The articles below are intended for the breeder and the general public. It helps breeders sort through there breeding programs to help guide them in a productive program and towards important goals. It helps the general public those who are in search of a breeder and who desire a dog of good health, temperament and character.

     A committed breeder views his/her dogs as a serious hobby. They work actively with their dogs. Allowing themselves the opportunity to assess the physical and mental characteristics of their dogs prior to deciding to breed that dog. They breed for sound dogs with good temperament with show ring success being secondary to healthy puppies. The committed breeder is eager to share information about the breed and will be very interested in you and your lifestyle. They aren't naturally nosy but have the interest of their dogs in mind. They will also welcome you into their home to see their dogs and the environment they are raised in. Find a breeder that will be willing to discuss the problems that are prevalent in the breed and what they are doing to correct them. They recognize that all breeds have their problems but an informed buyer is a happy buyer.

     A committed breeder will recognize the importance of good socialization of your dog and should readily discuss this with you. They will spend time each day working with their pups to get them used to household activities and noises. They will handle the pups frequently. They will not place the pups in their new homes until at least seven weeks of age. Finally, they will choose a pup for you. These breeders have spent numerous hours working with the puppies and assessing their temperaments. At the same time, they have attempted to determine your needs for a pup and are in the best position to match the two.

     A committed breeder researches his/her dogs and their pedigree. They seek to determine any latent genetic concerns that may be in their dog's background. These same breeders test their dogs for all genetic problems that are of concern to the breed if the technology is available. Genetic concerns will still show up from time to time. Some of these problems may not have any prior history and are completely unexpected. This is all part of breeding but working with a reputable breeder is your best defense. It will reduce the odds of this type of problem occurring. The welfare of their dogs is of the utmost interest to the committed breeder. These breeders will include guarantees in their contract that are in the best interest of their dogs. All dogs that are not intended for breeding should be sold on non breeding contracts.

HOMOZYGOUS- when a dog carries two specific genes that are the same. (One is always passed
on to the offspring)
HETEROZYGOUS- when a dog carries two specific genes that are not the same. This lessens the
chance of passing on desirable traits.
FAULTS- any characteristic or trait that has flaws.
CULLING- elimination (putting to sleep) of poor or sickly animals, dogs that carry traits that are
detrimental to the breed that cannot or should not be used for breeding.
TYPE- as pertaining to specific traits or characteristics that are seen over and over in their ideal
form. (Example: erect ear set)
STRAIN- a particular variation of a common type. (Example: button ears vs. erect ears or any other
retained traits specific to those lines that reproduce true)
HYBRID- when two different purebred animals are bred together, the puppies they produce are
called hybrids.
PROGENY- the offspring of the animal.
PREPOTENCY- an animal that carries dominant genes in a homozygous form. (two of the same)
and passes them onto their offspring.
BLOODLINES- the genes that are carried in a specific individual. Bloodlines are produced over
generations.
GENOTYPE- the true genetic makeup of a dog whether he visually shows them or not. (Example:
he may carry a long leg and a short leg gene)
PHENOTYPE- what the visual genetic makeup of the dog appears to be. (Example: the dog has
long legs)
PURE BREEDING- when one breeds two dogs of the same breed together.
MILLING- mating of dogs to produce litters to satisfy the public or market, as supply and demand.
METHOD- a specific plan or formula to enhance or improve upon a breed.
NOVICE- some one who is inexperienced or a beginner.
LINE BREEDING- breeding back to a close relative to lock in specific traits creating a Prepotent
animal for the purpose of improving the breed.
IN BREEDING- breeding very close relatives for generations in order to create a clone.

Inbreeding
     Inbreeding seems to scare the beejabbers out of some people. For those people who cannot destroy defective dogs, it should. For those serious breeders who can cull and carry on, it will eventually become an option. It is an extremely useful tool for diagnosing what genes are present. If the genes for bad eyes are present, but hidden or recessive, this will bring them out to their full extent.  If there isn't any bad genes, then the puppies will be of very close uniformity and very able to reproduce themselves (theoretically). The resulting puppies will have a lot of genetic material that is the same as their parents and grandparents and will be close genetically to each other.

