In Breeding - Page 1

Just a discussion that I thought interesting to start. I was talking to a smaller breeder who just had a litter of pups out of a Brother/Sister Combination. She stated that her vet told her it probably wouldn't be a big deal due to all of the linebreeding in American Bred GSDs. I am very opposed to this adn thought your view points would be interesting. Personally, I believe that if this situation ever arrose (which I would never allow) that I would have the litter aborted ASAP, even if it posed a risk to the mother's fertility in the future. Or perhaps would it be responsible to allow the birth and then neuter and spay all of the pups? What are your thoughts on this topic? I know that in some breeds with small gene pools some inbreeding is permissable, but litter mates??!? Thank you.

IMO brother/sister inbreeding is the most intense breeding you can get. A person doing this better know all the good and bad in the background as you can get the best or worse from it. It is to late to worry about aborting if the litter is here. I have heard alot of negative about giving the shots as well so I don't know if I would do this to the female if she were mine. I think the pups should all be sold on Limited Papers and the Buyers advised of the breeding and its potential problems.I certainly would not do this type of breeding but accidents do happen. Was this an accident or an intentional breeding?

This has been discussed here a lot and a search of the message board will show the excellent discussions and responses by the likes of DH, Bob-o, and many others. It is not a good idea although many species of life, because of being "trapped" on islands, etc., have interbred consistently for thousands if not millions of years and apparently do not suffer from it. In the wild it happens all of the time. Stephanitz (the founder of the GSD breed) addressed this in his book and all in all, considered it a necessary thing but stressed that the one doing it has to know what the heck he/she is doing, or it could do great damage. I guess the bottom line is, If you are not knowledgeable in genetics and have the ability to axcertain the good and bad qualities of individual dogs, then shy away from it. Obviously if you get a mutation and it is something you want to mass produce (such as a bright red poodle). then you will have to do "it".

I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that it was an accidental breeding. I don't think that the individual is a very serious breeder, more into long coats and I know that she is into the AKC conformation shows. This is not something that I think that I would like to have to deal with, personally. Although, it sounds like all of the pups are healthy and well... Thanks for the input, I was just curious what the rest of the GSD world felt.