“Is Diversity testing enough?” is a great article and helped clarify in my mind the sorts of additional and not-so-intuitive considerations I need to examine before allowing my Black Russians to be used in breedin programs. I just wish there was an effective way to get all BRT breeders to place DNA results for all their breedable BRTs into this database. It would be great to be able to run a comparative analysis and select the best and most diverse ptential pairings.
I would also welcome more informational/educational emails from BetterBred.com that will help educate me and keep driving these concepts home in my mind. I would then forward them to owners of our puppies as well as others intereste in dogs, so that they can see the tenets of responsible breeding of which they may never have been aware.
Is it okay to translate this (and other of your) articles to our club magazine, with credit of course. There’s a lot of important information here, but some of our breeders don’t know enough English at this level (scientific) to understand everything.
This is a wonderful article! I so wish I’d had this information – and the opportunity to “test it out” – over the last 30 years of my involvement (breeding/showing) with Pembroke Welsh Corgis… This would have been especially valuable to me as a small but serious breeder – one or less litters a year. Inbreeding/line breeding/outcrosses… how confusing! And, often, how controversial! Should I use the “flavor of the year” stud dog? How likely is that short upper-arm in that otherwise beautiful bitch to persist in her offspring? I wish I’d had tools to help with these decisions, especially when as a small breeder each litter for me was literally of singular importance. I at times personally subscribed to the sneaky belief that the success or failure in the development of many prominantly successful “lines” was the result of lots of hits and misses, often of “gut-level” decisions (in fairness, potentially – even subliminally – fostered from results over a number of years and litters) and with a lot of luck in the “breeding is a crapshoot” reality.This then becomes even more of an issue for “small-time” breeders like myself who have a much more limited number of pups to select from for their own future program, and the success or failure of that plan…
Thank you for this information and these potential tools! In any event I find this so totally fascinating! Ilona Peckham/Pelona Pembrokes
Hi Dee- You should be able to get to each class by click on the link – it may not be obvious the text is a link. For example, click on “introduction to Genetics with BetterBred” and this should take you to each class. From there, click on each class of interest (again it might not look like a link). Please let me know if this helps.
This is a great article! Thank you for posting. It is a hot topic in the Black Russian Terrier world these days and this does an excellent job of debunking the myths about the mega-DNA testing people are paying for these days. Thank you Rebekah!
Congratulations! Time goes so fast. BetterBred and its tools are poised to lead us into a positive future for our breed’s health (Black Russians) if people will get involved, join, and use the tools. I hope everyone will post the BetterBred link to their breed’s Facebook page and get people more involved. Time is precious but so are our beloved breeds and the health of their breed into the future.
This BetterBred blogpost what include two important new insights will hopefully bring the awareness this breed needs.
That it accomplish the mindset from the majority of breeders and owners to a healthier breeding approach.
Would it be great to write some positive history in regard of the Dobermann and breeding in the 21th century.
I’m curious about the genetic outliers you mentioned, inspiring to read. It’s no surprise for me that there are still Dobermann around
the globe who are outliers.
I’ll wish that everyone who read this and has the breed in their head and heart will also see the glimmper of hope on the horizon !
Beautifully explained.
Thank you. A friend was looking for a good article to present to her breed’s fancy to bring them along into the Canine Genetic Diversity DNA testing and BetterBred – I will let her know, the intro has been delivered!
“Is Diversity testing enough?” is a great article and helped clarify in my mind the sorts of additional and not-so-intuitive considerations I need to examine before allowing my Black Russians to be used in breedin programs. I just wish there was an effective way to get all BRT breeders to place DNA results for all their breedable BRTs into this database. It would be great to be able to run a comparative analysis and select the best and most diverse ptential pairings.
I would also welcome more informational/educational emails from BetterBred.com that will help educate me and keep driving these concepts home in my mind. I would then forward them to owners of our puppies as well as others intereste in dogs, so that they can see the tenets of responsible breeding of which they may never have been aware.
Hi!
Is it okay to translate this (and other of your) articles to our club magazine, with credit of course. There’s a lot of important information here, but some of our breeders don’t know enough English at this level (scientific) to understand everything.
WBR,
Katja Ikonen
Hi Katja – I will send you an email about this! I’m glad you are enjoying our blogs.
This is a wonderful article! I so wish I’d had this information – and the opportunity to “test it out” – over the last 30 years of my involvement (breeding/showing) with Pembroke Welsh Corgis… This would have been especially valuable to me as a small but serious breeder – one or less litters a year. Inbreeding/line breeding/outcrosses… how confusing! And, often, how controversial! Should I use the “flavor of the year” stud dog? How likely is that short upper-arm in that otherwise beautiful bitch to persist in her offspring? I wish I’d had tools to help with these decisions, especially when as a small breeder each litter for me was literally of singular importance. I at times personally subscribed to the sneaky belief that the success or failure in the development of many prominantly successful “lines” was the result of lots of hits and misses, often of “gut-level” decisions (in fairness, potentially – even subliminally – fostered from results over a number of years and litters) and with a lot of luck in the “breeding is a crapshoot” reality.This then becomes even more of an issue for “small-time” breeders like myself who have a much more limited number of pups to select from for their own future program, and the success or failure of that plan…
Thank you for this information and these potential tools! In any event I find this so totally fascinating! Ilona Peckham/Pelona Pembrokes
Hi Dee- You should be able to get to each class by click on the link – it may not be obvious the text is a link. For example, click on “introduction to Genetics with BetterBred” and this should take you to each class. From there, click on each class of interest (again it might not look like a link). Please let me know if this helps.
This is a great article! Thank you for posting. It is a hot topic in the Black Russian Terrier world these days and this does an excellent job of debunking the myths about the mega-DNA testing people are paying for these days. Thank you Rebekah!
Congratulations! Time goes so fast. BetterBred and its tools are poised to lead us into a positive future for our breed’s health (Black Russians) if people will get involved, join, and use the tools. I hope everyone will post the BetterBred link to their breed’s Facebook page and get people more involved. Time is precious but so are our beloved breeds and the health of their breed into the future.
Dear Natalie,
This BetterBred blogpost what include two important new insights will hopefully bring the awareness this breed needs.
That it accomplish the mindset from the majority of breeders and owners to a healthier breeding approach.
Would it be great to write some positive history in regard of the Dobermann and breeding in the 21th century.
I’m curious about the genetic outliers you mentioned, inspiring to read. It’s no surprise for me that there are still Dobermann around
the globe who are outliers.
I’ll wish that everyone who read this and has the breed in their head and heart will also see the glimmper of hope on the horizon !
It has make me smile.
Thank you for the share,
Daniëlle
Beautifully explained.
Thank you. A friend was looking for a good article to present to her breed’s fancy to bring them along into the Canine Genetic Diversity DNA testing and BetterBred – I will let her know, the intro has been delivered!