What is inbreeding?

Inbreeding

Many people think of inbreeding if they see a dog's name on a pedigree many times.  This is not what inbreeding is.  Inbreeding is the mating of two very close relatives such as father to daughter, mother to son, cousin to cousin, uncle to nephew or aunt to nephew. half brother to half sister, etc. Anything further away from this is not  inbreeding. Inbreeding intensifies not only the good traits, but also the bad.It only takes two recessive genes to end up with major health issues.

Line Breeding

Line Breeding is the mating of dogs that have some of the same ancestors. An example this is grandfather to granddaughter. This is done to reinforce desired characteristics without having to worry about health issues.

Outcrossing

Outcrossing is when the two parents are totally unrelated. In pedigree animals, this often means where a common ancestor does not occur behind either parent within a four or five generation pedigree.

.