breeding

[April & Ervin Rifenburg]

In the late 70's a lady, who had a vision for improving the orthopedics 
of our breed, was promoting the idea of evaluating the progeny at age 2 
yr. before considering breeding either the sire or dam again.  This was 
in the day of trying to get breeders to xray breeding stock for hip 
dysplasia.  

Hip evaluations eventually became an accepted practice and opened the 
door to elbows, eyes, thyroid, Vwb, heart....  B-G and Ron's database 
have been instrumental in sharing information on relatives, meaning 
sibs, half sibs, aunts, uncles in addition to parents, grandparents to 
help breeders with breeding decisions.  With the population of Berners 
on a high in the year 2003, maybe breeders might consider waiting for 2 
years before breeding either the dam or sire again......  maybe that 
might lead to increased longevity as 2 years is a long time to wait with 
a breed whose life expectancy is 7......

There are some repro vets who claim that a bitch can and should be bred 
every heat cycle.  In the wild nature probably would have handled an 
over abundance of offspring, but in today's society we really don't need 
that many puppies.....of any breed.
April Rifenburg