     What is meant by inbreeding is this; breeding two dogs that are closer than cousins. Typically the combinations are brother/sister, father/daughter, mother/son, and on the looser side, cousin to cousin, grandfather/granddaughter, half-brother and half sister. You get the idea. The dogs should have or be common ancestors. People disagree about the exact point at which inbreeding becomes linebreeding but inbreeding is the quickest way to find out what poor genes are in the line and what dominant characteristics are in the line.

     Genetically what inbreeding does for you is concentrate the traits in your stock, both good and bad and that is stressing good and bad. The bad is as important as the good. While you are fixing all those good traits in your population, a hidden trait may crop up that can wipe you out if you aren't careful. This is the down side of inbreeding. When those traits appear, the affected animal must be removed from the breeding program.

     Inbreeding doesn't introduce new genes and does not eliminate bad genes that the line already has. It only shifts them around like a rubix cube. This often results in litters with high show potential, if the quality was high to begin with. It shows you what recessives you have lurking in the dogs' backgrounds, both good and bad. But there are drawbacks. Besides the possibility of bad recessives, inbreeding exclusively over time will eventually lead to infertility. It's like a xerox machine.  After so many copies, you have to renew the ink. The same with dogs, you have to introduce new genes. No reputable breeder will use inbreeding exclusively, and many breeders simply never use it.

      Inbreeding increases homozygosity and decrease heterozygosity. Homozygosity means that certain traits will double up so that now matter what the dog is bred to it will carry on those specific traits. Heterozygosity means that more genes will be in a single dose and less likely to show up in any given trait. So inbreeding can duplicate both desirable and harmful genes, both of which can be unsuspected in the line, and may appear. Inbreeding does NOT create anomalies; it brings present anomalies to the surface. Even when the anomalies are present, inbreeding might not reveal them.  However, once revealed, then the breeder can do something about them in the next generations of breeding. Usually, you will only find: very experienced breeders, ignorant breeders, and puppy mills making use of this technique.

     Let's say that you've been inbreeding for a couple generations and you now have a genetic defect in your entire breeding population.  Keep inbreeding, looking for those one or two clear animals and use them because they are almost exclusively clear of the problem. An increase in harmful recessives is undesirable but it is not a major drawback if they are identified early. The effect of inbreeding on major polygenic traits is greater. Generally, traits that are highly inherited or ones which are many genes added together to produce the defects, are not adversely affected by inbreeding but, traits under non-additive control, especially those tied to dominance and not of high heritability, are often markedly harmed by inbreeding.

     Inbreeding is not for the faint of heart or those unwilling to keep their pups long enough to make positive assessments. But for those who are breeding with a goal in mind, it gives them much greater control over their gene pool and a direction to head towards knowing what exactly they are dealing with in their dogs.

Line breeding
     Line breeding is when the sire and the dam are distantly related: grandsire to granddaughter, granddam to grandson, second cousins, half cousins, uncle to niece, aunt to nephew. The general strategy is that there is a common ancestor that is being doubled up on both sides. So the desired dog appears several times in the pedigree which is of excellent quality in everyway.

     This is probably the most common strategy in breeding purebred dogs (and in developing new breeds, for that matter). Through this method, new genes are slowly introduced and unwanted genes are slowly replaced. The actual rate varies by how strongly you line breed. It sacrifices little overall quality in terms of show quality. Usually the puppies are rather close in general conformation. The only problem with this method is that it often takes several generations to get poor genes out, (or adding desired genes in) resulting in many puppies that have the same genetic problems (or virtues) that their parents have. And then because some breeders are more interested in winning, they do not place the affected puppies on spay/neuter contracts. This is both a blessing and a curse for the breed. If the breeder is very careful, affected pups can be used wisely to prevent loss of quality, but still remove the affected genes by only breeding the affected pups to known non-carrier relatives.  This way the breeder can again try to "edit out" the bad genes. This process results in dogs that will often reproduce their same level of quality. This is referred to as reaching homozygous litters (more genes of the same kind apparent in the puppies) and thus more uniformity.

