unconsidered by the breeder.”
While a dedicated and established breeder could conceivably have two, or even three bitches, out of a quality litter bred, another challenge presents itself in what is commonly call “the popular sire syndrome”. Dr. Jerrold Bells explains, “An important issue in dog breeding is the popular-sire syndrome. This occurs when a stud dog is used extensively for breeding, spreading his genes quickly throughout the gene pool. There are two problems caused by the popular-sire syndrome. One is that any detrimental genes which the sire carries will significantly increase in frequency – possibly establishing new breed-related genetic disorders. Second, as there are only a certain number of bitches bred each year, overuse of a popular sire excludes the use of other quality males, thus narrowing the diversity of the gene pool.”
Dr. Bell touches on the flip side of the challenge of the popular stud dog. Recently two judges whom I deeply respect talked about the changes that are taking place in our sport. To paraphrase, our sport is becoming a game, where beautiful physical specimens, along with power handlers, advertising campaigns, are tools purchased to facilitate winning. The foundation of our sport was not about building huge records of Best in Show wins or even champion offspring. It was about evaluating breed stock and producing excellent dogs. Our sport has lost its focus. How does it happen that so many breeders seem to believe that the dog with 100 Best in Show wins is a better animal than the one that finished his championship and retired because the owners had neither the money nor the interest in pursuing a record? Or perhaps the best dog might be (gasp) an intact pet supervising the children in someone’s backyard or a retired gentleman’s hunting companion. It behooves all of us who love purebred dogs to reconsider the way we make stud dog choices and place the health of our dogs and gene pools ahead of the big rosettes.
After years and years of attending all-breed dog shows and specialty shows searching for a stud dog, the concepts inherent in selecting a little known stud dog as a breeding prospect stands everything we have been taught on its ear. How does one go about finding one of these mythical creatures if it is not in the ring every weekend? We know beautiful, healthy purebred dogs with awesome temperaments must exist outside the show ring. The location of these animals requires two things. We must be able to recognize them when we see them. The difficulty is that assessing these relatively unknown dogs requires us to have developed our own ability to evaluate dogs. If it is not in the ring, we cannot rely on judging results or the opinions of the ringside oracles. We must have the knowledge and experience to be able to make an objective comparison of any animal against the standard. A complete understanding of the history of the breed and the functional requirements of the its original purpose are important for context and emphasis. Once we have found a likely candidate or two, we must have the confidence to be able to make an independent decision, instead of following the rest of the crowd.
“Breed the best to the best,” we have been told over and over. While many people follow that advice by breeding their bitches to Best in Specialty or ranked dogs, that is a corruption of the intent of this truism. Best does not equal biggest winner. Breeding the best to the best should mean breeding quality bitches to dogs that will produce typical, physically and mentally sound, healthy puppies! There is no ribbon in the world that is as important as puppies that can contribution to a diverse, sustainable gene pool for our breeds. As participation shrinks, we must look outside the show ring to find the dogs most likely to produce healthy pups not only in the next generation, but forty years from now.
So as we begin to think of breeding our bitch, before planning a trip to a dog show, perhaps we should develop a new approach. Sit quietly with a piece of paper and a pencil and make a list of breeders and exhibitors in your breed that you trust without question. This list is your foundation for your search. Contact each of these people and ask them about dogs they own or have bred that might be available for use on your bitch. Talk to them about the physical traits you are looking for as well as, details about health and temperament. From these conversations, make a list of dogs for consideration. Some of them may have been widely shown, but others may be littermates, other relatives or offspring that for whatever sets of reasons have not been shown, much or at all. As you begin to analyze pedigrees of these dogs from a variety of perspectives, include in your thought process the concept of not only producing good dogs for your puppy buyers, but also making a long term contribution to the genetic diversity in your breed. Without attention to this long overlooked criterion, our purebred populations will become unsustainable and that is a preservation breeder’s worst nightmare. Whether dog shows survive into the future or not, preservation breeders must seek to salvage our breeds because of their unique abilities and their potential contributions to a world that we cannot foresee, but cannot imagine without our canine companions.
© Peri Norman 2016