Thread: Hunting dogs vs pedigree dogs

Originally Posted by kawhia

i'll put it in plain english.

Parent/offspring: 25%
Full sibling: 25%
Grandparent/grandchild: 12.5%
Half sibling: 12.5%
Great grandparents/great grandchild: 6.25%
First cousin: 6.25%

a first cross hybrid is 0....it does not mean you will have a healthier dog, wolves and greyhounds have VERY high COI
but millions of pedigree dogs have that score... to lock in the traits required for working breeds means the homozygous genes need to bred for, for diversity and to keep the COI at a level that will keep the 'experts' happy heterozygous genes offer the diversity, of the same breed or by breeding mutts....like the wolves and greyhounds your natural selection or cull rate will be higher than an average line bred working litter of pedigree dogs.... kennel registration allows max of 12.5%



hybrid vigour works well for livestock......never seen it in dogs myself

I agree with you kawhia regarding breeding / fixing traits but as regards hybrid vigor, I have seen this plenty in dogs. Showing as an improvement in health and vigor. The best examples being Lab x Border collie, Greyhound x Border Collie, Visla x Heading dog, Kelpie x English Bull Terrier. The mistake made with crosses being that finding an outstanding first cross dog the owner decides to breed from it and mates it back to one of the formative breeds, when it needs to be mated to a different unrelated breed or not bred with at all. So in the examples I have seen, crossing with the very sound working dog breed has masked the faults and inbreeding depression holding back the pedigree animal and unlocked it's true potential giving the cross tremendous vigor, alertness and stamina - really sharpened it up.