Question on this Pedigree - Page 1

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/547779.html

What is the opinion of VA1 Eiko vom Haus Hazelda being so close in top of pedigree and on bottom of pedigree?

This is a 2-3 linebreeding.  This is the closest linebreeding allowed by the SV.  With any linebreedeing this close you not only get the good of a particuilar dog but the bad as well.

Kyle

The dog is listed for sale on our database and have someone who is interested but they noticed the close line breeding and are backing out...

They are afraid of the bad and health issues

A 2-3 linebreeding is very common in the dog world. It is used to fix type and traits. A dog linebred in this manner, generally is prepotent for his family type when bred.

That being said there remains all the usual questions when choosing to linebreed. What traits of that particular ancestor are you hoping to concentrate? Do the individuals between him and the dogs being mated express the trait(s) you want ( if not it is likely the linebreeding will not give you what you want)?  What traits are you likely to get that you do not want and were those expressed in any of the intervening dogs or with what frequency were they produced by the dog being linebred on and the intervening dogs(health probelms are a good ex here - common ones in the GSD genome are CHD, autoimmune,EPI, heart, bloat,cyrptoorchidism etc etc; For bitches - reproductive traits - freq and length of cycles and # of puppies produced;the structural ones could be things such as overly steep croups, dogs with incorrect fronts and shoulder assembly etc;drives - pack;prey;defensive etc) For me a very important trait to select for because it reflects health and often stability is longevity. If selected for it has a very strong inheritability.

So lets say the hypothetical dog (HD) being linebred on had a gorgeous front extension and the person making the linebreeding is hoping to improve on the front assembly of the impending litter. If his son and grandson that are the intervening dogs AND their progeny have good front the breeder may have agood chance of accomplishing the goal. If those dogs did NOT have good fronts then it is obvious that HD did not pass on that particular trait and it is likely the linebreeding will not accomplish the goal.   The flip side of any inbreeding or linebreeding is that one has to be willing to cull ( today that usually means s/n the affected progeny) any progeny that expressed concentrated undesirable gens. So lets say the breeder got the fronts he was looking for but also got in that litter esophogus problems ( which can be screened for at 8 weeks).  So as you can see breeding is never a clean easy equation. It's always a balancing act. 

For a far better explanation I highly recommend Camen Battagli's Breeding Better Dogs. Try to go to one of his seminars. http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/   Make sure you browse the articles http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/articles.html

Re this particular dog I think it's fair to ask the breeder what he hoped to accomplish by the linebreeding, did he get it, what other if any problems popped up and then of course one would ask all the other routine questions you should be asking about a dog when purchasing - the good traits the line carries, the problems in the lines, the age of the parents, grandparents, how old dogs lived to, how they worked, their show success if that is important to you, etc etc etc.

TIG:  Thank for your great reply.  Hope this thread continues and  I will do much more reading..Hard study on genetics and breeding

be careful with dentition issues and especially issues with weak ears from this line....

I am going to explain using wild horses.

In nature only the stongest stallion mates and passes his genes.It does not matter if its his sister cousin or mother. This ensures that the best genes are passed on.

However, when inbreeding and closely line breeding you are:

a) going to get a strong replica like the male

b) end up with a faulty dog

Its a 50/50 gamble. But knowing how to choose and risking the gamble is worth the effort. I personally like a line bred dog to a certain sire as its easier to predict the out come. the rest is my gamble.

hope this helps