Line Breeding in dogs

Poppo

Hello All
Just wondering whats the opinion on breeding dogs that share grandfathers.Is this a total no no?

DBB

Crossing two first cousins, in other words?
I think it is reasonable in these cases to ask yourself would it be acceptable, genetically, to cross two human cousins? Leave the ethics to one side, for the sake of argument.

Cherry Blossom

Line-breeding usually refers to breeding between generations of the same family grand-father x grand-daughter usually. As for the cousins question - this is illegal between humans here but not in the UK (what would the royal family do if they couldn't selectively breed for big noses? ).

It's a much more complex business than I for one can fathom, there are a lot of genetic factors to take into consideration and most of it goes way over my head, breeders will sometimes even line-breed for health eg. if a certain line is clear of a specific ailment - take 'Fiona' the dalmation for example, I would imagine that close family members were bred together at some stage in establishing that line. (I don't know if this is the case or not, just my imaginings)

Complicated business this inbreeding co-efficient lark!

Whispered

I don't think it is illegal! We had this conversation in work tonight and 2 of the people I am working with have someone who is in a relationship with their cousin, one married with a child.

It's my opinion that inbreeding is wrong. I think a good breeder should do all they can to bring new blood to their stock. Healthier pups has to be the result surely? It's just an opinion mind because I'm not at all well read on genetics having no interest in breeding what so ever.

OP in answer to your question I have heard of people breeding cousins, uncles to nieces and aunts to nephews. These dogs do well in shows and as far as I know it's considered normal. It simply cannot be good for the health of the dogs. But hey - so long as they perfectly meet the breed standard and show well.......

You're probably very well read on breeding etc and what is required, but just in case, please do be aware that there is a lot more to consider when choosing a mate than if they are too closely related or not.

Poppo

Thanks everybody for taking the time to reply.What I am really asking though is whether this is considered normal practice or not.

Cherry Blossom

Poppo wrote: »

Thanks everybody for taking the time to reply.What I am really asking though is whether this is considered normal practice or not.

It's not taken lightly by those considered reputable breeders, personally I would want to hear a very good explanation of why it was done if I was going to buy a pup that had such a mating in it's lines. I do think the overall inbreeding coefficient is very important (it should be as low as possible, less than the breed average) and such a mating would have a big impact on that. The kennel club in the UK have now banned mating of some pairings of close relatives, it doesn't extend to cousins. Whether or not it is considered normal practice would vary considerably from breed to breed I would imagine and you'll find the answer to this in the pedigrees of each breed.

This is a discussion that can only go so far when generalising on such a big scale. You would need to do a lot of research on specific bloodlines lines / within a given breed to go anyway towards answering the question of should 'x' dog be paired with 'y' bitch. It's not something you can be given a yes/no answer to without all of that being looked into by someone extremely knowledgeable and genetics/health savvy in whatever breed it is.