A BREEDER OR JUST BREEDING DOGS? by JILL BREGY
E ver hear the public ask some- one at shows, “Are you a breeder?” and the response, “Yes” and do you wonder about the person giving that response? I have known a few great “breeders” in this and other breeds who have dedicated themselves to understanding their breed standard, their bloodlines, their gene pool and everything else that this encompasses including health issues. They produce, with consistency, great dogs and when problems occur, they know where the problems come from or take steps to find out. This may be something long buried which suddenly pops up when combined with the genetic makeup of another dog and they take steps to correct it. These breeders are few and far between, mainly because the work and dedication involved is so intense. They are the backbone of the sport as their search for knowledge takes them from their own breed into other breeds. These are the people to call when one has questions, as their com- mitment to knowledge is the source of answers to many questions and if they do not know they will often tell you who might know. It is important to ask questions of those with a proven track record. Casual information from
misinformed people can bring one to ruin in a great hurry; just as internet information, while conve- nient, can come from unknown and uninformed sources. The strength of a great breeder is in the understanding of the faults and strengths of dogs of the past and their abilities to pass on those strengths. Understanding that very elusive term “type” is worth a lifetime of study. Being long interested in the effects of coat color on eye color and pigmenta- tion, I met with a breeder of two sight hound breeds to discuss the color dilu- tion in one of the breeds and that effect on eye color. If puppies appear with dif- ferent green, blue or yellow eye colors, what coat colors influence that and does it always relate to coat color? In these two breeds, like ours, the standard calls for a dark eye but that is difficult, if not impossible, to maintain in dogs that are blue factored. In this particu- lar instance, a red brindle was bred to a blue brindle, thus producing blue eyes and more recently seen, green eyes. In Dachshunds, breeders have incor- rectly bred double dapples to same and produced no eyes, blue eyes and small eyes. In reds, breeding for several gen- erations of these colors together and then having an in-breeding resulted in
green eyes and Dudley noses. In Shel- ties, it has generally been the practice to breed Blue merles to black or tri, not to sable. Recently Blues have been bred to sables producing something called a sable merle, which I am told can be dis- tinguished at a young age but when old- er, looks like a sable. This in turn bred to a sable can produce or has produced dogs with one blue and one brown eye. Not something being received well by the responsible breeders. In our breed, we should be alert to eye color and/or pigmentation as dogs with questionable pigmentation bred incor- rectly can result in a color dilution. This blue factor can appear in what seems to be a grey; in reds brindles; and in wheaten brindles but with an underly- ing white with a black brindle and prob- ably others as well. Eye color, rather than being a dark gold or brown, can be a washed out yellow color, which is a color that can occur in the Blue Brindle or blue fawn Greyhounds. These dilute eyes appear flat rather than having depth to them, as you look into them. We see this same flat yellow color in our breed. In Boston Terriers, excessive white sometimes comes in conjunction with blue eyes, which can be related to other health issues. In our breed, pig- mentation may go hand in hand with
“THE STRENGTH OF A GREAT BREEDER IS IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE FAULTS AND STRENGTHS OF DOGS OF THE PAST AND THEIR ABILITIES TO PASS ON THOSE STRENGTHS.”
Jill Bregy, Wildisle, reg, est. 1966, is the breeder of multiple AKC champions and one International Champion, including Multiple BIS and BISS Ch. Wildisle Warlock.
S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , F EBRUARY 2018 • 249
Powered by FlippingBook