What’s “enough” diversity in a breed?
In the last decade or so, there have been those who’ve decried the state of purebred dogs, saying they are...
Two sides, same coin: genetic diversity and selection
Or, what can we learn from our friends, the wild foxes? There is today a great debate in purebred dog communities...
What can we learn from the devil?
The Tasmanian devil, of course. There’s a lot of talk about preservation of species and breeds these days, which is...
A Reluctant Rebuttal
It’s rare that we see Embark attack BetterBred directly by name. They usually (inexplicably) attack only the highly qualified scientific...
DCM in Dobermans is an autoimmune disease
An important new paper from Germany now shows something I have long suspected – that dilated cardiomyopathy in Doberman Pinschers...
Trends in Flat-Coated Retrievers
Last month the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of America held their annual specialty in Oregon and collected an additional 89 samples...
Disappointed with your diversity results? Don’t be.
So what happens when you get what you think is a “bad” result on your canine diversity test? As this...
Is perfection possible?
There’s a dangerous concept among less informed, or inexperienced breeders, and pet owners, and that is the idea that we...
Let’s talk about relatedness
At BetterBred, we pay very close attention to “relatedness.” This includes a breed’s overall relatedness, and a mating pair’s relatedness,...
Let’s talk about COI and other estimates of inbreeding
COI, “coefficient of inbreeding,” is a very specific concept. We breeders have to pay attention to the definitions given by...