THE PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 31 



Certain family characteristics are, of course, frequently 

 common to the members of any particular family, but 

 in a host of minor details the individuals of that family 

 differ from one another to an extraordinary extent. Each, 

 in fact, has a personality or individuality of its own. And 

 the breeder's aim must be to combine desirable indi- 

 vidualities, and to eliminate those which he considers 

 undesirable. 



In this endeavour he has to reckon with yet another 

 phenomenon, known as Prepotency, which is the power 

 possessed by certain animals, whether male or female, 

 of stamping their progeny with some particular charac- 

 teristic, irrespective of the partners with whom they are 

 mated. Sometimes the characteristic in question is the 

 animal's own, sometimes it is that of his ancestors, 

 immediate or remote. To this factor of prepotency is 

 partly attributable the curious, but well-established, fact 

 that dogs or bitches not quite good enough to take prizes 

 themselves are extraordinarily successful in breeding 

 winners. There are innumerable instances of stud dogs 

 and of brood bitches, quite useless for purposes of 

 exhibition, whose progeny are consistently successful as 

 prize-winners, and who have consequently proved them- 

 selves perfect gold-mines to their lucky owners. And it 

 may be noted here that the litter brother, or sister, of a 

 champion is not infrequently a more reliable animal to 

 breed from than the champion itself. 



So far, then, we have arrived at certain definite guiding 



