Breeding Planning at ProKromfohrländer e.V.
At this point we would like to illustrate how we go about breeding planning in our club. Numerous matings were examined for the coming months and years. In order to make it clear which male makes sense as a partner for which bitch, it should be explained here how the planning is carried out.
Our aim is to preserve and recover the Kromfohrländer breed. We want to achieve this aim by increasing the genetic diversity in the breed and by avoiding mating where the likelihood of an outbreak of a genetic disease is increased. Much of this can also be found under the menu items Crossbreeding and Genetics. In order to plan the best possible pairings in this sense, we look at the health data of the dogs and their ancestors, siblings and offspring and also try to utilize the genetic information collected, as far as we currently know.
If the state of health of males and bitches has not changed since the licensing, we next look at the pedigrees and in the DNA databases. It is about the relationships of the dogs to be mated with each other and about genetic similarities that exist in the small population of the Kromfohrländer to a greater or lesser extent even with non-direct relatives. These can be quite different from the pure lineage. That makes sense, let's just take a look at our own siblings and see the differences, and yet we have the same family tree. It goes without saying that we do not mate dogs that do not have the maximum number of 16 different dogs in the great-grandparents' generation (as an example here is the pedigree of the D-litter vom Hamburger Elbstrand). This means that the two dogs to be mated must not have identical ancestors up to this generation. This is much more important to us than minor deviations from the breed standard, and we are not afraid to travel long distances to our suitable stud dogs, because we know that a close relationship of the parent animals increases the risk of the occurrence of hereditary diseases in the offspring. We would like to extend this to previous generations, and this is also easily possible and common in the cross-breeding project. In pure breeding, this is still an aim that we are striving for with well-thought-out breeding planning.
Of course, we do not bring dogs together that can pass on an attachment for the same disease, because we would risk a 25% probability of this disease in the offspring, even if both parents are in good health (see Genetics).
With all this data, we now have a tabular overview of which males are suitable for which bitches, ideally there are several. We do not bring project dogs together, so our program for the cross-breeding project provides for reasons that are listed on our club's homepage, as well as here with us under Cross-Breeding Project.
We review the remaining options for sustainability. For this we play through on paper which combinations are still available for the offspring. That if we were not careful here, we might have made great litters in the first step, but there would be no more partners for further breeding because the dogs were either all related to each other or had the same facilities for illnesses.
It can happen that males with very high health indices (and from committed families) are not used quickly, but others are used several times. This can be very disappointing for those affected. Some males have to wait years to pass on their valuable genes in a meaningful way. These males are very important for medium-term planning. Only if there is a choice, we can conduct a breeding control that goes beyond the current litter planning. Therefore, we are very grateful to every male owner who comes to the licensing with his dog and who is generally willing to support our club with his dog.
So that can mean that not every bitch gets her favorite male, even if it would suit her genetically. The possible distances to be bridged for the mating act can only be taken into account to a very limited extent. We ourselves traveled twice to Vienna for our matings and once to the Black Forest. Next time will take us to the Bavarian Forest. Only Schwerin was relatively close.
Sometimes nature also requires a change of plan. With a pair that is so well thought out, it can happen that it simply does not work with the intended male, so that a replacement male has to step in. Even so, it can happen that a male is asked several times in a relatively short time. As a result, he is not used more often as a whole, because in our club we make sure that a male is only mated more often than in the PK breeding regulations in exceptional cases, such as when few or none of his previous offspring are bred.
In the medium term, ProKromfohrländer naturally tries to bring all ready and healthy males to work, and we are very hopeful that this will succeed. The breeding plan is revised at regular intervals, and it is checked again and again which mating appears to make sense, because the population in our club is not rigid. From the outside, too, new bitches (and males) come to us from time to time which owners agree to use their animals in breeding. In addition, older males have the advantage that their own health and vitality, especially in later years, can be kept in mind and thus draw conclusions about those properties that we cannot yet test genetically.
The planning for the respective pairings is always based on the current state of knowledge. This means that the criteria by which decisions are made will have to be adjusted again and again in the future when new knowledge is available. Knowledge of some diseases is still lacking, e.g. the inheritance or the conditions under which autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) breaks out. Sometimes there are studies with different results. In order to make the optimal and fact-based decision on this basis, we stay in constant with each other, gain experience, continue our education and maintain contact with experts
In this sense, Prokromfohrländer builds on the understanding and trust of breeders, stud dog owners and, ultimately, puppy buyers that the best possible mating is sought for our total population.