Breeding is a walk through a mine field. Pedigrees are as important to a breeder as a land mine detector is to anyone walking through a mine field. Pedigrees are the genetic template for what you can expect in your puppies. Looks, personality, size, color, coat texture, conformation, genetic diseases, congenital maladies.....these are all in your pedigrees behind BOTH parents, at least 12 generations back. Some pedigrees do not mix at all and produce issues because you have bred two "carriers" and WHAM! YOU end up with a major problem. Breeding is a crap shoot when you have invested years and years into studying pedigrees, the lines of the dogs you are going to breed, etc....it is an enormous amount of time and effort and MONEY, especially if you show your dogs. I had a doctor friend once that said owning a boat was like throwing money in a hole in the water......well, breeding is the very same thing! |