I've written about bottlenecks before in other articles. But I think it deserves another conversation.

Breeders talk about bottlenecks. A bottleneck is when a particular sire is used extensively, creating a more homogenized gene pool. This occurs when a sire emerges from the many, and breeders take note of and use him. It creates a population of half-brothers and half-sisters.

Had the Doberman breed in this country begun with a heart-healthy core group of dogs a hundred years ago, we wouldn't be talking about heart problems so ingrained in the breed, that it's been said fifty percent of the breed will be affected by it. So why does it keep happening?

There are very famous and quality-producing sires in the breed.  When breeders look for stud dogs, it's usually when they're in the show ring and their pedigree is admired and considered in a breeding program. A few breeders take a chance and use the dog, and if the outcome is good and the offspring are exemplary, other breeders take note.

As good puppies hit the ring, more and more breeders want to improve their breeding programs. And they go to these dogs, who are emerging as good sires. Of course, the stud dog owner is flattered and excited that they have a good producer and are more than happy to accept bitches to further their dog's career as a sire.

This is the root cause of our problems. A sire should be a positive influence on a breed. However, issues often emerge regarding the heart health of the sire at a later age. So, how do we stop bottlenecks from occurring in the future? THE RESPONSIBILITY FALLS ON THE SIRE'S OWNER! Stop breeding 100, 200, 300, or more bitches to your dogs! These stats, in numbers of bitches, bred to dogs of the past, were, unfortunately, realistic.

Back in the 70's, I saw bitch after bitch being bred to “Sunhawk,”  Best in Show Am. & Can. Ch.Marienburg's Sun Hawk! Who knows how many were bred to him? Let me explain the solution to this problem.

In the horse world, particularly Standardbred racing harness horses and Thoroughbreds, the horse's age is determined for racing as of January 1st. Horses take eleven months of gestation. Breeders try to have foals born as close to January 1st as possible, which means a February and March time frame. Even a couple of months of added maturity is advantageous when racing 2 and 3-year-olds. In this time frame, there was no artificial breeding; therefore, all mares must be bred live cover. So, the breeding season for these race breeds ran from February until June at the very latest. This would place the foals from these breedings to be born in a very condensed period of time. This situation automatically limits the number of offspring born from any one sire because they can only breed live cover. Bottlenecks, in this time frame, in the racing breeds, just never happened. If there were a very prolific stallion, there could be more offspring. But that was not the norm.

A bottleneck never occurred because there were never enough breedings to produce it. So, a stallion's breeding season was self-limiting for this particular genetic issue! A stallion had a Stud Book of the specific number of mares he would breed that year. That's it! It may be 30 or more but it's reasonable for live cover breeding.

Now, back to dogs. Many pedigrees have the capability of producing very good dogs.  In the hands of very capable and knowledgeable breeders, they are able to make correct decisions to move that particular line into positive gains, both in conformation, temperament, and health. To saturate a specific dog so intensely in a gene pool is detrimental, often bringing recessive genetic health and conformation faults to the forefront. The solution is simple. Just don't breed 50 to 100+ bitches to your dog!! 

The number of bitches is relative as our breeders are diminishing because of cultural issues, such as breeding purebred dogs is frowned upon by many younger people in our country. So, the number of breeders is becoming limited and diminishing yearly. As much as we love our breed, no particular line is more important than another to the health and welfare of the breed we love so much!

DON'T BREED YOUR MALES TOO MUCH!!

About the author: Theresa Mullen has been devoted to the serious breeding and exhibiting of Dobermans since 1967.  Her Dobermans include many Doberman Pinscher Club of America Top Twenty dogs; Best In Show winners and Specialty Show winners. DPCA Superior Quality Specimen’s, Stud Dog winners, DPCA Class winners as well as Obedience titled Dobermans. She has bred many Champions from a very limited and select number of breedings—proving you can breed the very highest calibre of Dobermans without having to breed large quantity.

Theresa’s philosophy on breeding Dobermans revolves around the “Strength of the Family” both Sire Line and Maternal Family, and its strong influence on an animals ability to successfully reproduce itself.