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The Foundation Stock of a Breeding Program

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The Foundation Stock of a Breeding Program Breeders’ Briefcase by Amy Anderson & Bonnie Lane co-chairs of WCA Breeders’ Education Committee THE FOUNDATION STOCK OF A BREEDING PROGRAM By Dr. Carmen Battaglia This article first appeared in The Canine Chronicle, August 2009, and is reprinted with permission. Adversity Does Not Build Character, risk, frustration becomes the inevitable. It Reveals It A few examples illustrate this point. Let’s begin with one of the most When it comes to the animals that popular myths found among those make up the foundation stock of a who are the least skilled in selecting breeding program and the plan for foundation stock. It is the notion that a particular individual, the dog world one breeding to a superior animal can is chock full of folklore, rumors and be used to eliminate health problems. general opinion. This mix of ideas Occasionally this seems to work, but confirms there is a general lack of only because most litters do not show agreement about the planning needed health problems by the time they are to find the best dog(s) in order to sold. This is what leads many into eliminate unwanted diseases and believing they are on the right track. correct certain traits of conformation Not seeing their pups after they have (Brackett, 1960). Such an approach been sold misleads many breeders requires planning and the willingness about the health and quality of their to think smarter using new ideas. With litters. Too often breeders rely on new ideas and improved management, buyer feedback as the primary means breeders can make better selections by which they determine if they are and reduce the confusion caused by making progress. If all of the pups from the uncertainties surrounding the risk each litter were evaluated at maturity a of producing the unwanted traits and different story might be told. In a mobile disorders that lie hidden within the society that relocates with regularity it pedigrees of the breeding stock. is less likely that puppy buyers will take the time to give breeders feedback. FOUNDATION STOCK This causes much information to be The building blocks of a breeding lost particularly if there are health program are called the foundation problems that have a late onset. In stock. These are the dogs whose a majority of these instances, what a traits and pedigrees serve as the base breeder could learn will go unnoticed. from which future generations will be produced. Therefore, these individuals Another myth about selecting should be healthy and as close to the foundation stock is the folklore breed standard as possible. Finding that surrounds the use of outcross those who are best suited for this breedings. In the past, the outcross purpose must be done with care and was thought to be a useful breeding study. Without a good understanding method for hiding or protecting about the strengths and weaknesses breeders against recessive traits. of their pedigrees and how to manage This method was thought to improve PAGE * THE WEIMARANER MAGAZINE * SEPTEMBER 2010 risk aversion. Misguided about the Seasoned breeder understand that outcross, many breeders used this the job of making improvement in method in an attempt to avoid genetic never done and that the process is disorders. Others simply excluded not straightforward or easy. It has its those found to be affected or known ups and downs and a sampling of the to be a carrier. Neither of these unexpected. One of the challenges approaches have proved to be very facing most is to understand the effective. Time, experience, and real meaning behind the time tested science have demonstrated that those principle that “the strength of ones who repeat outcross breeding in an breeding program is based on the attempt to dilute the detrimental effects quality of its bitches.” Over the years of the recessive genes might hide the this popular phrase has been passed carriers, but only temporarily. The risk down from father to son as folklore. of producing them and their unwanted The rationale and data necessary traits does not diminish because the to support it did not surface until recessive genes cannot be diluted; researchers interested in this subject they are either present or not (Bell, began to study why this principle 2000). worked in practice. Hedhammer (1979) led the way when he conducted a Today we know that the principles longitudinal study using 401 litters (or described by Mendel (1850’s) can approximately 2,500 German Shepherd be used to make improvements. He Dogs). His study also demonstrated discovered that the recessives can skip the importance of the dam’s role for one or more generations before they improving structural soundness. He reappear (Battaglia, 2009). This means found that the dam’s influence on her that breeder should not rely on the offspring was greater than that of the rumor and folklore that surrounds many sire by as much as ten percent. His