Studies and collecting data

The project breeders have also agreed to collect data from the project dogs and their offspring for several generations. The aim is to collect data about the health, behaviour, conformation and reproduction of the dogs. At the moment we're at work developing and standardising tests to measure among other things the development of the puppies and the behaviour of the dogs. As we're working together with several scientists, the data collected will be as easy to use as possible and as helpful as possible too.

WIth the help of this data we can measure accurately, decades from now, how the breeding decisions - made with particular attention to health, vitality, temperament and diversity - have affected the breed. At the same time we'll have new data on how different traits are inherited.

As one of the basic principles of this project is to make the data available for research purposes, we're happy to aid new research projects as well.

Some of the data we're collecting:

Pedigree

Height

Weight (for bitches also during gestation, before whelping etc.)

Chest circumference

Bite and teeth (not only how many teeth but also teething periods)

Health (all the dog's vet appointments for the whole of the dog's lifespan, symptoms, treatment, result)

Eye examination results

Patella examination results

Spinal X-ray results

BAER (hearing) test results

Hip X-ray result

Cause and age of death

Seasons (dates and length, mating days)

Matings (number, date, ways, behaviour of male and female, interest, success, possible problems)

Gestation period (length, health, possible complications)

Whelping (pre-labour, labour, length, placentas, number of puppies, gender, vitality, possible complications, behaviour and health of the bitch and puppies during labour, puppy positions during labour, nursing behaviour, typical newborn behaviour)

Puppy development (weights, behaviour and development, opening of eyes, feeding behaviour etc.)

The behaviour of the bitch during nursing period

The temperament of the puppies at different stages of development (behaviour, learning, predatory behaviour etc.)

Functional conformation

Those dogs that have less extensive pedigrees (mainly these are group 1 dogs of British origin) are part of a future study where their DNA will be analysed to find out how closely related they are to each other, how closely related they are to the other project dogs and how closely they are related to the commonly used Finnish lines.

This is just a short list with examples of the data collected: there is going to be much more information available.