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Posted by DRAGONSLAYER
on September 6, 2009, 11:44 pm, in reply to "PLANNED BREEDING - by Lloyd C. Bracket Part 1"
166.164.78.16
IMPORTANCE IN SELECTION OF b###hES
Having decided upon the breeding program as has been briefly outlined, my next step, of course, was to find and obtain the necessary b###hes with which to implement it. This is not an easy task at any time, or in any breed. Owners of females of breeding age who have proven themselves, or because of type and bloodlines give promise of being worthy producers, are loathe to part with them. When one adds the stipulation that they must be daughters of certain studs, their procurement becomes increasingly difficult. Suffice it to say here, with no explanation than that it took me about two years to find and obtain them, I DID get a daughter of each of the above three studs. Moreover, in most respects they evidenced the traits for which their sires were notable, and for which I had chosen them to found a strain.
With only the mention of my foundation b###hES given above, I am sure I have not sufficiently stressed their importance. It is a much used aphorism that no stable is better than its mares, and no kennel better than its b###hes. That, of course, is true. The most valuable acquisition a would-be dog breeder can make is that of a good b###h or b###hes. Without one or more of these, the tasks of breeding superior specimens in any breed is a long, if not indeed a hopeless one. It is better, surely, if the b###h herself possesses all the attributes of a show specimen, but of great importance also is her genetic background. it is in her bloodlines, as delineated by her pedigree, that her potential worth can best be judged.
Perhaps some elaboration and explanation of that statement should be made, especially as there are those who believe that a top b###h, regardless of what may be behind her in bloodlines, will as likely produce good ones as well as another who, though less perfect herself, has a family of good ones behind. Every experienced dog breeder knows, and it was pointed out in an earlier installment, that sometimes a superior specimen will come from a quite nondescript an it-or-miss mating. Such a one is an accident or "happenstance." To claim that a b###h is more likely to reproduce in her own image than that of any one of her litter mates, for instance, is to demonstrate an ignorance of the laws of heredity. Which one or ones, if any, in the litter might carry the genes for the characteristics she alone manifests can be determined only by testing them as breeders.
Here as an illustration is just one example of many observed during my experimental dog breeding days. In a litter of eight there appeared only one who was white. Structurally she was the best of the lot and quite a superior specimen. Bred a total of seven times during her lifetime, she herself never produced a white, nor did any appear in succeeding generations, at least not up to fourth, when I lost track of them. She either did not carry the genes for white, or the genes for pigment which she carried were dominant. On the other hand, several of her sisters did whelp white.
b###h'S BACKGROUND OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE
While one of the tenets of all animal breeding is selectivity, this does not mean that a superior b###h, with nothing behind her in sufficient strength to dominate, can be expected to produce as well as another who, although somewhat less perfect in her own structure, has a family tree inbred or linebred upon superior quality.
The sometimes heard statement that "Like produces like" if far from being a dependable truism. BOTH are of importance, the overall quality and type of the b###h, as well as her family tree, but of the two the latter will be found to have the more influence both for good and for bad. The first article in this series explained why this MUST be true.
It is my desire to get away from the subject of my personal operations, in the matter of building a strain, as quickly as possible. Supplying a record of all, or of even a few, of the inter-related matings would, I fear not only somewhat confusing, unless pedigrees were given for study, but would also result in book-length articles unsuitable for a magazine and particularly for one read by fanciers of all breeds. However, in order to explain the "how," it seems necessary to continue with that subject to a somewhat greater length.
Having obtained the three foundation b###hes, each related to the others through their sires, and with one having both Pfeffer and Arras close up in her pedigree, I was ready to begin breeding operations, ready, I thought and hoped, to start a breeding program from which would eventuate a noteworthy strain of dogs.
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“It’s always easier to do things the wrong way, but it’s always best to do them the right way.”
CleoMae Dungy