“Inbreeding was once a valuable tool in shaping today’s breeds. As these have now reached a high degree of homogeneity, it has lost its importance and turned into a fatal and disastrous habit.” Hellmuth Wachtel, PhD Inbreeding (which, for the purposes of this article, includes “linebreeding”) has been the rule in dog breeding for the …
Consider the hypothetical case of Old Blue, Malthound extraordinaire. Blue was perfect: Sound, healthy and smart. On week days he retrieved malt balls from dawn to dusk. On weekends he sparkled in malt field and obedience trials as well as conformation shows, where he baited to–you guessed it–malt balls. …