Experts, or breeders who are only interested in selling to the highest bidder, should not bother to read this article, it is not meant for them, it is meant only for keen novice breeders who wish to produce better and better stock for their own satisfaction and for the general betterment of the breed.
The expert will find here nothing which he does not already know, while he who only wishes for the best price, should mate all his bitches to the latest and most fashionable winner and sell off the puppies at extravagant prices at six weeks old!
The average dog breeder is terrified into a fit by the mere word 'genetics' and when I read some of the articles on the subject which the authors preface with the statement that they will only use the simplest words and then at once talk of 'allelomorphs' or 'poly- genetic factors', I am not surprised at the terror of the reader: a very elementary knowledge of genetics is, however, of great help in breeding and I propose therefore to introduce the subject of 'Choosing a Sire' by an exceedingly plain and perhaps over- simplified explanation of one or two genetic facts which are a help to any breeder to know or, even more than a help, almost a necessity.
The statements I am going to make are correct for all practical purposes, some as I say will be over simplified and readers with a knowledge of genetics must forgive that and bear in mind that I am only trying to give the novice breeder a practical working plan on which to base his method of selecting a mate for his bitches.
In Bull Terriers all virtues are what are known in genetic terms as 'dominant': the word here does not mean the same as it would in ordinary everyday use. In ordinary use it would mean that an animal having such a virtue would be almost sure to pass it on; in the sense that it is used in genetics it means only that if an animal has such a virtue it will be visible to the naked eye: let us take a practical example, a straight front is genetically dominant to a crooked one. therefore if an animal has a crooked front he cannot carry the dominant factor for a straight one or his own front would be straight, it follows quite simply from this that if you are going to use a sire with a crooked front your only hope of getting straight fronted puppies is if your bitch has a straight front.
'Good heavens!' I can hear people exclaiming, 'any idiot knows that! But do they? Yes, I suppose they do in the very elementary form in which I have put it but if they really understood the implications of what I have said, would so many people go on mating bitches that cannot move behind to dogs that cannot do so either or bitches with shapeless bodies or shocking shoulders to dogs similarly afflicted? arising from that, Rule no. 1: Do not mate together dogs and bitches showing the same faults, if you do failure is certain and, Rule no. 2: never use anything but a first-class dog.
In Bull Terriers all faults are what are known in genetic terms as 'recessive': the word here does not mean what it would in ordinary everyday use where it would imply that the fault was unlikely to be transmitted since it would recede, retreat or be weak, the word in genetics means that the fault will be masked beneath the dominant virtue when both are present, therefore, Rule no. 3: never forget when you are looking at and considering a potential sire that under every virtue may be masked the corresponding fault.
This fact leads us on to a further very simple and obvious fact which for some odd reason people seem to have difficulty in realising and that is that the more faults the parents of a potential stud dog have or had, the more likely he is to carry these faults masked beneath his virtues, therefore Rule no. 4: never use at stud any dog unless he has both a top class sire and a top class dam. At this point one word of warning, by top class I do not necessarily mean a big winner since an otherwise first class animal may have been prevented from showing his or her worth in the show ring due to circumstances or to the fact that they had one single disqualifying fault such as a wall-eye or soft ears, remember such faults when considering the sire but do not over-estimate them.
Every feature in a dog is made up of half from his father and half from his mother, fi each parent has handed on his share of the feature in a good form the dog will have a double dose of the virtue and will show the virtue very markedly and will be in genetic terms 'pure' for that virtue, if one parent has handed on the feature in good form and the other in bad form the dog will still show the virtue though to a lesser extent and will be genetically 'impure' for the virtue, while fi both parents have handed on the feature in bad form the dog will show the fault which is no longer masked by the presence of the dominant virtue.
It will, I think, at this point be obvious to breeders, even without genetic knowledge, that a dog that has a virtue undiluted is more likely to transmit it than one who has it in dilute form or not at all, therefore, in choosing a mate for a bitch it is wise to use one which is most likely to double up the virtues possessed by the bitch and to correct her faults, here again I think commonsense will suggest that a near relation is more likely to double up a virtue which is common to the line and at least as likely to put right the faults as some unrelated animal whose ancestors carry inevitably other faults, therefore, Rule no. 5: use a related animal possessing as many of the virtues which the bitch lacks as possible and more over one which shares as many of her virtues as possible and does not share her faults: an outcross or unrelated dog is only worth using if he possesses virtues which cannot be obtained from a related dog.
In conclusion then, let us see if we can sum up the ideal stud dog in one sentence; he must be a first class dog with first class parents closely related to our bitch without the faults that she has and with the virtues that she lacks.
