> Laura, the above gives a better POSSIBILITY of healthier dogs, it does NOT > guarantee that you will get healthier dogs. While testing and culling for > one or more defects, you could be setting a different equally bad defect > into your line.
I am so sorry I thought this was true. It was just my common sense kicking that led me to believe that if I carefully bred only phenotypically clear dogs that health would POSITIVELY improve. You see, I was looking at the fact that people who showed their dogs and bred for type, all had fairly nice looking Cavaliers that were pretty much in line with the standard for the breed--with differences of course. But those puppy mill/backyard bred dogs look COMPLETELY different--long and lanky, poor skeletal structure, long narrow heads--nothing like the ones show breeders show and breed--even though at one time they came from the same dogs. It seemed common sense to me that if you wanted to get a certain type, you could selectively breed towards that type and it would come and that the puppy millers/backyard breeders didn't do so, so their dogs didn't look right. Also I have read about 10 books on genetics, a slew of articles, and gone to at least 5 seminars on genetics and, if my memory serves me right, I thought the same *rules* of genetics applied to both type and health. I honestly do not remember reading or being told that it works differently for health as compared to type. So dumb me, I falsely assumed that if I selectively bred for health I would of course improve on that and would eventually have a different *type* of health from others just as I have a different type of Cavalier from others. I am sorry I thought this. Here after all these years I finally realize that it was a sheer accident that show breeders ended up with such a different type of Cavalier and puppy millers/backyards breeders weren't as lucky. One of those little *surprises* nature pops on us all the time. Laura Trunk Roycroft Cavaliers ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author.
