Haynes: Practical Dog Breeding 



265 



skepticism. As to the effect of climate, 

 what Mr. Haynes says will be of 

 general interest : 



"The instances of deterioration in 

 British breeds of dogs introduced into 

 India have been often quoted from 

 Darwin, but since he collected his 

 information additional facts have been 

 brought forward. A strong dog fancy 

 has developed in India, with numerous 

 shows under the jurisdiction of the 

 Indian Kennel Club. Judging from 

 descriptions and photographs, Indian 

 breeders have been able to produce 

 dogs that compare favorably with their 

 direct importations "from England, and 

 today we hear little about the degenera- 

 tion of dogs in the eastern country. 

 Moreover, the success of the Airedale 

 Terrier in the Philippines and through- 

 out tropical America is further con- 

 firmation of the fact that climate does 

 not have such a direct bearing on varia- 

 tion as was formerly supposed." 



MENDELISM IN DOGS. 



In his chapter of heredity, Mr. 

 Haynes falls back largely on Galton, 

 emphasizing particularly the law of 

 regression. Mendelism is briefly des- 

 cribed, with the comment that not 

 enough experimental breeding has been 

 done with dogs to throw much light on 

 the unit characters present. The work 

 of C. C. Little^ makes it probable that 

 the inheritance of coat color in pointers 

 follows Mendelian ruler-, and can be 

 bred for with confidence. "Dr. C. G. 

 Darling believes eye coloring in Airedale 

 Terriers is Mendelian, the light color 

 being dominant. He acknowledges that 

 he has not sufficient data to either prove 

 or discredit this hypothesis, but, as an 

 eye specialist and a terrier breeder, his 

 opinion bears weight. If he is correct, 

 it is probable that all eye color in dogs 

 follows Mendelian inheritance." The 

 same, as every one knows, holds true in 

 Man, with the exception that here the 

 dark pigment is dominant. 



"It is also probable that the smooth 

 and broken coats in Fox Terriers, a 

 form of cross-breeding that is common, 

 is Mendelian, the broken coat being in 

 this case dominant. The red and black 



coloring in Chow Chows and self- 

 colored spaniels is also probably accord- 

 ing to Mendelian inheritance." 



"In our conceptions' of heredity," 

 Mr. Haynes concludes, "we dog breeders 

 have made two mistakes. These are 

 natural ones, and it is some consolation 

 to know that other breeders, and even 

 trained biologists, have fallen into the 

 same errors. In the first place, we 

 have paid too much attention to the 

 exceptional individual, the dog that is 

 a 'stormer,' way above the average of 

 his race. Secondly, and this sounds 

 somewhat paradoxical, we have not 

 paid enough attention to the individual 

 points that go to make up the whole dog. 



"In our almost fetish worship of the 

 Champion of Record, we have been 

 led astray in formulating any sound 

 systems of breeding. We have over- 

 looked the great average of the race 

 and the drag that this average always 

 exerts." And "although as breeders 

 we are continually working for the 

 development or effacement of certain 

 points, we have overlooked the fact 

 that these different characters behave 

 differently in transmission. Some blend, 

 others never do. Some are correlated, 

 others quite independent." 



SCIENTIFIC SELECTION. 



These facts are the basis for the work 

 of selection. The dog breeder is merely 

 a spectator of variation and heredity. 

 He can not control them directly; he 

 must arrive at his goal by selecting 

 from the material at hand. Mr. Haynes 

 discusses selection under three heads. 



(1) What is the true object of selec- 

 tion? "It is very evident that the 

 only way the breeder can make any 

 important, permanent headway is to 

 bring the average of his own strain 

 closer to the ideal expressed in the 

 Standard than it is to the average of 

 the race. In this way, and only in 

 this way, can the drag of the race be 

 lessened, and this drag is the breeders' 

 worst enemy. Until he can overcome 

 it, his breeding can only be partly 

 successful. To overcome it, by raising 

 the average of his own strain, is the 

 true object of all selection." 



2 Journal of Heredity, V, 6, pp. 244-248, June, 1914. 