     Inbreeding and linebreeding really differ only in degree. Linebreeding is less likely to cause harm than inbreeding. Inbreeding is not for novices. Knowledge of genetics and the breed is required for success. For good results it must be well planned and breeders must be ready for whatever problems it presents.

Outcrossing
     Outcrossing is where the sire and dam are totally unrelated, preferably for three or four generations. The true form of an outcross is between two entirely different breeds because in reality the members of most registered breeds come from a common ancestor (although it may be many, many generations back). It is very rare for outcrosses puppies to be uniform in appearance. Usually there are a very large ranges of sizes, coats, colors, markings, and other distinctive characteristics. Outcrossed litters are generally heterozygous, and do not reliably reproduce themselves, so even the nicest puppy in the litter may not produce the best puppies.

     Outcrossing is generally used to introduce something new to a line -- a better head, better colors, better front, etc. Usually the puppies retained from these breedings are bred back into the breeder's original line to standardize them back into the line's general characteristics and reproducibility -- with the one desired characteristic. The tricky part is that other characteristics may come along for the ride!

     If you are dedicated enough, you can eventually continue breeding by outcrossing alone (but don't expect instant or quick results). You should pick dogs that complement each other well and are similar in general appearance. This is a long hard road to eventually developing a line. Through outcrossing, many health problems can quickly be eliminated (or just as quickly added into your breeding), but usually you do sacrifice some show quality and producibility.

     You have to remember that dogs that appear totally healthy may be carriers of genetic problems.  To find this out, test mating is done to a dog that is affected with the genetic problem (resulting usually in puppies that are both affected and non-affected carriers) or by inbreeding to a related dog that also doesn't show the signs of being affected (usually littermates are used) this will usually result in some puppies free of the problem, some puppies as carriers, and some puppies affected. By breeding two dogs that carry the problem you may have to put all the puppies down).

     There are variations on outcrossing. A "true" outcross could be a dog that has totally unrelated dogs bred together throughout the pedigree. This is very rare. On the other hand, "linecrossing" is a form of outcrossing where dogs from unrelated lines are bred to produce a new line. The sire and dam are usually very linebred from their prospective lines and the resulting puppies are varied in appearance, some looking like the sire's line and some looking like the dam's line and some looking like mixtures of both lines.

     A dog is the product of its genotype, or the genes in its makeup, acting in a specific environment.  Its phenotype is an expression of both the genotype and the environment, that of which you can visibly see.

Four modes of inheritance cause most genetic defects in dogs:
Autosomal recessive or simple recessive
Autosomal dominant
Sex-linked recessive
Polygenic

An autosomal or simple recessive trait results when a matched pair of genes is present on any of 38 pairs of autosomes. An autosome is a nonsex chromosome. Both parents of an affected puppy are carriers of the abnormal gene, but generally do not show the trait.

An autosomal dominant trait results when a trait is expressed even though the pair of genes causing the trait are not matched. Dominant traits are expressed in the heterzygous state, which means only one parent must have a defective gene for the disorder to cause the trait to occur among the offspring.

Sex-linked genes can be either dominant or recessive and always appear on the X-chromosome, making females carriers. The same distinctions between autosomal dominant and recessive traits also apply to sex-linked traits. For example, the dominant gene hides the recessive gene in the female since the female has two X chromosomes. In the male, with only one X chromosome, the single recessive gene that is part of that chromosome expresses itself, causing the same trait that seems to require two genes in the female.

Polygenic traits are controlled by a number of genes, each of which adds in increments to the total phenotype. These are called complex traits because multiple genes are involved. Polygenic traits also are called complex traits because environmental factors are also involved.

     In our quest for breed purity, the superior strain, and classic type, we have made a sad mess of our dogs - with unhappy, neurotic temperaments, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, immune system weakness, skin diseases, blood disorders, endocrine system malfunctions, crippling blood disorders, deliberate deformity, and often even the inability to reproduce their kind without breeder and veterinary intervention. How clever we have been!

