THE STAFFORD KNOT | BREEDER EDUCATION SERIES
From One Breeder to Another

Looking beyond titles, popular bloodlines, and the dogs we admire.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about breeding dogs is studying pedigrees. There is something fascinating about following generations of dogs, recognizing familiar names, remembering the individuals behind them, and considering how particular qualities have been passed along. For those of us involved in preservation breeding, pedigrees are an important part of understanding where our dogs came from and what we hope to carry forward.

But I’ve also learned that a pedigree, no matter how impressive, can only tell us so much. It may identify relationships, suggest the influence of particular families, and help us understand how certain characteristics have developed over generations, but it cannot tell us everything about the dogs themselves. And occasionally, the dog standing in front of us tells a very different story from the one we imagined while studying its ancestry.

When planning a breeding, I think it’s only natural to begin with dogs we admire. Perhaps we’ve seen a particularly lovely Stafford at a specialty, watched an impressive performance dog work, or followed a family of dogs whose type and character appeal to us. There’s nothing wrong with that. Admiration often leads us to explore possibilities we might otherwise have overlooked. But liking a dog and recognizing that it would be the right mate for our own are two very different things.

Looking Beyond the Individual

I have always believed that choosing a mate begins with an honest understanding of the bitch we’re hoping to breed. What are her strengths? Where could she be improved? What qualities are especially important to preserve, and what do we know about the dogs behind her?

These questions sound fairly simple, but they require us to evaluate our own dogs as objectively as possible. It’s easy to become enthusiastic about a beautiful dog with an impressive record, particularly one we have admired for years, without fully considering whether the two individuals actually complement one another.

For example, a dog may have a lovely head, excellent breed type, and an impressive show record, but if he carries the same structural weaknesses we’re trying to improve in our bitch, the mating may accomplish very little. Likewise, two individually sound, attractive dogs do not necessarily represent the best combination simply because each has qualities we appreciate.

I also try to remember that we are not breeding only the two dogs standing in front of us. We’re bringing together two families, each carrying generations of strengths, weaknesses, and genetic possibilities. Understanding siblings, parents, grandparents, and previous offspring can be every bit as useful as evaluating the individual we are considering.

This is one reason I value conversations with breeders who know their dogs and are willing to discuss them openly. Hearing about the beautiful qualities in a family is helpful, but learning about its less desirable tendencies can be considerably more valuable when making a decision. I don’t expect anyone’s dogs to be perfect, including my own, but I appreciate honesty about what has appeared over the generations.

The Appeal of the Popular Sire

Every generation seems to have a few particularly successful or fashionable dogs that attract considerable attention. Some are outstanding individuals and genuinely deserve the recognition they receive. Others may become popular because of a memorable win, a well-known pedigree, or simply because they’re being widely promoted.

I have nothing against successful dogs or the people who campaign them. I’ve enjoyed showing my own dogs and appreciate the work involved in achieving those accomplishments. But I don’t believe popularity should be confused with suitability.

A dog that has won extensively may be an excellent representative of the breed, but that doesn’t automatically make him the best choice for every bitch. Titles tell us something about what judges have recognized, but they don’t tell us everything about health, longevity, temperament, reproductive history, or what that dog consistently produces.

Whenever possible, I like to look beyond the individual and learn about his offspring, particularly those produced from different bitches. Are certain qualities appearing consistently? Are there weaknesses that deserve consideration? How are those offspring maturing, and what do we know about their health and character?

Of course, a young dog may not have offspring to evaluate, and choosing an unproven sire is not necessarily a poor decision. Every influential stud dog began as an unproven youngster. In those circumstances, understanding his family becomes even more important, and we need to be realistic about the uncertainty involved.

There’s also the question of genetic diversity. Repeatedly using the same fashionable sires can gradually narrow the available breeding population, particularly in a relatively small breed. A popular dog may have much to offer, but responsible breeding also means considering how our individual decisions contribute to the breed’s longer-term future.

Understanding What a Pedigree Can Tell Us

Pedigrees are valuable, but I think we sometimes expect them to predict more than they reasonably can. Seeing the same admired dog several times in a pedigree may be appealing, especially when that individual possessed qualities we hope to preserve. However, concentrating ancestry also concentrates genetic contributions, including those associated with characteristics we may not see or fully understand.

Linebreeding, outcrossing, and other breeding strategies each have potential advantages and limitations. I don’t believe any one approach guarantees success, nor should a particular pedigree pattern automatically be considered good or bad without examining the dogs involved and the broader genetic consequences.

A coefficient of inbreeding can provide useful information about the probability of inheriting identical copies of genes from common ancestors, but it doesn’t tell us whether a particular mating will produce healthy, sound puppies. Its usefulness also depends upon the completeness and depth of the pedigree being examined. Modern genetic tools can add information, but they don’t eliminate the need to understand the actual dogs and families.

Health testing is another important consideration. Appropriate testing helps us identify certain inherited risks and make more informed breeding choices, but a collection of clear results should never be mistaken for a guarantee that a mating is without risk. Not every inherited condition has a reliable genetic test, and many traits involve multiple genes and environmental influences.

This is why I prefer to consider health information alongside longevity, temperament, soundness, reproductive history, and what we know about related dogs. Sometimes the most useful information comes from someone willing to tell us about a problem that never appeared in a show photograph or pedigree database.

Making a Decision We Can Stand Behind

Over the years, I’ve learned that some of the most valuable breeding conversations happen when someone asks a question I hadn’t considered. Perhaps they recognize something in a family I don’t know well, remember a particular dog from years earlier, or suggest a mating that wasn’t on my original list.

I appreciate those conversations because they remind me that none of us has complete knowledge of every dog or family within our breed. We each bring different experiences, observations, and preferences to the discussion, and there is often something worthwhile to learn from another perspective.

That doesn’t mean every suggestion is right for our breeding program. Ultimately, we have to decide what we’re trying to accomplish and whether a proposed mating offers a reasonable opportunity to move in that direction. Sometimes that means choosing a less fashionable dog because he complements our bitch particularly well or represents qualities and bloodlines we believe deserve preservation.

It may also mean walking away from a dog we’ve admired for years because, after looking more carefully, the combination simply isn’t what we need.

I think it’s important to approach these decisions with realistic expectations. We can study pedigrees, examine health records, evaluate relatives, and consult knowledgeable breeders, yet the resulting litter may still surprise us. Breeding is not a matter of adding one desirable feature to another and expecting every puppy to inherit the best of both parents. Genetics is considerably more complicated, and the results are rarely as predictable as we would like.

What we can do is make informed choices, keep accurate records, follow the dogs we produce as they mature, and use what we learn to guide future decisions.

For me, choosing a mate has never been about finding the most impressive pedigree or the dog with the longest list of accomplishments. It’s about finding a combination that makes sense for the bitch, for the breeding program, and ultimately for the breed we’re hoping to preserve.

A beautiful dog may capture our attention, and an impressive pedigree may encourage us to look more closely, but neither should make the decision for us.

The most valuable mate isn’t necessarily the dog we admire most. It’s the one we have good reason to believe will contribute something worthwhile to the next generation.

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From One Breeder to Another is part of The Stafford Knot, Inc. 501(c)(3) Breeder Education Series, developed in collaboration with Wavemaker Staffords.