” 20 Basic Breeding Principles” by Mr Oppenheimer and my observations
Download this page in PDF formatThere are a vast number of different breeding methods, some good, some bad. I should never presume to try to tell fanciers what is the right method because there is no such thing. Outstanding success can be achieved and has been achieved in a variety of different ways. So all I am going to do is to make some suggestions which I think helpful and to warn against certain pitfalls which trap too many of the unwary.
Remember that the animals you select for breeding today will have an impact on the breed for many years to come. Keep that thought firmly in mind when you choose breeding stock.
This is what Raymond Oppenheimer, a very famous Bull Terrier breeder wrote back in 1957 for Author Ernest Eberhard for “The Complete Bull Terrier”, a very famous book about the principles for breeding Bull Terriers who are a very distinctive Terrier breed with many differences between them and the remainder of the Terriers, much as Dachshunds are so different than most of the other Hounds. Below are the Basic Breeding Principles that he used to breed the best Bull Terriers and with it are my comments on them and WHY they are important.
20 Breeding Principles
1. Don’t make use of indiscriminate outcrosses. A judicious outcross can be of great value, an injudicious one can produce an aggregation of every imaginable fault in the breed.
Keep type in mind when you breed and always try to use judicious outcrosses so that both dogs have the same faults and that one is strong enough to pass it on to the next generation. Many people just cross dogs with no sense of style or conformation and just mix up faults that will be carried down through the next generation. Our job in breeding is to ELIMINATE faults, not keep adding them to what comes after that new litter. Fixing faults is what we concentrate on, not adding more of them.
2. Don’t line breed just for the sake of line breeding. Line breeding with complementary types can bring great rewards; with unsuitable ones it will lead to immediate disaster.
When you are line breeding on a certain type, make sure the Dachshund you have chosen to use has the same type as the one you are breeding to him. Linebreeding on certain dogs with the same type does bring rewards, while line breeding on dogs of the same background, but of a different type can indeed bring on disaster to your bloodline. Remember, breed to dogs that look alike and do not have the same faults as that can cause many problems down the line.
3. Don’t take advice from people who have always been unsuccessful breeders. If their opinions were worth having they would have proved it by their successes.
Many people fill their ears with the thoughts of people who were not successful in breeding at all and fill the new Breeders head full of ideas who never were good to begin with. Remember, these people had no success but are quick to share their thoughts with you. Instead, no matter where you are in the Dog Show game, ask around and see who has been successful and be friendly and ask questions and find out WHY they were successful. They love to tell their stories and fill your head up with what successful breeders did to get their line at the top. Let those people be your guide and not some person who has never won anything under knowledgeable Judges and Breeders.
4. Don’t believe the popular cliché about the brother or sister of the great champion being just as good to breed from. For every one that is, hundreds are not. It depends on the animal concerned.
That pretty much says what it means. Don’t breed to the great producer’s littermate because they are all equal. Dogs do not all get the same genetic background in each litter and, usually, the great producer is just a better sire of great offspring than any in his litter. Now sometimes a lesser littermate DOES sire better than the best dog in the litter and then that is what you compare when looking at offspring. The best producer is the one who sired dogs closer to your version of the Standard and that is how you get typier Dachshunds.
5. Don’t credit your own dogs with virtues they don’t possess. Self-deceit is a stepping stone to failure.
Don’t say your dogs are strong in areas where they are not. Be honest about your dogs and tell them what they will get if they breed them and also what they will not get. Breeders have to be honest about the best parts and the worst parts of each dog and how that you get around these faults and try to fix them in that next generation. Being dishonest does indeed make you kennel blind.
6. Don’t breed from mediocrities; the absence of a fault does not in any way signify the presence of its corresponding virtue.
Watching new owners not really know what is wrong with their dogs is a mighty danger for me as I am perhaps a little too honest for my own good. I see so many people trying new breedings and actually using two dogs with the same faults in a breeding that, maybe, they are not really aware that those features ARE faults. Most people just bumble along and breed mediocre to mediocre and have no idea that they are just passing on mediocrity instead of tying to get better with each new generation. Passing mediocrity on does not make that Dachshund of yours typier.
7. Don’t try to line breed to two dogs at the same time; you will end by line breeding to neither.
Line breeding should be done concentrating on a single dog as the more it appears in the pedigree, the more times its good qualities come out. When you line breed on two dogs, you are halving the opportunities that each will have on that new litter as you are using them less then.
8. Don’t assess the worth of a stud dog by his inferior progeny. All stud dogs sire rubbish at times; what matters is how good their best efforts are.
Many breeders decry a Stud Dog because of some little things they see that bother them and vow never to use them. I am someone who has had a few Stud Dogs that were used by many others and myself and I often see faults but that does not mean I don’t use them. Remember, we use Stud Dogs to improve certain things in my bitch line and these properties are what we judge whether to use the dog or not. Keep thinking of what you want to improve in your bloodline.
9. Don’t allow personal feelings to influence your choice of a stud dog. The right dog for your bitch is the right dog, whoever owns it.
