Dustin Myers
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Oct 2006
Location: Bonners Ferry, ID
Posts: 776 |
OK, here’s some of my ideas and opinions. I believe that first and foremost, before anyone can attempt to make a cross that will improve the quality of the hounds they own. They must first have a good understanding of what a good hound really is. This can only be done by putting the time in in the woods. You must first have hunted with enough different hounds, in enough different scenarios, to understand the differences between an exceptional hound, a good hound, a mediocre hound, and a worthless one. There are no short cuts to this part of the process.
Once you have put the time in to be able to accurately evaluate what qualities and faults a hound possesses, you can begin the process of selecting which hounds are of the quality that deserve to be bred. Now that you have a hound you have determined deserves to be bred, you must again use your knowledge of hounds to evaluate the good and bad characteristics of any potential mates. At this point you are not just looking for another hound that is of breeding quality, but also for a hound who’s characteristics compliment the hound they will be bred to, and has qualities that can improve the overall ability of the pups born from this cross. In other words they should both have as many good traits in common as possible, but should also offset any weaknesses in each other. The more good characteristics they have in common the better, but no pair of hounds that could be bred are exactly what the person who is breeding them desires. Therefore you must be able to honestly evaluate each hound and recognize any weakness they may have. You should try to make sure that any weakness one mate has, the other mate is strong in that characteristic.
While going through this process, I believe that you will greatly increase your odds of getting a litter of pups that have the ability to improve your hunting and breeding program, if you select two mates that carry some of the same breeding in their pedigrees (line breeding). In my experience the percentage of top quality hounds produced in a litter can be greatly increased, when you breed not only two top notch hounds, but two hounds who inherited their good qualities from some of the same hounds in their pedigrees. This increases the odds that the pups from the cross will also exibit those same good qualities, because it will be in their pedigree more than one time. It also increases the odds that the pups from this litter will carry similar characteristics to each other, as opposed to a litter that doesn’t carry any common breeding. It’s this consistency that will allow the breeder/hunter to more accurately evaluate the entire litter to determine the common strengths and weaknesses of the litter as a whole. This makes the next step of trying to improve your hounds again a little easier. Because you now know what characteristics your hounds as a group are strong in, and which of their characteristics you should try to improve in any future crosses.
To achieve this goal of continually trying to improve your hounds, you should now search to find a hound with as many good characteristics as possible, but also one that is extra stong in the characteristic you are trying to improve. Hopefully you can find such a hound within the family or bloodline of hounds you are currently breeding. But if not, this may be the point in time where you should look outside the bloodline for a good outcross that can add the desired traits you are looking for. An outcross will probably reduce the consistency of the all pups being similar. But if it works as planned, (which it sometimes doesn’t) hopefully you will get a hound that is improved in the characteristic you wanted, and still carries enough good characteristics from your own hounds, that it will be suitable to use in your breeding program. This is just a theory and it doesn’t always work as planned. If an outcross or any other breeding doesn’t achieve the desired goal, then you will have to take a step back and try something different. If you do get a hound from the outcross that you feel will help improve your hounds as a group. Then that hound should be bred back to a hound from your original bloodline, to try to incorporate the new characteristic into the bloodline.
These are just some of my personal opinions I have developed from the experiences I’ve had and lessons I’ve learned from others. They are theories that I follow and believe in, but are just my theories. I know that any theory doesn’t work all the time, and I’ve seen mine proven wrong occasionally too. I’m in no way trying to tell anyone how they should go about breeding their hounds. I just thought I would share some of my ideas in an effort to add something to this excellent thread. I hope we can keep it going. I’ve really enjoyed this one.
OK, I think I need a nap now. I must have worked my brain to hard. LOL
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10-04-2007 06:00 PM
