[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Breeding--KNOW YOUR PEDIGREES

  • From: Zoa Rockenstein <zrockenstein@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: inflight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:00:44 -0800 (PST)

Thank you for taking the time to prepare this excellent advice!!!  I appreciate 
it greatly!!!
 Zoa
Dr. Zoa Rockenstein
www.riverrockshepherds.com 




________________________________
From: Kathaleen Strong <inflight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: zrockenstein@xxxxxxxxx; showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 1:19:45 PM
Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Breeding--KNOW YOUR PEDIGREES

It's always a good place to start with your bitch.  You have to be brutally
honest in evaluating your bitch -- take your feelings out of the equation,
take her show record out of the equation - review her hip/elbow & health
information and then look at the bitch as an individual with nothing other
than her temperament, motion, structure, and overall breed type - compare it
to what the standard says is correct, even if you don't like it. 

1) What qualities/faults does she bring to the equation?
2) What would you like to change/correct in your bitch in the resulting
puppies?
3) If she has been bred before, what did you try to correct and what were
the results?  Where you happy with the overall resulting quality of the
litter?  If you haven't bred her before, what are her parents/grandparents
known to produce both good and bad? If known, what were your bitch's
littermates like? (this is important)  What are the health and longevity
strength/weaknesses behind her?    
4) After you have evaluated all these items when it comes to her, as an
individual, now look at her pedigree -- what strengths and weaknesses can
you determine from it?  What incidence of missing teeth, bad bites, down
ears, long coats, monorchids, hearts, hips/elbows, bloat, and torsion are
there in the immediate 3 generations?  Is she linebred?  How heavily
(sometimes you have to go back past 4 generations, ie a dog who's linebred
on Dog A (5,4,6,5,6,5 - 5,5,4,5,6,5) could be still considered heavily
linebred)?  Is there a portion of her pedigree that you prefer the dogs in?
With your brutally honest evaluation of her as an individual, knowing her
strengths, weaknesses and areas you'd like to hopefully improve on in the
resulting puppies -- look at the pedigree and see if she is typical of one
side of the pedigree or the other?  

Now looking at the results of those questions -- this should give you a
direction as to where to start looking.    If you have the ideas of what you
want to change in your bitch, start looking first at dogs who 1) Compensate
toward correct in these items and remember they may or may not themselves be
entirely correct themselves, but tend to produce it; 2) After you've
narrowed it down to a few dogs who look like they fit the bill, answer
questions 1-4 for the dog also; Be especially cognizant of the pedigree and
puppies produced so far.  Don't consider your feelings in relation to the
dog.  Don't consider titles the dog has achieved, these are fluff used to
sell resulting puppies, not produce a quality litter.  The only things other
than how the dog himself can help you compensate for your bitch to consider
are his hip/elbow/health information, how the pedigree looks in comparison
to your bitch, what the dog has produced that you like.  When looking at his
puppies, you should try to determine what the bitches he was bred to brought
to the table and what their pedigrees are as well.

Talk to the stud dog owners about their dog, and talk to other people who've
bred their bitches to the dog.  Another thing that should be considered in
the "compensation" theory, sometimes breeding a correct bitch to an extreme
(in some cases not correct) dog is beneficial to bring back angulation, and
vice versa.  Also it is important to note there is a theory, that if left to
Nature's devices, dogs would revert to look more like wild canines -- tall
on leg, straight in angulation -- that as breeders we have to utilize some
extremes to keep that type which is recessive in nature.

I agree with Jamie though -- once you've done all this evaluation,
discussion and research, don't over think it.  If you listen to your gut
instinct/intuition you should make a sound choice.  However, if it doesn't
work out, don't beat yourself up; breeding dogs is the biggest gambling game
anyone has ever been involved in.  Imagine the numbers of dice you're
rolling at once, and then remember no matter how much you plan, no matter
how good it looks on paper, no matter how "it should have worked" ==
sometimes it just doesn't.  Try again. If you have some luck going your way,
your research will pay off with a litter of healthy, quality pups with maybe
a few "stars" in it.

Kathaleen

===========================================================================POST 
is Copyrighted 2008.  All material remains the property of the original author 
and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are 
permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l 
Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY 
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS 
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY 
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE 
PROSECUTED. 

For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx

VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org
NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/
===========================================================================
============================================================================
POST is Copyrighted 2008.  All material remains the property of the original 
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind 
are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the 
Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY 
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS 
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY 
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE 
PROSECUTED. 

For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx

VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org
NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/
============================================================================

Other related posts: