This article is not a detailed, complicated study of coat color genetics. I have written other pieces to answer that need. Here, I would like to aim this toward the beginner, though it should be a good review for the veteran breeder and valuable to people whose experience is only in one or two breeds. …
“Nature prevails enormously over nurture” …English scientist Francis Galton in the late 19th Century. Natural Selection & Survival of the Fittest Hip dysplasia is not common in wild animals because of the continuous processes of natural selection and survival of the fittest. In an environment where society removes or inhibits these means of selection, the …
Revised November 2011 [note: Some of the following is composed of excerpts from my book, “The Total German Shepherd Dog,” which has some 17 of its 20 chapters suitable for all breeds, including many on genetics. It is available from Mr.GSD(at)netscape.com . Inquire about foreign shipment postage. Also available: the giant book on orthopedic disorders. …
Continued from Page 1 Genetic Load The difference between the fittest genotype of a population and the average fitness of that population is known as genetic load. [Muller, 1950] It is, of course, caused by the presence of lethal, sublethal and subvital alleles. The more such alleles found in a population, the greater the …
What is a Canine Breed? What is a breed? To put the question more precisely, what are the necessary conditions that enable us to say with conviction, “this group of animals constitutes a distinct breed?” In the cynological world, three separate approaches combine to constitute canine breeds. Dogs are distinguished first by ancestry, all of …