Breeding Healthier Dogs
In the past I have focused (as most serious breeders have) on producing dogs that are conformationally correct, with good temperaments and health. The methods used were looking at pedigrees and health testing to determine what dogs would be a good match to produce the best puppies.
There is now new information available that allows us to look deeper into the genetics of individual dogs and make better informed decisions for breeding choices.
UC Davis is doing a study "The Standard Poodle Project" that allows us to match our dogs, using genetic analysis, in order to improve diversity in the breed and thereby decrease the incidence of diseases that plaque the standard poodle population.
To do this, we must breed our typical dogs (those that have come from popular champion lines for generations) to atypical dogs that do not have the popular champions in their background. This is the best way I can explain it in layman's terms.
This is a huge undertaking that will take generations and time. The goal is the same, good conformation, temperaments and health. The temperament and health aspect, (in my opinion) will be easier to achieve than the conformation aspect since striving for conformation show champions is a large part of what created the problem.
My goal will be to breed my typical dogs to atypical dogs (called outliers) and create diversity in my line while preserving excellent conformation and predictable color.
This will be an expensive, intensive and time consuming process! It will be driven by my love of the breed and a commitment to improve the health of future generations.
Click on the link for an in depth explanation of the project.
The Standard Poodle Project at UC Davis
