How will the dogs be mated?

For the breeding groups to be of maximum benefit to the whole of the population, the groups should be kept separate for as long as possible. The founding population should of course consist of so many unrelated dogs that the inbreeding coefficient can be kept low for several generations. The goal is to create at least three or four breeding groups that have a different genetic base. When the inbreeding coefficient starts to increase, we will continue breeding using a rotational system between the groups.

Breeding within the groups

First we pair the founding dogs so that every male and every female breeds equally within the group, for the most part just once.

The dogs with absolutely no relations in Finland are bred twice in the beginning of the project (so that we are assured of their genes being preserved). The dogs belonging to the same group with these "rare" dogs, are bred twice as well, to have the same amount of each dog´s genes in the group. In the next generations we will revert to the one litter per dog principle.

From each litter one dog and one bitch are chosen to become the next generation. Even though the number of founding dogs is large, the number of dogs reproducing will stay the same from one generation to the next using this system. The population will hardly grow in number at all but it will stay diverse: all the genetic diversity present in the first generation founding dogs will be kept alive in future generations.

The genes of the founding population won't disappear, nor will any of them become more prevalent than the others. The project aims to realise the ideal of a healthy canine breeding population in practice.

Within the project a mating is usually not repeated and one dog only breeds within one generation, so that no dog will for instance be both father and grandfather to a future generation. Reality will, however, possibly put obstacles in the way. If for instance there is only one female puppy born in a litter, the mating will possibly be repeated so that a male puppy can be obtained to continue. A few of the founding dogs are distantly related to each other and this has to be taken into consideration when planning the breeding pairs (for instance in deciding whether fewer than 1+1 offspring should go forward for breeding). Luckily we've had great help from the experts from the Finnish Society for Canine Genetic Health in calculating this.

The aim is to be able to breed within the groups for at least four or five generations without the inbreeding coefficient rising too much (over 6.25%). If possible, we'll also collect frozen semen from the founding males; this way we can take one or more steps back in our breeding if it turns out to be necessary. If it turns out, for instance, that in the imaginary litter Jeppe x Puppe the dam Puppe is the carrier of some particularily nasty hereditary disorder that only shows itself in her offspring when they are middle aged, we can remove Jeppe's and Puppe's offspring from the project and use the (possibly already deceased) Jeppe on another female to save his genes for the future.

In the future the goal is that by keeping the inbreeding coefficient low and by rotational mating between the breeding groups we attain heterosis, which is as positive an effect as the negative effect of inbreeding depression. When mating two completely unrelated animals heterosis is obtained: the offspring shows greater vitality and more efficient reproduction than either of the parents. The phenomenon is universal, whether among animals, plants and even humans.

Adding dogs to the breeding groups in later generations

New dogs can be added at any time, as long as they're neither related to the dogs within that breeding group nor to the other groups (the groups have to stay as genetically separate as possible so as to be useful as outcross material for the other groups during the rotation breeding). We've tried to find dogs that share no ancestors for at least four or five generations and we'll apply the same criteria when adding new dogs to the breeding groups.

When we consider a new dog we check the pedigree as far back as is available, count the ancestors and their percentage of the total genetic material of the breeding groups. We don't count the number of offspring of one particular dog as genetic diversity but we look at how many different ancestors the dogs have and what the percentages of their genes are the current population.

Even though using a completely outcross male would be a tempting way to get a lot of litters with an inbreeding coefficient of pure 0%, there is still more benefits to using one dog only for one or two females. Otherwise too many offspring of that particular male will go on to breed and that will in its turn decrease diversity (one line would breed more than others). There are any number of these examples in dog breeding. If one male is used for several or even all females in the breed, the resulting offspring will have an inbreeding coefficient of 0% - but will all be half siblings. In terms of the breed's future that is anything but a desirable situation.