Breed selection and breeding stock retention
- Breed selection
According to the breeding plan, breed selection is carried out for the puppies at 3-4 months of age. The initial selection criteria are based on appearance, and they should meet the common descriptive standards. The breeding stock without any abnormalities in the external genitalia is selected. The first selection of breeding stock is followed by the following testing and evaluation.
(1) The pedigree of the parents and their mating and production history are traced. Breeding stock with severe medical history, dystocia history, or cannibalism history in their parents are excluded.
(2) The breeding stock has a clear pedigree, normal female productivity, and standard body size.
(3) Exterior examination is conducted for the coat color, eyes, ears, oral cavity, mandible, maxilla, limbs, anus, external genitalia, as well as physiological tests such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, and body temperature. Body measurements are also taken. All indicators must meet the common descriptive standards of the breed.
(4) Breeding stock that fears or bites humans, has a gloomy personality, or has blood physiological and biochemical indicators that are abnormal are excluded.
(5) Breeding stock with growth and nutritional status that deviate from the standard growth curve and are not healthy are excluded.
(6) At 6-8 months of age, the selected breeding stock is subject to a second testing and evaluation.
- Breeding stock retention
When the breeding stock reaches the breeding age, those that have no medical history and all physiological and blood biochemical indicators are within the standard values can be used as breeding stock.
II. Stock conservation and breeding
(1) Maintain a sufficient number of breeding stock to preserve the original characteristics of the breed.
(2) Close monitoring of the inbreeding coefficient is essential during the breeding process. If inbreeding occurs, a certain proportion of new male and female dogs need to be introduced to avoid excessive inbreeding.
(3) Embryo preservation techniques and artificial insemination can be used to establish an embryo seed bank and sperm bank. The method of generation skipping can be used to maintain the original breed characteristics and minimize genetic variation in the breed population.
(4) Microsatellite DNA technology can be used to test the genetic background of the population. Allele frequencies, gene homozygosity, gene differentiation coefficients, polymorphism information content, and heterozygosity can be calculated to accurately understand the breed characteristics and genetic characteristics of the population. Genetic quality monitoring can prevent breed degradation through genetic quality testing.
III. Breeding methods
(1) The initial mating age for male dogs is 10-12 months old, while that for female dogs is 8-10 months old.
(2) The female dog has a heat cycle every 120 days, allowing for a mating cycle that lasts for 3-4 days.
(3) The co-housing mating method: male dogs are grouped in a ratio of 1: (3-5) for fixed mating, and they are raised together in the male dog housing. Natural mating occurs, and when pregnancy is confirmed, the pregnant female dog is transferred to the maternity ward for individual housing.
(4) The separate housing mating method: male and female dogs are raised separately. Once a female dog shows signs of heat, it is moved into the male dog's cage for mating twice within a week. After each mating, the female dog is moved out immediately.
(5) The optimal avoidance of inbreeding method: When selecting a mating partner or changing mating partners for female dogs, it is necessary to review their pedigree and avoid mating if there is a common ancestor within three generations of their ancestors.