I never turned away a Stud Fee, because I knew that my Dachshunds would help most that came along and I never wanted to make things personal. I sold to many breeders that may not have liked me as a person because I was always wanted to make the best Dachshund I could and I tried to be helpful anyway. I also bred to many dogs that my competitors had, because, again, I wanted my litters to be the best they could. I always said when I admired another dog and tried to keep the dog’s quality ahead of any personal problems that I had with its owners. We are all looking to breed the best Dachshund and pettiness should never enter into it.
10. Don’t allow admiration of a stud dog to blind you to his faults. If you do you will soon be the victim of auto-intoxication.
Don’t say your dogs are strong in areas where they are not. Be honest about your dogs and tell them what they will get if they breed them and also what they will not get. Breeders have to be honest about the best parts and the worst parts of each dog and how to get around these faults and try to fix them in that next generation. Being dishonest does indeed make you kennel blind.
11. Don’t mate together animals which share the same fault. You are asking for trouble if you do.
The reason for this thought is that, when you double up on a fault by breeding two with that fault together, you are assuredly going to make every new puppy carry that fault. We want to overcome faults and never make them harder to lose.
12. Don’t forget that it is the whole dog that counts. If you forget one virtue while searching for another you will pay for it.
If you will notice that I always insist that you should always keep what you already had as we are breeding to improve our line and giving up a perfect rear to get a better front does not really make sense to me. Why lose what you already had in order to conquer another fault?
13. Don’t search for the perfect dog as a mate for your bitch. The perfect dog (or bitch) doesn’t exist, never has and never will!
Another thing that is an irritant to me anyway is the new breeder who wants to breed to a perfect dog or bitch. That is not going to happen as no dog is ever perfect. Look at the dogs whose produce you like and use the one who has the best results in what you are trying to fix in that next generation. Getting a few puppies down that road is what we all should be breeding for. Do I expect all great puppies in each litter? No, but I certainly hope I get a few who are closer to that ‘impossible’ perfection.
14. Don’t be frightened of breeding from animals that have obvious faults so long as they have compensating virtues. A lack of virtues is far the greatest fault of all.
Watching new owners not really know what is wrong with their dogs is a mighty danger for me as I am perhaps a little too honest for my own good. I see so many people trying new breedings and actually using two dogs with the same faults in a breeding that, maybe, they are not really aware of. That just duplicates that fault and so no progress was made and that should have been what the breeding was for. All dogs have faults, we should all be breeding around them, not adding them to our own bloodline.
15. Don’t mate together non-complementary types. An ability to recognize type at a glance is a breeder’s greatest gift; ask the successful breeders to explain this subject – there is no other way of learning. (I would define non-complimentary types as ones which have the same faults and lack the same virtues.)
Not mixing types is what I have always done as a Dachshund breeder and have always headed down the same path and bred dogs whose body shape and size may be different, but whose type and shape is always the same in everything I raise as a Boondox Dachshund. I want the head, neck, angulation, forechest, body length and rear to be all alike as that is the type I go for in breeding and judging Dachshunds. One thing is you soon know not to breed faults and instead concentrate on their good qualities, conquering faults one at a time.
16. Don’t forget the necessity to preserve head quality. It will vanish like a dream if you do.
As I have stated previously, Bull Terriers are a Head Breed, but Dachshunds are a Front Breed and so, as I tell everyone, get the neckset, front angulation and forechest right and you will always come out on top as that Front makes the Dachshund move as it does.
17. Don’t forget that substance plus quality should be one of your aims. Any fool can breed one without the other!
Exactly, we cannot get one thing or another, but we must insist on quality conformation, superb movement and great Heath in every Dachshund we raise. We want them all to be the best Dachshund we can bring into the World.
18. Don’t forget that a great head plus soundness should be another of your aims. Many people can never breed either!
Since Bull Terriers are a Head Breed, I certainly said when I was breeding that we should all be breeding Dachshunds for a great front and lots of forechest along with soundness and great Health. We always want these things in every Dachshund. Seeing them in the Show Ring, in the Field or at home pleases me to no end. That great front will also give you soundness as well.
19. Don’t ever try to decry a great Bull Terrier. A thing of beauty is not only a joy forever but a great Bull Terrier should be a source of aesthetic pride and pleasure to all true lovers of the breed.
When a Breeder has a great Dachshund and shows them, we breeders should appreciate the pride he has in it and always try to tell him so. Realize your fortune in having raised such a nice one and recognize what an asset he or she is and always think about what a beauty he was. Remember what you are breeding for and appreciate them for what they are and think ahead about for the next few generations that you have planned for the future.
20. Don’t be satisfied with anything but the best. The second best is never good enough.
When you breed, breed to the best Dachshund that you see. We always need to make our dogs better than the rest and, by using the best Dachshund, you are leading the way and making breeding better and better for us all. Second best is not winning. Winning First Place in a Show Ring is being Number One. Let’s all go there and realize how it feels in great competition with the best Judges deciding their worth.