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Dog Breeding: Choosing A Stud & Setting The Breed Type
When choosing a stud, do not be afraid to approach well-known experts for help. Most of these people maintain a sound perspective, desiring only the best for their breed's reputation. Your female's breeder may also offer assistance when selecting a potential sire.
When considering a stud, be aware that genetically inherited structural, breathing and skin problems may be found among certain breeds and dogs. Only consider those stud dogs that closest meet their breed's Standard. Breeding dogs is not like mixing coffee and milk. Lack of merit in one animal is never compensated by the other. For example, if your female has too profuse a coat, do not breed to a male that is essentially hairless.
You will end up producing a variety of puppies, some too profuse in coat, and others lacking length and density of coat representative of the breed. Always, no matter what criteria you use as a measurement, breed to the ideal dog according to your breed's Standard and one which complements your female.
Timing is essential when contemplating a breeding. Solidify your plans well in advance of your dog's estral cycle. Contact stud owners no less than several months prior to your planned breeding. It can take a considerable amount of time to contact owners of dogs that may prove suitable for your female. Some people even plan their program several years in advance of a breeding.
How Breed Type Is Set
Request and compare copies of the stud dogs' pedigrees. When selection has been narrowed to a few candidates, compare these pedigrees to that of your female. The best breedings are generally those where the pedigrees exhibit several outstanding ancestors common to both the stud and brood female-elect. This is how breed "type" is set.
The formula for establishing and maintaining type is a simple premise. As an example, the sire's sire should be the same dog as the dam's grand sire. This can be reversed to effect a line breeding on the dam's sire as well. Known as "close line breeding," such a formula makes it possible to set type within a breed.
Type can be either good or bad. Line and inbreeding can increase the possibility of producing a super-dog. It must be recognized, however, that at the same time it can also, through augmentation by percentages, produce animals possessed of undesirable characteristics.
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