Mixing the gene pool up

2/9/2016

Interesting set of photos of Henry lying with his daughter, Blottie and Blottie's potential future beau, Ernest. I have contemplated putting our two F1 Brittany/Cavalier girls back to a pure Cavalier and then bringing that offspring forward to be used with Ernest a F1b Cavapoo (3/4 cavalier, 1/4). This would more likely ensure Cavalier size offspring, but I have noticed how quick a reversion we have had with the F1b Cavapoo back to the more Cavalier skull morphology, I would not want to go back any further (as the reason for crossing is to reduce the extreme skull morphology of the Cavalier), that I think with the Brittany/Cavalier line retaining more spaniel look than a f1 Cavapoo, going for the F1 Brittany/Cavalier to the F1b Cavapoo is the better option to retain improved skull morphology.

2 Comments

Poonam Mittal

2/9/2016 03:24:21 pm

Interesting ideas Jane. I'm curious about the approximate size of your f1b cavapoos relative to a pure bred cavalier and a pure bred miniature poodle. I personally feel that Brittany's have such great looks and personality but are perhaps a little too hyper for many owners, that crossing them with a more docile breed is a wonderful idea.

Jane

3/9/2016 09:54:58 am

Funnily having spent a lot of my time around working breeds I find the Brittany one of the less hyper types. I suppose it is to do with what yardstick you are measuring with.
I understand where your comment about the Brittany comes from though, but unfortunately many dog owners should actually be cat owners, I could also say that about some people who have children as well, just get a cat. I'm going to try and keep this short, as I could write a considerably long essay on this subject.
We often band about the word "hyper" when describing dogs, but often what we have is just a healthy, fit dog, that has had little time put to them in training and don't get enough exercise. If you plan to leave a dog each day in a crate etc for 6 to 8 hours when you go off for the day, don't want to go for long walks come sun, rain or wind, please get a cat.
Dogs roles in life have changed considerably in the last 100 or so years. Dogs were primarily used to do jobs and it was only really the wealthy that kept them as pets, but the balance now is most dogs are pets. So how do we facilitate this change?
Most dog breeds origins are for working and if a Bulldog could actually be able to bait a bull, it frankly would not look like the monstrosity we see them as today, but if they were capable of baiting bulls, they would be highly dangerous dogs and the majority of people owning them now would not be able to handle a high drive killing machine. So the answer it seems at the moment with a lot of breeds that have no job other than to be pets is to breed them so disabled by their looks (Basically a caricature of their former self) it thus makes them ideal pets for people who should have a cat. Show me a dog not classed as hyper and I will show you a dog with a disability. The best disability I have noticed to breed in to a dog, to make it not hyper, is to make it incredibly hard for them to breath, which probably explains the explosion of brachycephalic breeds like pugs, French Bulldogs and English Bulldogs in the last ten years. Although the dog will have a lifetime of suffering it will mean they need very little exercise and are easy to dress up and take photos with to post on social media.
So that is how we are facilitating the pet dog market at this time, but we can not go on like this. It is animal cruelty. People need to be educated and understand what a dog is about and although I think we can breed lower drive dogs that are not disabled as well, people need to understand that a functional, healthy, fit dog iwill be a hyper dog, because most likely not getting the right amount of time and effort put to them.
The Brittany does have an exceptionally lovely nature to them with pretty good health and it was this that attracted me to using them in my breeding project, but they are a dog that needs a certain level of interaction and exercise each day, that frankly a lot of people don't either have time for or worse can't be bothered with. Not a dog to be crated for 6 to 8 hours a day, but should any dog be left for long periods every day?
I could go on and hope that the above is a coherent enough reply. You also asked about the size of the F1b Cavapoos Ernest and Lily. I think at maturity we will have a dog around the size of their Cavalier Dad, Toby. Toby is a lovely tight well sprung, light framed Cavalier, a little on the taller side of the breed. Will be interesting to see how their coats develop. At the moment they have very silky coats with a bit of feather starting to show on the tails and legs. Pleased with what seems a big reduction in coat from the F1 Cavapoo, which is another attraction to using the Brittany, reduction of coat. Many Cavaliers have far to heavy coats.

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Mixing the gene pool up

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