I would like everyone's thoughts on breeding to an animal that has the traits you are looking for yet also has one or more structural defects. Do you make the breeding knowing that these faults may be passed to the next generation? Or do you play it safe and breed to the solid, structurally sound animal that is throwing some nice prospects but is lacking in some of the key traits of the structurally defective animal.
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I had the same dilemma you are in a while back. I ended up finding a dog with the same traits that were built perfect. I have a small yard and didnt feel comfortable having a big part of my yard comming from a dog with structural defects.
Some long time breeders say that with hard culling you can breed out the defects. Are you up to it?
Depends what kind of defects we speaking of.
Yes, describe in detail what the defects are.Originally Posted by R2L
I have seen a lot of defects in certain lines. But some of the defects I am talking about are loose knees, slipped hocks (luxating hocks), knees turned out to the side, loose ankles. Most of these are not really debilitating but can in some instances affect performance. Should dogs like this be bred? Can we get and keep the good traits these dogs have while eventually getting rid of the bad or is there always the chance it could pop up again in future generations?
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I think this is a big part of it. What a person feels comfortable with or what they feel is the right thing to do will have a large bearing on whether or not they make a breeding to a defective dog.
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I don't have a problem with culling, but I don't think culling always means killing. They are simply not bred back into the line. But that's a whole other subject.
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If it was a last of a bloodline for me and if i had a bigger yard i might consider it. But as it is right now i can't hve that itch on the back of my head.
A lot of times, just be the way most dogs are curs, that kind of thing takes care of itself. I think it also depends on whether or not you have an isolated case OR if there are other dogs behind yours that also had those particular defects. I've had a few dogs over the years with structural defects, but they were isolated cases so they were bred even with those defects as they were the type dogs I wanted. I didn't have those same defects pop up in the breeding or later on down the road, so I think you should examine all of it before making the decision.
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