06/05/2018
20 tips to raise a better dog
By Gary Hammonds
1. Remember that the animals you select to raise today will have an impact for many years. Keep that idea without hesitation when you choose your players.
2. You can only select 2 individuals each generation. Select only the best because you'll have to wait another generation to improve what you have when you start. Just cross if you expect the children to be better than both parents.
3. You cannot expect predictions to be met with a limited number of animals (as in one litter). Statistics only apply to large populaciones.
4. a pedigree is a tool to help you learn the good and bad features that your dog is capable of producing or exhibiting. A pedigree is just as good as the dog you represent.
5. Breeding for a better dog, not just for one or two qualities. Do not follow fashion in your line because they are made to highlight one or two qualities of the dog at the cost of the good general state and function of the total.
6. Quality does not mean quantity. Quality is produced by careful research, having a mental image of what you want to do. Have patience until a good player is available and evaluate what you have already produced and above all have a parenting plan that reaches at least 3 generations of what you are raising today.
7. Remember that skeletal defects are difficult to correct.
8. Don't bother with a good dog who doesn't produce good. Enjoy it for your beauty that you represent but do not use it in your parenting program.
9. Uses (out of the family). For every desired quality you get, you will also get many unwanted qualities that you will have to eliminate in successive generations.
10. The Inbreeding (cross in**ed) is a valuable tool, being the fastest method to set good characteristics and types. Bring in the light hidden qualities that need to be removed.
11. Crossing no "creates" nothing. What you get is what was already in the beginning. He may have been hiding for generations but he was there.
12. Rules out that idea that the brother of a good player is as good as him. Brothers rarely have the same genetic makeup.
13. Be honest with yourself. There are no perfect dogs or perfect breeding dogs. You can't do a competent job raising if you can't recognize the faults and virtues of the dogs you plan to raise.
14. Hereditary qualities are inherited equally from both parents. Don't expect to solve all your problems in a generation.
15. If the worst puppy in your last litter is no better than the worst puppy in your first litter you're not making progress. Your last litter must be your best litter and if it isn't, then that must be your last litter.
16. If the best puppy in your last litter is no better than the best puppy in your first litter you're not making progress. Your last litter must be your best litter and if it isn't, then that must be your last litter.
17. Do not select a player for the best or worse. Evaluate the general attributes of the majority.
18. Bear in mind that quality is a combination of a good general condition and function. It is not merely a lack of failure but the positive presence of virtues. It's the whole dog that matters.
19. Do not allow your emotions to affect your selection of players. The right dog for your parenting plan is the right dog, no matter who owns it. Never knock a good dog, are few and too many weirdos to be workouts.
20. Do not be satisfied with anything less than the best. The second best is never enough.
