Breeding...Does the female carry the most weight??

[hicntry]

In a post below, Michael brought up a subject that I have heard repeatedly over the years. The female is the most determining factor when breeding. Where does this idea come from? It kind of reminds me of other old time beliefs like....if you hunt the mother while pregnant, you have a better chance of having a litter that hunts. Good grief people. If the mother is out hunting, she is probably from hunting lines to begin with. Genetically, the sire contributes 50% and the dam contributes her 50%. If some of you believe the dam is contributing 75% then all the figuring on coefficients of inbreeding are obviously all wrong because they are also based on a 50%/50% split. Can we assume that, since the dam does the rearing of the young, it may just "appear" they are taking more from the dam?? Anyone got any scientific proof of this concept or is it all conjecture being passed from one person to another?

[jsf13]

hicntry said:

Can we assume that, since the dam does the rearing of the young, it may just "appear" they are taking more from the dam??

I believe this is exactly where it comes from.Part of the "nature vs nurture" if you will.

[melanie]

hicntry said:

The female is the most determining factor when breeding. Where does this idea come from?

Before marrying, look at your gal's mom. It's true she becomes her mother! ;D



[glow=red,2,300]Mel[/glow]


Just fixed the broken link.......

[Idaho Steve]

hicntry said:

In a post below, Michael brought up a subject that I have heard repeatedly over the years. The female is the most determining factor when breeding. Where does this idea come from? It kind of reminds me of other old time beliefs like....if you hunt the mother while pregnant, you have a better chance of having a litter that hunts. Good grief people. If the mother is out hunting, she is probably from hunting lines to begin with. Genetically, the sire contributes 50% and the dam contributes her 50%. If some of you believe the dam is contributing 75% then all the figuring on coefficients of inbreeding are obviously all wrong because they are also based on a 50%/50% split. Can we assume that, since the dam does the rearing of the young, it may just "appear" they are taking more from the dam?? Anyone got any scientific proof of this concept or is it all conjecture being passed from one person to another?

As you say, both contribute 50% of the genetics; but then you must take into account traits, dominate & recessive. This is where the difference occurs, genetics are a roll of the dice.

[jsf13]

Idaho said:

As you say, both contribute 50% of the genetics; but then you must take into account traits, dominate & recessive. This is where the difference occurs, genetics are a roll of the dice.

This is true and pups will be affected differently.Some will have more of mom's traits,some more of dad's. JMO

[hicntry]

Steve, that doesn't make sense. Take two di and make half the sides red and the other half blue on both di. Throw them 100 times and you are going to come very close to a 50/50 ratio. The colors signify male and female, the multiple sides signify different genes. It will still be close to 50/50. Breeding, You get a pecentage taking after pop, a percentage favoring mom and the rest are more of a blend of the two. You are going to have to be more specific as to why people accept this theory.

[Maverick]

hicntry said:

... Genetically, the sire contributes 50% and the dam contributes her 50%. ... Can we assume that, since the dam does the rearing of the young, it may just "appear" they are taking more from the dam??

Don, I believe you are right on the money here!

Steve is right on genes being dominate or recessive. What most people don't realize is that some (actually a lot) traits are a combination of genes. When this happens, you get possibilities increasing on a geometric scale for even a single trait. You can start with the monk Gregor Mendel's simple single gene experiments with 2 options (i.e. green or yellow pea color), and continue on to traits that are a combination of multiple genes, which then lead you from the simple 2 dimensional possibility tables of Mendel, to multidimensional "cubes". If you are trying to sort out a dog's genetics, it is better to have a computer program to sort out the possibilities, and do genetic analysis of traits and pedigrees. This is assuming you have accurate accounting of the traits of all of the dogs in the pedigree.

[jsf13]

From the Von Falconer site;
'

"Introduce a stable male dog as "daddy" to teach the puppies a different perspective from the start"