BREEDER WISDOM - From the book Evolution of the Collie comes these wise words of very successful Collie Breeder, Trudy Mangels: Very desirable recessive qualities such as small, dark, well shaped eyes and short hocks must be sought continually and kept evident in order to steadily maintain them within a line. An individual can be made extremely pure for recessive characteristics. For instance, I recall a certain family that almost invariablY had curled tails and the related individuals whether they exhibited curled tails or not could be counted upon to produce a large percentage of curled tails when bred together. But, when outcrossed with any individual not related and with a straight tail, a fully dominant characteristic, none of the offspring exhibited the curled tails. The curled tail is an undesirable recessive of course, but there are many desirable recessives, especially those in the head; such as long heads, smooth muzzles, lean back skulls (the long flat malar bone governs this characteristic). These recessive characteristics must be stressed continuously or they will be lost immediately when they are united with the opposing dominant. IF YOU USE ONLY INDIVIDALS POSSESSING THE CHARACTERISTICS YOU WANT, WHETHER THEY BE DOMINANT OR RECESSIVE, YOU WILL PURIFY EACH SUCCESSIVE GENEARATION BOTH PHENOTPICALLY AND GENOTYPICALLY.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 13:18:26 +0000