Can they breed?

[tickle1510]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can tell me if related dogs can breed. A friend of mine has just bought a akita which turns out to be the litter sister of the one she already has. She has a unrelated male which she is going to use to breed both females from. Now someone once told me the best result for a breeding is grandfather/mother to granddaughter/son is this true? But also my friend is going to keep a dog from one litter and use it on the other female ( so she has two breeding pairs). So is it possable to breed auntie to nephew?
We have disagred all night can anyone help?????

[wildwood]

It is possible to breed brother to sister if you want to, but that is not recommended as any undesirable genes will be strengthened. If you can find someone else who has dogs that are unrelated to yours you'll breed stronger healthier dogs. This is not always possible with the rarer breeds.

Often breeders who find someone else with the same breed will find that their dogs are related to theirs. Hence the value of pedigrees.

[eyebrows]

are the dogs from norfolk? if so it should be a breeze.....

[robotics]

I would suggest that you read up on linebreeding/inbreeding before you attempt to mate the bitches,

Auntie to nephew........the blood lineage is very close, and you could do more harm than good,

[lankeela]

Well I live in Norfolk and it hasn't done me any harm being inbred. I can manage to wash my faces and clean both sets of teeth although having my hair cut is a but iffy, as I need two appointments at the same time!!!


Seriously, there is a very big difference between inbreeding and linebreeding. Linebreeding is the best way of confirming the best features in your puppies, and provided you know there are no major faults in the line then the matings you suggested are indeed recommended, such as grandfather to granddaughter or uncle to neice.

Outcrossing (breeding two unrelated dogs) can lead to problems that you didn't know were in the lines, and you also have the added problem that you don't know which parent they will take after.

Having said all that, I can't believe anyone would contemplate breeding such a breed as Akitas without knowing these things, as they are such a specialist breed to breed and find homes for. Do they know that there are more males Akitas put down by 18 months than there are left alive? What experience do they have in the breed, and are the dogs going to be shown or worked to prove their quality and how do they know the male puppy will turn out good enough to be bred from? And why would people want to buy puppies from a mating where the parents are 'unknown' - I would always recommend people go to
experienced breeders with successful stock.

If you have a bitch that is a decent specimen, has done a bit of winning and has a superb health and temperament record, then you might consider mating her to a top class dog in the hope of producing puppies that people will want for their blood lines, not just because they are cute fluffy puppies.

By the way I am not actually Norfolk born, just an immigrant!