Inbreeding: Inbreeding is defined as the mating of animals "more closely related to one another than the average relationship within the breed." Inbred pairings would include brother/sister (the closest form), father/daughter, mother/son and half- brother/half-sister. Linebreeding and Inbreeding involve the mating of animals within the same family. Breeding relatives is used to cement traits, the goal being to make the offspring homozygous (pure) for desirable characteristics. Homozygous dogs tend to be prepotent and produce offspring that look like themselves (Walkowica & Wilcox 1994) Linebreeding is frequently misunderstood and miscommunicated; in fact, it is not altogether uncommon for an outcrossed pedigree to be mistakenly viewed as linebreeding by the novice. We can more clearly define linebreeding and how we can more accurately describe our linebred litters. The effects of linebreeding: Good shoulder and stifle angulation and good temperament are considered Recissive traits by most authorities. She temperaments and poor angulation are theoretically considered dominant traits. Breeders need to understand Dominant and Recessive genes in order to promote the positive traits and decrease the negative traits in our breeds.

Dominant & Recessive Genes. There are two types of genes whose interaction help determine which trait will be passed on to a new-born puppy: Dominant genes "win out" over recessive genes Use capital letters for dominant genes (ex T for ticking) Use lower case letters for recessive genes (ex t for non-ticking) Example, a dog inheriting T from the sire and t from the dam will have the gene par Tt and will have ticking.