Comments
By: PierLuigi Pezzano, Rino Arkuri, and Luccilla Buzzi
Presentation of this work was made by Dr. P.Pezzano on the October, 1996 National Congress on Doberman Health in Cremon
I have been working with the breed for many years. What I have noticed is that many opinions and conclusions often lack accurate data. Until recently, rare events were aimed at educating a breeder and improving his or her professional skills. A breeder cares most often about a certain mating's direct result. Firstly, it is some planned ahead typical positive points; and not the other numerous factors, which are, indeed, not at all less significant. Breeders' main disadvantage is lack of interest for improving their knowledge about the basics of genetics. Certain genetics methods could help to avoid or at least minimize the risk of unwanted mating results. Most often, matching is carried out in some 'empirical' way. Failures, such as serious morphological and functional defects are easily concealed. The products coming from such unfortunate matings go to inexperienced beginners.
Another significant problem is the thoughtless use of inbreeding. The latter, however, may not be ignored in the pureblood breeding. The misuse of this method results from insufficient knowledge of genetics and lack of proper information about the dogs used in mating. The limited availability of a data bank displaying different generations' positive and negative traits also has an impact on the selection programs. Breeders often make a kind of a genetic experiment out of selecting a pair for mating. For some, the ability to foresee .the future litter's features is the same as winning a lottery. This means, that in the most cases, a mating's result lies in the power of luck or chance. Other breeders, on the contrary, not only rely upon their intuition, which is always important for breeding, but also study and investigate certain data. As they act with great care and knowledge of genetics, they learn how to manipulate the non-homozygous genes, which are those hidden behind a dog's phenotype.
To improve your results, you should first of all expand your knowledge and improve your skills. This will lead to correct selection and healthier dogs that will fully satisfy the morphology and standards. If a specialized breeding organization is serious enough and technically well equipped, its main mission is to consult the breeders and determine the correct breeding direction. This is what we aim for. During two years, together with the National AIAD Council, we have been selecting information for the Doberman Computer Data Bank.
In the course of work, there developed a need for managing and processing the collected data; especially, for the proper computation of the inbreeding coefficient. Simultaneously with data collecting, the special computer program was being designed by means of the appropriate informational support. The Association has already put it into use.
In the ACSE of Lissona, we have found a company dealing with computer software. The managers of the company have not only believed in our project, hut also invested considerable amounts of money into its realization. They have provided us with their experts' help, as well. These people are genetics specialists, who enjoy the breed and have dedicated most of their free time to the project and search of data. They are Attilio Polifronc, the XXI century cinema technology's big prospect, and all the Italian and foreign Uobcrman breeders, who collaborated with us in the course of the data selection and input.
The realization of the project would have never been full without the participation of Mr. Hans Wiblishauser, the President of the International Doberman Club and Doberman Union of Germany, Mr. Wiblishauser has put all the IDC card-index data at our disposal, and gave our project his overall assistance.
For today, our data bank is the only in the world to contain information on 35000 Dobermans of Europe, America, and Asia. At our disposal is information coming from many card indexes, which has to be systemizcd and downloaded into the program. The data is specially prepared on the base of expertise bulletins, ZTP cards, and selection cards, dated by the mid-70s. We are satisfied by the results ot the first pan ot the project, and are aware of the volume of work that is still ahead.
Below, brief comments are made on the creation of the 2 software packages. The main concern is about managing specialized organizations (membership, correspondence, etc) and keeping record on registration and breeding.
All the information about an object is put into the dogs data bank table that is the first to appear in the program. There exists as well a range of other different functions.
Information on any dog (with photo) may be brought oul to tin-screen and printed out. This includes the 4- or 6-column pedigree with the dog and its ancestors' titles. The computations of the inbreeding coefficient and separate fractions for each .inccslor arc also available.
Any dog's pedigree may be followed through generations along any of the parents' line, up to the first registered German .inccslor, HALLEGRAF, born in 1884.
The transition from one generation to another in the both parents' lines may be carried out manually and printed out later. Thus, one can easily figure out, whether a dog's particular type contributes to the mother or the father's ancestor. The whole operation may be carried out the other way around, as well.
In the WinDog and WinBreed programs, a dog's description, or ZTP and Korung complete results may be put into the special tables provided. One can work with the data on the screen, or print it out for more careful examination or forwarding to those interested in it. The positions given in these tables make it possible to get information on the frequency of; 1) transmission of body and temperament's typical positive and negative features from a particular dog to its progeny; 2) display of certain positive and negative aspects in the litters.
Information is available about the full brothers and sisters of any dog or its parents.
The dogs represented in the data bank may be selected and classified using any of the positions of the table dedicated to the dog, in which you take interest.
Special attention is paid to color inheritance by Dobermans. When a dog with an unknown color genotype is registered, the operator classifies the genotype as 'hypothetical' (proposed), on the basis of internal knowledge. When data on the dog's children is downloaded later, the consideration of their color will automatically fill the program with information on the dog and its offsprings' genotype.
