Confused - In-bred or Line bred

Kozman

New member
Nov 13, 2011
43
1
NYC
Bulldog(s) Names
Luna
I recently received my AKC pedigree in the mail and was shocked to see my bully was a result of a father /daughther breeding. I contacted my breeder and questioned if this was true and she replied this was a "tight" line breeding and perfectly natural in the dog world.

To me this seems like in-breeding and not line breeding, can someone explain the difference and advise if i should be concerned. The pup is fine, she is great and the temperment is good, no health issues so far and very cute and loving.
 

cali~jenn

..........
Mar 28, 2010
0
419
Southern California
Bulldog(s) Names
Cutty, Miila and Mugsy the pug :)
I dont know much about the line breeding but from what I have head line breeding is when you use grandfather and granddaughter. To me dad is just too close and sounds icky. You will get more knowledgeable replies I am sure. I think I would be a bit put off by it personally tho.
 

anatess

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2011
1,758
398
Country
US
Bulldog(s) Names
Bullie (RIP) & Angus (RIP)
All purebred dogs have gone through some inbreeding to bring about a homozygous breed trait to purify the line. In-breeding in itself is not bad. What is bad is not introducing enough new unrelated gene carriers (outbreeding) in the line to keep the good heterozygous traits within the breed.

All breeding of relatives is called in-breeding. Line-breeding is a subset of inbreeding.

The definition of line-breeding varies from breed to breed, animal to animal (or even plants). But the most common definition in the dog world is in-breeding from the 2nd to the 4th generation. That is - the dog's parents are the first generation, grandparents the 2nd generation, great-grandparents the 3rd generation, great-great grandparents the 4th generation. Therefore, parent x child and sibling x sibling is too close to be considered line-breeding and 5th-degree cousins is too far to be considered line-breeding.

So, your dog having been a product of a parent x child relationship is, definitely, a very tight definition of line-breeding. This is not necessarily bad. In-breeding, when done responsibly by knowledgeable expert breeders, is sometimes necessary to flush out both desirable and undesirable homozygous traits. Therefore, most dog breeds has gone through closely monitored in-breeding at some point to identify all effects of a homozygous pairing and try to eliminate certain gene time-bombs.

The icky feeling of inbreeding is just that - an icky cultural bias. But, Line-breeding is not something a novice breeder should engage in. This type of breeding requires very close monitoring and super accurate record-keeping.
 

Davidh

Head Pooper Scooper
Staff member
Mar 21, 2011
13,407
848
Katy, Texas
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
BeBe, Hazel, Lucy Lu, JLO, Hillary, Henri, & Katie
Well breeding granddaughter to grandfather is line breeding. The benefit of line breeding is the production of more consistent litters. Father to daughter is inbreeding. I myself would never inbreed. Inbreeding intensifies the faults as well as the strong points, so this type of breeding should be used with caution.
 

JAKEISGREAT

.................
Mar 25, 2011
14,802
1,155
Southern California
Bulldog(s) Names
Jake
Inbreeding..I'm sorry..there is a BIG difference between "line" breeding and "in" breeding. I would definitely question your breeder. I'm very happy your pup is a healthy happy girl. Your breeder should've told you.
 

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