what does linebreeding 5-5 actually mean/indicate? - Page 1

I have two dogs which in in the future I may possibly decide to mate if certain issues are favourable/right .When I do a mating check using this website it comes out as 5-5 linebreeding V1 Eros von Luisenstrabe. Both the dogs concerned are from VA parents but I am not entirely clear what the 5-5 linebreeding actually indicates. What is it's practical relevance. I appreciate any comments. Regards

Klekoni, a linebreed of 5-5 in your example means that V1 Eros von Luisenstrabe is present once in generation 5 of the dog's sire, and once in generation 5 of the dog's dam. Now if it was indicated as 5,4-5,5,3 it would mean that he was present once in each generation 5 and 4 of the sire, twice in generation 5 and once in generation 3 of the dam. Think of it like this: sire-dam. In your example, the presence and generation number indicated by 5-5 means indicates that his presence, even twice, was long ago and has essentially very little influence on the dogs available today. I hope that this helped. Bob-O

Thanks Bob-O Presumably, with respect to health, this means that in this hypothetical litter there will effectively be no in-breeding as such, and that it is likely to be healthier as potential faulty genes are more diluted and less likely to materialise? With respect to actual quality of the litter, is this better, worse or plain indifferent. In other words is it "desirable" to have more linebreeding to improve the quality of the pups. If this were the case, then I would assume linebreeding is a double edge sword, with the balance of quality/health issues at stake? Am I wrong. Thanks

The role of linebreeding is frequently over simplified. It is a tool used to increase genetic prepotency when properly used. To say in abstraction that it causes problems is incorrect except for the case of linebreeding depression (general lack of vigor in purebred lines) the counter of which is hybrid vigor (the enhanced tendency of crossbred animals to thrive). Linebreeding can certainly bring out genetic recessives, however, so can any outcross that brings together two copies of the same recessive. Remember also that most GSD's alive today descended from a half dozen animals.

JDH, good commentary with greater detail. Linebreeding can be virtually meaningless, or have much meaning if the ancestor(s) easily produced excellent traits or easily produced poor traits. And these traits must eventually be taken into the total equation as what we are trying to do with the dogs that we have today. Bob-)