BREEDING TERRIERS 58 



sened emphasis on the individual, has been an in- 

 creased number of the devotees of line rather than 

 in-breeding. In-breeding is beyond all doubt the 

 strongest weapon the dog breeder has, but it is 

 a boomerang that is very apt to come back and 

 knock its thrower in the head. In-breeding is the 

 breeding together of the blood of one dog 

 mother to son, or brother to sister. Line-breed- 

 ing is the breeding together of dogs of the same 

 general strain, comparable to second or third 

 cousins among people. 



These breeding experiments fix the good and 

 bad points of a dog or a strain very strongly. 

 Carried to an extreme, they result in bad con- 

 stitutions, lack of gameness, and in extreme cases, 

 in actual deformity. Such breeding demands 

 that only the strongest and youngest dogs be 

 mated. 



In selecting a sire, one should pick out a dog 

 of recognized breeding, whose ancestors were 

 dogs of the type you desire. A winner and a 

 son of winners has better chances of being a sire 

 of winners than an unknown dog of doubtful 

 family, but it is not always wise to rush to the 

 latest champion. A popular bench hero is apt 

 to be over-worked at stud. If your bitch is 

 very young send her to an older dog and vice 

 versa. Best results are not obtained if the dogs 



