mustad

Thanks for the feedback.

Alaska- Do you have any ideas about the cause of the variability in the coat? Is this variation more due to different breeding practices by Kennels vs specific trait within the dog?

As you know, the VDD has done an excellent job building consistent coat qualities into the DD, primarily through the adherence to strict standards.

In comparison, there are not many PP breeders around in North America. In addition, there is at least one I have found not far from seadog that seems to have identified the problem of availability as a possible advantage and is pumping out big numbers of pups. In many cases, these pups are coming from dogs that have not gone through any tests. I believe this is a violation of the PP breeding practices, but is not currently being enforced.

It would, hypethetically, be a DD breeder selling registered DD's from a combo of sire and dam that have not been deemed breedable within the VDD system.

I think I remember hearing 14+ litters per year being produced from this kennel. The other kennels seem to produce 3 or 4 on average. On the pp website, there are 9 breeders listed. Taking out this specific example (leaving with 8), you are talking about an average of 28 litters being produced per year. I won't bore you with more math, but you see what I'm saying? There is a huge percentage of pups coming out of one kennel. If they aren't controlling the quality of their pups, which I think would be a difficult thing to do with the quantity being produced, it seems to me, this could be a significant reason why there is such a variation in coat quality.

I wonder if the breeders in Europe have the same issue.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,