     The show ring has also been largely responsible for the decline of breed purpose, working ability and temperament in a great many breeds, notably sporting breeds, herding breeds and sled dog breeds. The quick and easy gratification of blue ribbons and gilt trophies all too readily replaces the hard work necessary to preserve and advance canine working abilities. If our dog breeds are to conform to the ideal of "a sound mind in a sound body" (as advocated by the proponents of the Advanced Registry), the fancy must find some way of ensuring that less dog-breeding takes place along the lines of least resistance and cheap gratification, so that greater attention is paid to working characteristics, temperament and trainability.

     A balanced outlook on breed identity must be restored by integrating canine function with the ideals of conformation, beauty and "type." All kinds of dogs, toy breeds also included, can perform useful functions and respond to training. Those aspects of innate abilities should be given an importance at least fully equal to that of type and conformation instead of being regarded as merely optional. For example, breeding and exhibition of utility breeds such as gundogs, hunting dogs and sled dogs merely for sale as pets and for dog shows, with no effort made to maintain and advance their working capabilities, is an obvious abuse which must lead inevitably to mental and physical degeneracy in those breeds.

     Those who attempt to set aside the balance arrived at by natural selection then struggle to attain and to maintain fitness in their stock. There is more to this than tired expressions about "soundness."  Artificial selection alone, such as that used to produce winning exhibition dogs, involves breeding in a way which blatantly disregards most of the genetic makeup in the canine genome. Since genes assort in groups on chromosomes (a phenomenon known as "linkage"), inbreeding and selection for desired traits of superficial appearance unavoidably affect many other genes which are inadvertently selected and often fixed in a homozygous state in total ignorance of what is happening. This may be a major factor in the current prevalence of genetic diseases. Thus natural selection, when artificial selection is by passed, a high-level of nutrition, and advanced veterinary care is ignored, the breeder finds themselves with flawed genes and genetic unsoundness. It now reasserts it's self at a deeper and more serious level. So much now that healthy and hardy animals can no longer be produced, however they are typey and attractive to the eyes of the judges.

     Declining vigor caused by accidentally fixing in sublethal and subvital genes will not be made up for by breed points and championships. Fitness and ability may not be replaced with impulsive aesthetic criteria. The animal's environment is the ultimate go between of its fitness and the environment will not be denied its say. You may vaccinate the dog and dose him with antibiotics, feed him with vitamins and minerals as you like, enclose him in a sterile pathogen-free laboratory environment if it comes to that! Still natural selection may not be avoided; it only emerges at a deeper level. In a sense the dog's environment includes his own physical body; if the genes which blueprint his physiology are flawed, then the dog is doomed regardless of his beauty and classic breed type.  The truth is that the "superior strain" cannot be produced by manmade breeding programmes and artificial selection; the breeder's decisions are subject to nature's veto at all times.

     With what, then, will the breeder replace natural selection? If he replaces it with profit, the degeneration of his stock will in the end put him out of business because veterinary costs and death eat up his profit margin. If he replaces it with beauty contests, in the end his beautiful contest winners will only promote weaklings and degenerates. If he replaces it with screening programmes for the  "elimination of genetic defects," in the end his stock will succumb to inbreeding depression as bitches fail to whelp naturally and puppies die in the nest. If he replaces it with veterinary care, in the end his stock will die prematurely of incurable cancer, or the young will fall prey to viral diseases despite repeated vaccinations. If he replaces it with work and austerity, his stock may endure awhile longer, but in the end it will turn out to be afflicted with genetic ills that slipped through his demanding programme, or its performance will mysteriously decline as the inbreeding coefficient creeps upward.  In the end, natural selection cannot truly be replaced with artificial criteria. The breeder must find a way to work with natural selection, within the framework of what is now known about the biological operation of the natural world. We in the canine fancy must begin to take lessons from wildlife biologists, from evolutionary biologists, from population geneticists.