BREED TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND TEMPERAMENT
OF THE FRENCH BULLDOG
Different breeders may have different approaches to this. Here is some food for thought.
What does “Improve the Breed” mean to you? Health, conformation, temperament? Long or short term improvement? This article may help you decide what your own breeding goals are. Click here: Improve the Breed
People talk a lot about pedigrees. But what type of pedigree, and how can it be used to select a mate for your Frenchie? Read about this here: Pedigrees
People also talk a lot about health testing and health registries. Read a discussion of that at Health Testing and Registries. The CHIC registry (Canine Health Information Center) at http://www.caninehealthinfo.org is a valuable resource for breeders because it allows you to obtain health information about a dog’s offspring and relatives as well as its ancestors (vertical pedigrees as described in the download on Pedigrees above). One helpful aspect of CHIC is that it gives the results of the health tests that have been done, rather than just information as to whether they have been done or not.
Dr. Jerrold Bell’s Powerpoint presentation, “Genetic Aspects of Developing a Healthy Breeding Program for the French Bulldog” presented at the 2009 National Show Week, can be downloaded by clicking here: Dr. Bell’s Seminar 2009-Genetics
