Index

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Last Chance to Sign

In-Breeding: Breeding of mother-to-son, father-to-daughter, or brother-to-sister.  Early in the process of refining domesticated canines, in-breeding was made employable because any animal considered “less than the best” was destroyed.  With this type of mating a breeder can magnify individual areas, but in-breeding intensifies everything good, bad and in-between.  For this reason, breeders who don’t personally know every canine in their breeding program from at least the last four generations could end up with more negatives than positives. Keep in mind that those who created the Line being continued can eliminate most of the unknowns and is considered the ultimate way to maintain quality -called Line Breeding. But you must know every aspect of many generations before attempting to create a new Line.

Out-breeding or Out crossing. Breeding pairs of the same breed to produce “pure-bred” puppies.  Using several unrelated dogs removes the “mapping” ability, however, and will result in the most random positives and negatives.  This is akin to trying to find that small town you once heard of, that sounded like a fantastic place to live – but you don’t even know what state it’s located in, you don’t have a map, and if you did… you don’t know how to read one. In this situation you could spend an entire lifetime trying to find your elusive utopia – always hoping that tomorrow will bring success.  Recognized at least 50 years ago and as recent as yesterday this is not the recommended form of breeding even though today it almost can't be help since only a hand full of Line Breeders remain.  A good analogy...Without a road map or Garmin how much of your life be wasted crisscrossing crossing America looking for that special town you once read about..

"This is how we do it"

LINE-BREEDING: Breeding relations on one side at the second or third generation.  Only breeders who have turned to an established blood-line for their foundation stock, or who have created their own by facing a myriad of genetic variables for years can spin off Line-Bred dogs.  Second only to cloning, line breeding is utilized to maintain what was created so meticulously.  When the line-breeder decides to alter certain aspects of their line (for example to improve an already brilliant intellect) they use first-hand knowledge of generations of canine, not third-party information passed on like a game of telephone… which is all that may be available to breeders who don’t personally know their dogs.  Breeding one line-bred dog to another line-bred dog is the only way to maximize the breeder’s potential for having the best predictable outcome.  In other words, while bad outcomes are still possible even with fantastic canines, Line-Bred dogs give the best odds for a win/win situation, as attested to with our Hoytts Blue Savannah presented below.

                                                       Advisory for those who care

Every major bloodline ( four generations or more under one breeder) using their sir name as we do or their kennel name - easily established by checking the American Kennel Club pedigree a seller will let you see if you ask before you purchase. You do not want a general pedigree of one of the dogs in your dogs pedigree but a copy of the pedigree of the Dobe you are purchasing. A simple four generation pedigree will show 32 Dobes, each should be carrying the kennel name in the generation before the actual Dobe being offered. Give or take 10% without a breeders name still may be a line bred if the dog lacking the kennel name is out of parents carrying the kennel name. Anything less and you are acquiring a generic representation of the breed with as many unknowns as any other generic example of the breed. And if the seller claims they don't register their dogs with the AKC to save you money expect they cut every corner they could for it only costs a few dollars to register a litter with the AKC..

                                                                Now you know!

There are hundreds (if not thousands), of dog breeders, brokers and trainers ready to sell you a new Doberman puppy.  Like an annoying used-car salesperson, they will assure you that their pups offer everything you could ever imagine or desire, and for a steal at their price.  Like animated encyclopedias, they claim to be “experts” and present the potential customer with a great deal of unnecessary information.  You will be told about everything from territorial instincts, to pack leadership, to the behavior of the alpha dog.  While this information may be interesting, it is only truly beneficial if you plan to purchase a wolf, become a hermit and move to the far ends of the earth where you will live unencumbered by “man’s rules.”

In their efforts to convince you to purchase their canines, these other breeders, et al., may show you several photographs of handsome Dobermans in regal poses – proof positive of their “quality product.”  Often this is just another sales technique, and many of these photographs are taken from magazines or other publications.  This is even easier today with the introduction of the internet and the techniques available with programs like Photo Shop, which allow the unscrupulous the ability to alter other artists' work.  Perhaps you will have numerous pedigrees waved under your nose… most will have little to do with the dog you are about to purchase.  Be aware, pedigrees are available to anyone willing to pay the price – with or without a dog.  Some pedigrees have content so extensive they can literally cover a wall, and they allow a seller to make just about any claim they feel necessary to come across as “legitimate.”  However, if you go back far enough in any pedigree, every dog has “great” ancestors.  Sellers very rarely know any of these dogs personally!  Even with the interest that has been generated recently surrounding family trees and the ability to research one’s lineage for centuries past, we humans still do not select significant others based on who a long-since deceased family member was, or what they did in generations past.  A companion dog’s distantly removed ancestors have no more immediate or future value than do our own, except perhaps as a canine history conversation piece.

Many of these sellers have little, if any, first-hand experience at all with a canine sharing one’s personal space for any serious longevity.  They might, at best, have owned a few dogs, but they likely have never realized even a fraction of your expectations.  In no way have these sellers enjoyed the type of relationship you have planned for your future companion, nor have they experienced the environment into which you will introduce your canine.  They are truly the ones that can only imagine.

As in many businesses, dog world sellers are prone to “name dropping.”  Warlock, like Hoytt, seems to be at the top of everyone’s ‘must mention’ list.  The fact is: Warlock, and other great Dobes of the past, were used to create the Hoytt Dobe.  Therefore, if we were not “HOYTT,” we too would mention other great names as a sales incentive.  One of the more common ploys comes from those who offer “Warlock” puppies.  Warlock passed away around the same time Alaska became a state and was, at eighty-four pounds a very handsome “standard” – not the monster size many “experts” have claimed. 

A great Dobe is mostly a composite of what is passed on from superior genetics through the last three to four generations.  Today, Hoytt is one of the few breeders (of any breed) who personally know six or more generations of a given producing dog’s line.  Hoytt selects each breeding pair carefully to ensure that the line's qualities are maintained as desired and as built over the years.  Unless specific qualities have been maintained, through line breeding, little can be gained by meeting a pup’s parents, as you would have no idea what either parent may have contributed to the “child.”