I may be breaking the rules by posting this here instead of in the breeding forum, but I wanted a lot of people to see it.
DISCLAIMER: This has NOTHING to do with my own breeding program. This is merely a question and a discussion. I also don't want this to turn into attacks on anyone's breeding program. Please answer this question as "What would you do" only.
Alright. Say you have a small breeding program, maybe had less than 10 litters over your lifetime total, and don't keep a lot of dogs. All of your dogs are from similar lines (not too closely related, but definitely all related in some way). You have healthy dogs, you've done your homework and you know what problems are in your lines. Your litters haven't had issues, but people who have used similar dogs in their breeding program have. Some cases of the sickness or temperament issues or whatever are confirmed, others are just "heard it through the grapevine".
Here are my questions:
Do you continue using those lines even if other people have experienced health or temperament issues with similar pedigrees?
When do you "Scrap" a line? Do you try and bring in new blood, possibly compromising the type you like, or do you just scrap the whole breeding program?
Would you start to worry if others were having issues with the lines you use, even if you're not?
I hope that all makes sense. I might add more questions later.
DISCLAIMER: This has NOTHING to do with my own breeding program. This is merely a question and a discussion. I also don't want this to turn into attacks on anyone's breeding program. Please answer this question as "What would you do" only.
Alright. Say you have a small breeding program, maybe had less than 10 litters over your lifetime total, and don't keep a lot of dogs. All of your dogs are from similar lines (not too closely related, but definitely all related in some way). You have healthy dogs, you've done your homework and you know what problems are in your lines. Your litters haven't had issues, but people who have used similar dogs in their breeding program have. Some cases of the sickness or temperament issues or whatever are confirmed, others are just "heard it through the grapevine".
Here are my questions:
Do you continue using those lines even if other people have experienced health or temperament issues with similar pedigrees?
When do you "Scrap" a line? Do you try and bring in new blood, possibly compromising the type you like, or do you just scrap the whole breeding program?
Would you start to worry if others were having issues with the lines you use, even if you're not?
I hope that all makes sense. I might add more questions later.