Re: [pyrnet] Pyrs without Dwarf producing ancestors

[SovreignPyrs@aol.com]

<< I was hoping someone could give me a specific dogs name that they believed 
 did not have a dwarf carrier behind them. >>
Hello All,
Being new to the list please forgive me borowing from your email Mr.Gentzel.  
Having dealt with Dwarfism among our Beagles (my first breed) for over 25 
years, I know how difficult it was when we first turned up the problem.  As 
in Pyrs no one talked about it.  But the Beagle fraternity being as close a 
family as they are, elected to pull together and resolve the problem.  There 
could be no witch hunt among us because 6 of the top producing sires (some 
over 100 champions each) have produced dwarfs. Used this often,trust me it 
is/was in every kennel, in every line some place or another.  And it just 
means the right two individuals combined may surface the problem again.  What 
everyone needs to get past is this: 

 #1  Every single living organism on this planet carries at least minimum of 
5 lethal or bad genes for SOME kind of problem, therefore no one should sling 
any mud at anyone else. 
 #2 No one is immune to this. There is no dog, animal rat or whatever who is 
perfect, they all produce something.  Being a truly good breeder means 
sharing the information that will help the breed avoid any pitfalls you 
yourself have run up against.   Maybe that is not the popular hide in the 
closet trend some subscribe to, but if you truly love this wonderful breed 
your rule of thumb should be "Do no intentional harm to the breed you love".  
 No I don't think one dwarf puppy would be the end of the breed, and it 
certainly hasn't been in our little hounds either.  But with everyone pulling 
together, (the incidence in this breed is much lower than in our hounds), I 
think we could get through it much faster.  

No I've never had a dwarf Pyr, but I can certainly understand the shock and 
upset a breeder has on finding a dwarf among their new litter.   I recently 
produced a dwarf beagle puppy after 12 years without one.  Again I know its 
in back of our top producers and have always figured my risk going in to any 
breeding.  BUT, I was not prepared to get one using a foreign bred dog as an 
outcross line, and have it turn up again.  Well again this country of 
breeders (who shall remain nameless) we are informed have them all the time, 
not one breeder in the background of this dog came forward to say that the 
dog they exported to the states had a high probability of passing on dwarfism 
along with numerous wonderful breed attributes.  A shame indeed, to find out 
3 years down the road, when everyone has been breeding to him.
This was especially surprising since I checked him out pretty carefully, and 
could not get one word from anyone that he had produced any kind of problem.  
The damage has been done, but after the cat is out of the bag so to speak.  
This is going to take a bit of test breeding now to get past this again.  Not 
every puppy will carry the gene thats for sure. And he produced some really 
gorgeous sound pups otherwise.  And no I don't think he should be thrown out 
or anything decended from him entirely.  That is not the answer, and it won't 
be the answer in pyrs either.  But we are all working hard to figure out 
which dogs can be incorporated at this point, and which can not be.  This can 
only happen with shared information. 

And so I ask the fancy at large, can a list of dwarf producers be shared with 
me so that I can breed intelligently.   At this point I have no idea how much 
of this is in the background of my dogs.   I may be new to Pyrs, but that 
does not mean I want to breed them any less carefully than I breed my 
Beagles.  Knowledge is prevention.

I would appreciate anyones help in filling in the blanks for me.  

Sincerely
Sharon Hodgdon
Sovreign Pyrs