It is relatively rare to find high quality, adult breeding dogs on the market. Most of the available sires and dams are very likely "spent" animals which have hidden defects or do not correspond to the desired standard. Thus, it is only natural that most breeders keep the most promising puppies in their breeding pool for their own use.Choosing a breeding animal will thus involve selecting a puppy. This often means placing a wager on the puppy's future, since its conformity to its breed standard and its fertility cannot be confirmed until later.
During puberty and before any mating or insemination is practiced with a male whose offspring is completely unknown, it is prudent to begin by checking the quality of its semen.
A spermogram (detailed analysis of sperm) can help predict the degree of semen fertility. This analysis brings to light any risk of male infertility (absence of or too few spermatozoa, excessive abnormal forms, lack of mobility, etc.) and makes it possible to monitor the progress of puberty-and therefore the animal's entry into the reproductive stage-and detect the first signs of senescence in sires who are close to being spent (see diagrams).
Two or three consecutive spermograms conducted at one or two-day intervals are necessary to:- evaluate semen quality,- evaluate the renewal of the sperm supply, which determines the frequency with which the sire can be used (see histogram),- judge a sire's potential: Some breeds, like the Bull Mastiff, appear to have seasonal cycles that produce alternating spermograms of good and poor quality. Many males produce initially average spermograms after a long period of abstinence, and still others do not release the totality of their spermatic phase at the first sampling.
All these results are then combined into a table that points to a conclusion regarding the potential fertility of a sire. If several consecutive spermograms are of poor quality, it is best to question any medical treatments (hormones, antifungals, corticoids, radiation therapy) that the sire may have undergone recently or during his growth.
More than a spermogram, a sire's recent offspring is the best proof of his fertility and also enables the breeder to judge the genetic quality of the semen based on the sire's ability to mark his progeny (resemblance). It is prudent to also obtain information on the size of the litters the dog has sired in order to judge his prolificacy, which appears to be linked to semen vitality. Finally, reading the sire's pedigree enables the breeder to identify the number of champions among the sire's ancestors and thereby deduce the sire's probable genetic features, especially if he is the product of inbreeding.
Choosing a future dam from a litter also requires a wager on the future and is based essentially on the dam's ancestors. Even though dams and sires are equally responsible for their offspring in terms of genetics (with each transmitting 50% of its genes), dams must also nurse the puppies and raise them. The selection criteria for a dam must therefore take into account, in addition to her intrinsic genetic value, the ease of her births, her "lactating" ability, her ability as a mother, etc. (see section entitled "The basis for selection in dog breeding").
Many breeders keep their most promising puppies to improve the quality of their breeding pool and use a sire from outside to inject new blood into their lines.
While it may seem easy for a breeder of production animals to choose parents based on their meat- or milk-producing abilities, it is much more difficult to make choices in canine breeding, to the extent that the desired features are often related as much to the dog's morphology as to its character.
A dog breeder could thus leave it up to nature and simply let his dams mate and reproduce randomly. Although this may sometimes result in an exceptional dog, the breeder would soon see that this dog's features mark its offspring very little. This shows why the traits produced through random mating are not easily passed on.
Nevertheless, quite a few breeders base their passion on the lasting improvement of the features of their dogs, which builds the kennel's reputation.
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