If you find any interest in this information continue reading my attempt to explain this material, if it does not interest you, now is the time to surf to another page.

     Please note that when I refer below to a column, that is the name/numbers going up and down.  A row, is the name/numbers going across the page from side to side.  The information is read by row, from left to right and it is listed by the strongest COR,  at the top to the least COR at the bottom.   COR will be explained below.

    Column (1). NAME - A listing of the names found within the pedigree in review.  The name found in row (1) will either be the mating involved to produce that particular litter being reviewed or the individual dog in review.  It will always have a COUNT of (1) and a COR of 100%.  As you look down column (1), the dogs are in order of the COR numbers.

    Column (2).  COI - (definition) -The coefficient of inbreeding is a number that represents the probability that a given dog is homozygous (possessing two identical forms of a particular gene), for a single gene from a key individual's gene pair. 

     The coefficient of inbreeding provides valuable information for pedigree analysis when examining genetic traits, namely homozygosity defined as the state of possessing two identical forms of a particular gene, one inherited from each parent.

     If a key individual had a gene pair, say a/b for example, the coefficient of inbreeding measures the probability that the individual dog under consideration has either an a/a gene or b/b gene. Considering the overall coefficient of inbreeding, one must add up all such probabilities for all ancestors in the pedigree.

     As for me when I look at a printout of the breeding calculations on a certain dog or mating, I look first at the COI for that dog or mating.  This will tell me basically how strong they are genetically.  It of course does not tell me that they are a dink, average, or superior dog, it just lets me know how strong they are in their genetic make-up.  I then start looking down the column for the key individuals that I am interested in.  I then scan across that row to the COR percentage.  I perceive that number to be what probable percentage that key individual is to the make-up of the certain dog/mating.  I am not saying that this is correct, I'm just saying that's how I look at those numbers.

  Column (3).  COR - Coefficient of Relationship - (definition) The probability or odds that in our case, a dog, shares a given gene by virtue of being descended from a common ancestor. In our case, the mating of dogs, an individual dog shares half its genes with it's sire and dam, getting one from each.  Therefore, in theory, each mating thereafter, the genes from the descendents would be cut in half.       

     Lets look at an example for some clarity. I'll use some key individuals found within Bo'Darc Kennel.  

     CH. Fiddler's Ace was bred to Candy Rail to produce Cooper's Dusty Rail.  Dusty is , 50% Fiddler's Ace and 50% Candy Rail in probability.  For the remainder of this example, we'll just focus our attention on Fiddler's Ace's genes.  If Dusty were then bred to a female having no Fiddler's Ace blood, say a Miller's Chief bred female, the percentage of Ace's genes would be cut in half again making the offspring of Dusty to the Miller's Chief bred female, 25% Fiddler's Ace.  If this type of breeding were to continue, you can see how after just 3 matings from Fiddler's Ace, his genetic percentage would be 12.5%, being cut in half from each unrelated mating.  Take a look at the table below to see how the percentages decline with each generation, where no linebreeding occurs.

          If it is our desire to keep CH. Fiddler's Ace blood from being diluted in half again for each following litter, some form of line breeding must take place to concentrate Fiddler's Ace's blood.  

    Let's look at some linebreeding that was done to concentrate CH. Fiddler's Ace's genes.  

    You keep reading the word, probability.  Because that is what we are having to deal with, probabilities, not certainties. This is not like mixing paint or your favorite cocktail!  When the sire and dam passes on one set of their chromosomes to their offspring, those chromosomes will include a selection of ones they inherited from both their parents.  There is no guarantee that the selection will be exactly equal.  Again COR- the probability of a dog sharing like genes of what we are interested in or focusing on, those traits found within our key individual animals.  If we wish to continue to maintain those traits found in our key individuals, we must;

      COR percentages can be viewed as useful bits of information that  help us determine genetic strengths. 

Column (4). Count -  The number of times this particular dog shows up in the pedigree.  In our example below of Bo'Darc Fiddler's Image "Stitch", you can see that CH. Fiddler appears 5 times in Stitch's pedigree.

Column (5). Min Gen (minimum generation) - The earliest generation that this particular dog is to be found in the viewed dog's pedigree.  

Column (6). Max Gen (maximum generation) - The last generation that this particular dog is to be found in the viewed dog's pedigree.  

    Whew....I'm glad that's over with.  O.K., lets take a look at the genetic overview below, of Bo'Darc Fiddler's Image, "Stitch", and apply some of the information we just discussed.  I also highlighted CH. Fiddler for an example as well.

     Understand that I have and am continuing to try to explain this information as I perceive it.  I am not a geneticist; I'm a bird hunter.  

     When I look at this table below I see that Bo'Darc Fiddler's Image "Stitch", has a COI of 7.46%.  That's about all the information I can gather from row 1.  I then look down the rows, looking for the key individuals that are important to me.  I have the row of CH. Fiddler highlighted in red for us to take a look at.  I see that he has a COR percentage of 30.90%.  This tells me that there is the probability that Stitch possess 30.90% of the genes found in CH. Fiddler.  Like I said earlier, we ain't mixing paint.  Neither me nor anyone else would be able to know for certain what the exact percentage of CH. Fiddler is  to be found within Stitch, but you know it has to be quite a bit because he looks almost exactly like him!  We can see that CH. Fiddler shows up 5 times (COUNT) in Stitch's pedigree.  The first time we would see CH. Fiddler in Stitch's pedigree, viewing it from left to right, would be in the 3rd generation (MIN GEN), and the last time we would see Ch. Fiddler would be in the 5th generation ( MAX GEN), and again between the 3rd generation and the 5th generation, CH. Fiddler appears in the pedigree 5 times (COUNT).  Don't try to adding up the COR's, for instance Ch. Fiddler 30.90%, plus Nell's Rambling On 24.87%, plus Matador's Guard Rail 38.10%.  Those three dogs percentages total 93.87%, COR does not work that way. 

    It is my hope that this information you just read was done in a manner that was understandable to you.   I also hope that the numbers found in the genetic overviews will give you a better understanding of the genetic strength of key individual dogs found in the breeding of Bo'Darc Kennel.

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