Many
breeders believe that the ideal brood bitch may
come about by luck, as opposed to searching for
her. This is not true. In fact, a breeder can
plan and structure the pedigrees of both the sire
and dam with the correct phenotype for producing a
superior quality brood bitch. Before discussing
how to plan and structure the pedigree, you need
to understand what ‘Direct Female Line’ and
‘Female Family Inbreeding/Linebreeding’ are.
4.1
Direct Tail Female line
Each
dog has a direct tail female line and a direct
sire line in the pedigree but breeders need to
identify a good reproductive record from direct
tail female line in the pedigree. The direct tail
female line is located on the dam side. In figure
4.1, all the bitches are along the bottom line of
the pedigree (highlighted in yellow) while direct
sire line is located on the sire side, (sires are
located along the top line of the pedigree and are
highlighted in green in figure 4.1). In order to
select a quality dam with true “Direct Tail Female
Line”, breeders need to research and study the
relevant reproductive record.
For
example, Siska had 5 litters, producing 26
puppies. 11 were Champions, which means that
42.3% of her total offspring were Champions. She
also produced one of greatest brood bitches in the
breed history. Siska’s daughter – Fire had 7
litters, producing 31 puppies and she produced 13
Champions with 34.2% of her total offspring
attaining their Championship. In addition, she
also produced Best in Show winners and Specialty
winners. Fire’s daughter – Flame had 4 litters,
producing 19 puppies. She produced 10 Champions
with 52.6% of her total offspring being Champions,
two of these being individual Best in Show winners
and four Runner-Up Best in Show winners.
According to these figures, Siska, Fire and Flame
carried on their consistent producing from
generation to generation and more importantly, it
shows that Spice has quality “Direct Tail Female
Line” in the pedigree.
For
a quality brood bitch, the percentage for her
offspring to become Champions (including
conformation title, obedience title, etc) should be over 30% of her total
offspring. (The percentage should be over 80% if
the total offspring is under 5, over 60% if the
total offspring is between 5 to 10, over 50% if the
total offspring is between 10 and 15, over 40% if
the total offspring is between 15 and 20, and over
30% if the total offspring exceeds 20.) In the
Siberian Husky’s breed history, the most superior
brood bitch produced 13 puppies in the 1980’s.
Twelve of those finished as Champions meaning that
92.3% of her total offspring were Champions.
|
Parents |
2nd Generation |
3rd Generation |
|
cHIEF |
FROSTY |
BRANNIGAN |
|
She-Ari |
|
ERLENE |
BRIGHTON |
|
Nugget |
|
FLAME |
CHIP |
WOODCHIP |
|
DELTA |
|
fIRE |
CHIEF |
|
SISKA |
Figure 4.1 Spice’s Pedigree - the bottom of
pedigree represent the direct tail female line.
4.2
Female Family Inbreeding / Linebreeding
“My
final Conclusion, then is that bloodstock
breeders should take yet another and close look
at the classic methods of mating practiced by
their successful forebears, as discussed in
detail in this book:
inbreed, not to the
same stallion (sire), but to the same
(foundation) mare (dam) within three to
five generations….” -
Breeding Racehorses, Dennis Craig, 1964.
Valuable breeding
methods are those that have been tested over many
years and have produced quality from generation to
generation. “Female Family Inbreeding (FFI)” is
the method that has been documented since the
origin of the Thoroughbred. FFI occurs when an
individual’s sire and dam contribute complementary
strains from the same female ancestors.
Thoroughbred and Canine breeders interpret
inbreeding differently. Thoroughbred breeders
believe that inbreeding occurs when the same
ancestor(s) repeat in 5 generations whereas canine
breeders believe that inbreeding occurs when
breeding brother to sister and parents to
offspring occurs.
Canine breeders
also believe that linebreeding occurs when
breeding grandsire to grand-offspring, uncle to
niece and aunt to nephew. Due to different
interpretations, FFI should be written as “Female
Family lnbreeding / linebreeding” when discussing
canine breeding. The following are examples of
female family inbreeding / linebreeding
pedigrees:
|
Parents |
2nd Generation |
3rd Generation |
|
JORDAN |
SPECS |
JOE |
|
VISA |
|
Maggie |
CHIP |
|
ERLENE |
|
Marilyn |
CHIEF |
FROSTY |
|
ERLENE |
|
SPREE |
credit |
|
Sweetheart |
Figure 4.2. Female Family linebreeding on Erlene
|
Parents |
2nd Generation |
3rd Generation |
|
Caesar |
CREDIT |
TRADER |
|
SAGE |
|
FLAME |
CHIP |
|
FIRE |
|
Indy |
JORDAN |
SPECS |
|
Maggie |
|
RHYTHM |
CREDIT |
|
FLAME |
Figure 4.3. Female Family linebreeding on Flame
|
Parents |
2nd Generation |
3rd Generation |
|
Oceanus |
JORDAN |
SPECS |
|
Maggie |
|
FLAME |
CHIP |
|
FIRE |
|
RHYTHM |
CREDIT |
TRADER |
|
SAGE |
|
FLAME |
CHIP |
|
FIRE |
Figure 4.4. Female Family lnbreeding on Flame
