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If you would like to write an article for us about source/line breeding, feel free to e-mail us the article at Liberty Hills on SD. Please keep a copy on your computer incase anything goes wrong.
Thanks!
01.16.07
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Double Lines... |
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Double Lines...
When most people start breeding their own lines, it starts out with just a couple of starter dogs by themselves in a new breed in a premi kennel. As they breed the generations up, it takes time for them to actually get dogs' who SOPs are going up steadily. Some out breed occassionally to bring in new and to make it more productive. That is not what I do.
I personally have two different lines in the same breed that are as differnt as night and day. My first line is my pride and joy, my starter line. This line will take time and patience to get to the final goal of improving the breed, but I know it's worth it. This is the line that I take the most joy out of breeding a 30.5 SOP generation 1 dog, even if it would do nothing in the ring. The other line is a way of making one of my kennel statements a reality. It is for show and sale and totally commercial in the endevours.
The advantage in this is that I can "out breed" my new line (when it gets there) with other show quality dogs to help it improve upon everything. Another advantage in this is that I can now have people look at my page and show off what I'm doing with this breed that I love. Disadvatages always occur, such as the price for sessions and food for all my dogs drags me down in finaces and space, making hard to get more dogs that I need. Plus, it gets confusing for me sometimes. All in all, though, I like having a double line -you get the two best pleasures of the game at once.
Written By Lighting Star Kennels
Any questions/comments on this article can be e-mailed to Liberty Hills. Please include Author and Article Name. Thanks.
05.28.07
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Just A Little Side Note... |
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Just a little side note...
The Gen 1 puppies that you breed will not be as good as their parents. When I was trying to start my own line in German Shepherds, I had two starters with no reds that I bred together. And guess what: not a single puppy had NO reds. I believe there were at least two on every dog. The point that I am trying to make is that you shouldn't be discouraged when you see pups who are worse than their parents. It's sure to happen.
Here's hoping that all that red doesn't scorch our retinas. 
GSL
Written By GermanShepardLove12345
Any questions/comments on this article can be e-mailed to Liberty Hills. Please include Author and Article Name. Thanks.
02.19.07
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Not An Overnight Thing... |
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Not an overnight thing.
Many people say their source line 'failed.' The truth is, in most cases, their will to see it though failed. People start a source line without knowing what they are getting into. It's a long prosess that takes months. Before you start source breeding there are some things you should know.
#1: You're not going to have a finishable dog overnight. It takes time.
#2: Inbreeding is good. Whether you breed brother to sister, father to daughter or mother to son. It helps lock in traits faster than non-inbreeding.
#3: Only breed/keep dogs that have as little red as possible. That goes for starters as well.
#4: Be ruthless with the Forever Home button. If you're not, your kennel will fill up with dogs you can't use.
It takes patience, perseverance and the will to stick with it. Good luck.
Written by - Junobe
Any questions/comments on this article can be e-mailed to Liberty Hills. Please include Author and Article Name. Thanks.
01.21.07
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The Culling Strategy... |
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The Culling Strategy
In the end, of course, a line breeder want to be producing dogs with 100% SOPs as a long term goal. To try to get there, in my opinion, a line breeder should be breeding step by step; not going ahead to another generation until the one you have has met your standards. I started out with a litter of all females bred from two source dogs(however, I did not keep those two source dogs) and a single male source dog completely unralated. From there I bred the source stud to the four first generation bitches which produced enough second generations to get me off to a good start. Few were forever homed from the second generation. The third gen. was a different story, since I had so many more dogs to pull from I was eager to begin a cull of the offspring that were less superior in genetic quailty to the parents. Now whenever I breed a litter I get rid of any dog that is lower than the higher quality(of the two parents) parent.
This process takes time but what I am generally looking for is one generation indefinately a significant step higher than the one before. Sometimes I get an entire "keepable" litter; other times only one puppy will not be FHed. The purpose of culling dogs is to, of cource, keep only the ones I need. Considering that it takes around 20-30 generations(of course this number can tend to be much lower, it depends on your breed) to start getting showable litters this seems to be one slow process, and I mean SLOW. The key is keeping as many dogs as possible and breeding as many litters at one time as possible, drawing out the keepers as soon as I can then moving on. Your breed should determine how you go about your program but the culling strategy is, in theory, what I believe could be a faster route to a showable new line.
Written By - Regal Quarry
Any questions/comments on this article can be e-mailed to Liberty Hills. Please include Author and Article Name. Thanks.
01.20.07
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So, You Want To Start... |
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So, you want to start your own ShowDog line. Why don't more players stick it out until they produce top dogs in their chosen new line breed?
The first thing I have to say is, remember, the top breeds in SD are on Generations 26 to 30.
Each generation takes a minimum of 35 days to produce the next generation. How is this...
As an example:-
Breed your 30 day old Starters+5 day gestation=Next Generation (Gen 1)
Breed Gen 1 on day 30+5 day gestation= Gen 2=35 days.
And so on, to the conclusion that 26 generations can take, you guessed it!...880 days or 2.4 years. (OK, some might say 910 days but remember your Starter came to you at day 30, or maybe day 25, whatever, you get my drift.)
I am on Generation 5 in some of my new line Newfs and have only broken the 50 SOP mark with one pup so far. Remember, Newfs are the 5th top breed and a finishable Newf is around 95 SOP.
Why am I being so discouraging? I am not, I am a realist. Being a realist I can also tell you that many of the newer breeds are on Generation 10 with SOPs around 65 to 75 to be finishable. You do the math...
Written by - Carnival NL
Any questions/comments on this article can be e-mailed to Liberty Hills. Please include Author and Article Name. Thanks.
01.17.06
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