With the help of WinDog, one can receive information on a certain dog's ability to pass particular positive or negative traits down to its progeny. One only has to possess by the statistically reliable information on the amount of children coming from different mothers and one particular father, and vice versa. The operation is possible to be carried out after registration in the standard dog description table. The program was posed the following question: "How often do Quirinus v.Neerlands Stam's children have such characteristics as 'wide forehead, 'nonparallel upper head lines', and 'excessive hair on the neck' in their descriptions?" The program's answer was: "These characteristics take place in 21 out of 70 cases, which means in W% of all the cases".
The next question was: "How frequently do the same male's children get in their descriptions the 'upper head lines parallel or almost parallel' and 'dark eyes' characteristics?" The received answer was:
"50 out of 70 offsprings possess by these characteristics, which is 71.4%"
The third question was asked to see how often 'very good angula-tion' and 'does not hold its back in movement' appear. It lurned oul to be 55 out of 70 cases, which is 78.6% of I lie dogs.
To make the proper conclusions, further deeper investigations are to be carried out. These should take into account the mothers of the certain dog's group of children. The conclusions do certainly depend on whether there is trustworthy information on the most frequently appearing in a particular period of time positive and negative points of the breed and the capacity for their inheritance. That is, whether these traits' defining genes are dominant or recessive, and penetrating' or expressive.
Most of the females that have been mated to Graf Quirinus v. Neerlands Stam come from different family lines. This knowledge gives us confidence to infer, that "this champion is able to correct such defects as the excessively open shoulder-blade angle and front scull upper axis' divergence. He may also hand down to his progeny such defects as excessive hair on the neck and insufficient stability (solidity) in the back and waist parts of the spine".
However, one can not make a final conclusion concerning his ability to hand down the dark eye color. The reason is that the majority of the females had dark eyes, as well. As for the 'wide skull part of the head', the conclusion is the following. Even if the bitch to which Graf Quirinus was mated had a medium inbreeding on Don Dayan v. Franckenhorst (Quirinus is in the 1,111-IV degree of kinship with this dog), the probability is high, that will also have a wide skull.
It becomes obvious, how valuable the current research is to the breeders.
The WinUreed pack also contains all the functions mentioned above. Certain part of the program is made up to solve the breeder's everyday complex problems. The Pedigree Book's exact reproduction is presented in tine beginning of the program. The reproduction includes all the samples of the cards given to breeders by ENCI, when new kennels .ire registered.
The WinDog program makes it possible to solve the organizational problems of the central and regional sections and committees, and also the Association's members and breeders' registration matters.
The information about the club members is put into the special table. One can search for data, systematize it according to the parameters given in the table, and print out the results.
The sections' operations can also be managed, as far as the program has a separate table for each section containing information on the positions in the organization and periods of their validity.
The same system is used to receive and review the data concerning the Committees and National Boards of Administration.
The blood relationship degree (inbreeding coefficient) calculation system is used in the AIAD data bank. Let us comment on the way it works and what it is based on. To begin, here are some explanations on how to use inbreeding in the pureblooded dogs breeding.
Pairing of two related individuals is called inbreeding. (In + breeding - crossing closely related forms of plants or animals within one population of organisms). Breeders normally use related dogs (mother and son, father and daughter, brothers and half-brothers, grandparents and uncle/aunt with grandchildren or nephews/nieces) in order to steadily receive dogs with desired characteristics,
As the result of hairing dogs-relatives, 'homozygous" individuals appear in the population more frequently, while 'heterozygous' ones ? less frequently. Related parents' children are more likely to be 'homozygous' by one particular gene than unrelated parents' children arc. A particular gene's two identical alleles"" Chat are received from the common forefather appear much more often in the genotypes of related parents' children.
To mention incest, there are two types: 'breeding in and in' ? incest, and 'close breeding' ? close (near) inbreeding. My opinion is, that one should avoid such sort of experiments with Dobermans, if one lacks both proper grounding in dogs breeding and opportunity to consult a number of experienced breeders. 1 recommend using moderate 'linebreeding', i.e. inbreeding within the same bloodline. A variety of bloodlines may be also used, but under conditions that a breeder has premium information about the forefathers' characteristics for reproduction of which he aims. The excellent knowledge of his own dogs' pedigrees up to at least 6-8 generations is also necessary.
It is true, that an increase in the degree of homozygosity, resulting mainly from inbreeding, produces certain traits defined by recessive a Holes. A recessive gene does not function in a dog that bears just a single 'dose' ?fan allele that controls the gene (heterozygote). A dog needs to have a pair of defining recessive alleles (homozygote) for the recessive characteristic to display itself.
If the common forefather of a closely related pair has a recessive allele both pa ген is are very likely to have it, too. Thus, two recessive alleles may be passed 10 a puppy. This characteristic does not become apparent, when parents and grandparents' recessive gene is heterozygous. However, it may reveal itself in a 'homozygous' progeny. Thus, the desired and target characteristics may appear along with anomalies -- dangerous unwanted defects. Most of the lethal genes and those defining serious defects function only in homozygous state. In the more usual heterozygous state, they are hidden behind the dominant genes and carry no activity-
Continue in magazine "Dobermann" N 5/99