stud dogs. Instead they should do study supports the notion that the dam their own homework and learn about is central to making improvements, their direct ancestors (14) and the particularly in the muscular skeletal littermates of these ancestors. As the areas. Hedhammer was not alone in number of relatives studied increase, his efforts to uncover the usefulness so do the opportunities to understand of this idea. Hutt (1979), a famous the complexities of the problems to geneticist, in his book Genetics for Dog be solved (Felix, 2005). Therefore, Breeders, also refers to research that when pedigree analysis is coupled with supports placing emphasis on quality breeder tools, the odds begin to shift in dams in the breeding program. the direction of the breeder. After years of effort, five principles The most successful breeders are have been associated with the central figures in their breed because selection of foundation stock: they are the individuals who select 1. Use only quality bitches. the stud dogs, choose the method of 2. Remember that the traits and breeding (outcross, inbreeding, and characteristics seen in a puppy line breeding) and provided advice to may change by the time it the buyers about puppy management, becomes mature. AKC registration and mocro-chipping. 3. Outcross breeding do not In short, they have distinguished necessarily produce dogs free of themselves as being “in the know”. recessive traits or lessen the risk of producing carriers. SEPTEMBER 2010 * THE WEIMARANER MAGAZINE * PAGE 4. One breeding will not concentrate • Health Aids – Keno Pet Pad enough genes to produce a litter of • Dual Sired Litters superior animals. 5. Success requires the combination HIP DYSPLASIA of quality animals, good No one doubts the importance of management and proper nutrition. structural soundness in the selection The decision to select certain of foundation stock. For purposes of individuals as foundation stock begins this discussion hip dysplasia (HD) will with a careful study of their traits along be used to illustrate the importance with the relatedness of their close of this process and how the quality of ancestors. Included in this process information can influence the outcome. is an understanding of the modes HD is a polygenic disease that was first of inheritance. Modes of inheritance discovered in 1935. As the popularity are useful because they help in our of the working dog increased in the late understanding of how the desirable 1940”s it became evident to breeders, and undesirable traits are carried dog owners, and veterinarians that the forward from parent to offspring. For frequency of this disease would only be example, a trait might be produced by reduced when breeders learned how to breeding two carriers to each other or manage the carriers in their pedigrees it might involve only one carrier acting (Battaglia, 2009 a,b). Knowing that a alone. Many of the traits and diseases dog has a defective hip based on a that ar of interest to breeder seem to radiograph is only the beginning. The have a polygenic mode of inheritance key to producing dogs with better hips (HD, heart disease, etc.) which means involves an analysis of the fourteen that many genes are involved. Without ancestors in a three-generation DNA test, managing the recessives pedigree along with the littermates becomes a more difficult problem. At of these ancestors. To help in this the current rate of discovery, it appears process, the Orthopedic Foundation that DNA tests for disorders caused for Animals (OFA) has provided by polygenes will be slow in coming. information about the hip status of This should not discourage breeders animals and their offspring through a because other protocols such as database search option (www.offa.org). laboratory results, radiographs, and They have also published the following other phenotypic test, when combined guidelines and recommendations with pedigree analysis, can still (Keller, 2007) for those interested in produce significant improvements in producing dogs with normal hips: just a few generations. GUIDELINES AND TOOLS OF A BREEDER RECOMMENDATIONS • My AKC (My Dogs, Dogs Of 1. Breed normal dogs that come from Interest) normal parents and grandparents. • AKC Record Keeping Service This recommendation places • Pedigrees (Traditional, Stick Dog, emphasis on the immediate Symbol) three generations (50% genetic • DNA Health Tests (n=60+) contribution from each parent, • Continuing Education – 25% from each grandparent • Free at: info@breedingbetterdogs. and 12.5% from each great com grandparent. • Microchip and AKC Registration 2. Breed normal dogs that have • Statistics – Risk Level more than 75% normal siblings. PAGE 10 * THE WEIMARANER MAGAZINE * SEPTEMBER 2010 This recommendation is more difficult because most animals in REFERENCES: a litter become pets and are not Battaglia, C., 2009 a. Managing the carriers, radiographed. part 1. Canine Chronicle, March, 2009, pp. 3. Select dogs for breeding that have 180-182.
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