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Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly  I loved your question: If this information is true that would be another reason that Yorkshire terrier breeders have a greater responsibility to breed to the standard since the goal should be to lower the percentage of variant genetic material.
But I wonder if it will make all that much difference to those breeders intent on going their own way and breeding for color variations, unusual sizes, etc., unless it can be overwhelmingly determined that such a high level of variant genetic material can be held largely responsible for many of the breed-related diseases. And many still wouldn't likely changed unless and until large numbers of the public found out and shied away from buying these dogs. And if it is determined by leading scientists and geneticists that this unusually high level of variant genetic material exists in this wonderful breed, what caused the levels in this breed to be so high as opposed to the white Boxer?
Anyway, it's going to be interesting to follow this and see. |
I am grateful to see people really giving this some thought and how this may not be bad news but instead more information to help in breeding.
I don't believe we will ever find a perfect breeding world so my interest in sharing this information was intended for those that want to know more to improve the breed.
My initial impression upon hearing about the Yorkie's amount of variant genetic material explained why we see so many different physical traits this breed. I left the conversation with the thought that some variant genetic material was good because we do not want to breed for the "perfect" dog. That would be just as bad. The objective is to find the right amount of variant genetic material.