alwinearcher

I have a 3 year old brittany spanial, she is a great hunter quick learner and awesome looking dog, I have been wanting to get her bread But just havent gotten around to it, well recently I ment a guy with a male britt, that is a good dog,
Im thinking they might be a good match, they are both registered and all, but i am wondering what all I need to do to make sure they are not related or anything, Who do I contact
and what are some of the things i am going to have to deal with?
thanks
Matt

Doc E

First, learn to spell Spaniel and Bred (Bread is what the covering of sandwiches is)

What kind of "genetic defects" do Brits have? (I don't know). Hips? Elbows? Eyes? Thyroid? Heart?
Both dogs will need to be seen by Vet specialists in order to certify them both as being free of genetic defects that are found in Brits.
Both dogs will need to be tested for Brucellosis within 30 days of breeding.

As far as them being related, you should both already have in your possession at least a 3 generation (maybe 5 generation) pedigree from AKC. All you have to do is look through the pedigrees.

As far as what you may have to deal with : Death of your female, people 'backing out' -- 26 month health guarantee on puppies, and what will you do with a pup that is returned. There are dozens more, but that should be good for starters.

alwinearcher

thank you for those kind words,
And please forgive me, I was waaaay out of line spelling a couple words wrong,
Not wanting to pick a fight, But when I used to come on this board you didnt used to be such a A$$ so your fellow washingtonians
But seriously, thanks for the help

SWOSUMike

Just to make something DOC E said a little clearer...make sure you test both dogs for Brucellosis (sorry if the spelling is bad ) BEFORE you breed, not just any time within 30 days of breeding. Also, you may think this is weird, but related dogs are not such a bad thing. This is a myth. All full blood dogs (maybe I should say most full blood dogs) have to come from the same or very similar stock somewhere in their pedigrees. Sometimes it is a good thing. In treedogs, it is a great thing. My squirrel dog has several dogs that show up in the line of both of his parents sometimes more than once. What is does is keep what you already have...If what you already have is good, it can increase the chances of keeping the traits you like. However, this is also the case for bad traits regarding health and any other genetic defect. Think of it like this, though there is much more to it involving phenotypes and genotypes and all kinds of biological terms: Pups receive 50% of there genetic material from each parent. So assume the male is also the half brother of the female's father, making him her uncle. This would mean that the father's background from his sire and mother on backward would show up twice in the pups' pedigree becuase the same dogs formed the pedigree for the male and the female. If these are healthy lines with traits that are desirable, then it is more likely that you could get pups showing traits from these lines. Now, certain breeds have been inbred in a way that is not to their benifit, cuasing all kinds of bad traits, such as in some of the dogs strictly bred for a certain look...like a show dog line. But when done carefully, I understand a certain degree of line breeding to be good for certain traits. For example, my squirrel dog's pedigree has a dog named Smith's Streak in probably all four grandparents' pedigree. And guess what one of the most famous and well producing treedog lines is? The Streak line of mountain curs. My pup would be what you call heavily Streak bred, and he should make a better tree dog for it becuase Smith's Streak was a strong producer with good traits and his pups made good hunting dogs. Now, some of the heavier Streak bred lines are said to have lost some size over the years, but that is likely debatable. Of course lots of outcrossing (breeding outside the family) has been done in his pedigree as well. It just so happens that when certain men were trying to save this breed, they had to breed from certain foundation stock that met the standards of what they wanted to preserve. Streak has contributed a lot to the treeing ability of the Original Mountain Cur. Now, I am not so sure what it is like with bird dogs and with what traits are common in Britts (by the way did you know they are no longer considered a spaniel?). There could be enough threats in that breed to make heavy linebreeding a dangerous threat to the pups. Perhaps even light linebreeding is a bad idea with a Brit, but perhaps it could work wonders. Make sense? You should find out how it all works within your breed. I will check on a some sites I know of to see what some good Brit pedigrees look like and I will report back. It all depends on how carefully it has been done by those who have gone before us. I would never breed my dog to a sibling or half sibling, but I would breed him to a heavily Streak bred dog to keep the traits that Smith's Streak and others contributed to this breed. I am no genious but I have heard from many breeding experts on how all this works. What is most important is breed for traits that you like and that suit you. I am not sure what your obligations are to the AKC and meeting breed standards, but you probably should aim to meet them in your pups. Mountain curs are not an AKC breed...we have our own breeders association called the Original Mountain Cur Breeders Association with which we register our dogs. It concentrates on preserving the dog of the pioneer days...the Old Yeller type dogs (only well pedigreed)

SWOSUMike

Okay I checked out a few Brittany pedigrees for you by searching for "britanny pedigrees." One of the pedigrees I saw had a grandparent on one parent's side that was also the great grandparent on the other parent's side. So this is not extremely close but still linebreeding. You could further research the line breeding of britannys by doing your own search and studying pedigrees. You might be surprised to find that your female could have some line breeding that you don't even know about. Good luck.

SWOSUMike

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Doc E

Very correct -- that was my meaning. Brucellosis tests prior to breding , not after.

Doc E

Just funnin' ya man.