Chimera Kennels

The first two should really be listed as "Swinford" programs but I am introducing them here also because I don't want the people involved in these two programs to think I over looked them. They are Dragon Lady Kennels (owned by the Jones family) and Lion's Den Kennels (owned by Max Shepherd). Max does not yet have a website, but he has produced some excellent dogs, on in particular that I like is named Champ... Max's Champ can be seen here.

Other quality Bandog programs are...

Loyal Guard Kennels (owned by Johnny and Mary Courville) - LGK's program strives to produce working class bandogs composed of Bulldog, APBT, and Mastiff breeds. They have used and owned several of our dogs, but also added "Bulldog" blood into their program. Their stock is hip X-rayed, tested in Personal Protection, trained in weight pulling, and must be capable of living in a family environment as well to expose their strong points and weeknesses.

Midgard Kennels (owned by David Ishee) - David's program is striving to re-create the working class mastiff...and as a result his dogs on average are going to be taller than my own stock, as he has added Great Dane blood into his program. Although his program is just getting started, David has spent a great deal of time educating himself on genetics and is now also learning about protection work. His dogs are not overdone or overly "typey" and as a result they seem healthier and move better than most pure blood mastiffs. He has a young male (just under 8 months right now) named "Kronos" that I am particularly fond of that has the making to become a good working dog...and I look forward in helping David develop Krono's abilities as a PP dog...David's dog Kronos can be seen here.

@ david

[b]hi david,

first of all i like the look of your dogs! so my compliments to you!

i have read your web site now and i agree to what you say about the heterosis effect. it is the same mendel describes with his first rule. so yeah, what you say is true, but how do you go on breeding if you are not anymore breeding a f1 generation and if you want to have a closer phenotype which resembles your creation the "midgard mastiff" :?:

i am asking because this effect doesn't last forever. [/b]

Thanks for the compliments. Your question a short question with a long answer. Just so all the non-breeders understand the term, an F1 generation in the first hybrid generation. Preacher Man is an F1 - half apbt half english mastiff. F1 generations have the highest amount of hybrid vigor (the heterosis effect). Basically this effect occurs because the F1 dog has genes that are heterozygous (they have two different genes on the same locus). A "purebred" dog has a lot of homozygous genes meaning they have two copies of the same gene on a given locus - that's what gives them "purebred" consistency.  An example of a homozygous gene would be a dog with two copies of the blue eyes gene - one from the dam one from the sire. A Heterozygous gene would be a dog with the blue eye gene from his dam and the brown eye gene from his sire.  He would carry both but have brown eyes because that's the more dominant of the two.

If you breed an apbt to an apbt you will get an apbt because both parents will provide very similar genes. If you breed an apbt to an EM you will get genes from both creating an F1 hybrid with alot of heterozygous genes. This is good because it allows positive dominant traits to cover negative recessive traits. There are also negative dominant traits but they are easy to breed out, you just don't breed affected dogs. Recessive traits, however, are harder to eliminate because they can hide under dominant genes for generations. So with good breeding most negative traits are recessive. That's hybrid vigor - lots of negative traits get hidden, producing a superior animal. However, hybrid vigor is at its strongest in the first generation. That's why a lot of breeders breed only breed F1 dogs and don't cross the crosses. If you bred an F1 with one of its foundation breeds it would be an F2 with a lot less heterozygous genes. If you inbred the F1, the effect would almost vanish. If you out cross again the effect gets stronger - any homozygous genes that the two foundation dogs happen to have in common can become heterozygous.

The problem is: if you do this too much and have no consistent selection you get a mutt. The solution is to outcross then cross back in, it makes for a compromise. You maintain strong hybrid vigor (maybe not its strongest) but still are able to have consistency in what you select for, provided you're careful with your outcrosses. Look at Lee's program.  A lot of his dogs are bred differently and some look very different - Tate and Preacher for example, but his dogs are surprisingly consistent in drives, temperament and working ability.  Lee's latest generation of puppies are another good example.  While they come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, every one of them seems to be a solid working potential.  That's because his dogs are bred for performance, not conformation to an arbitrary appearance standard. Look at the doberman pincher - very consistent in appearance, and not very consistent in working ability, that tells you what they've been bred for lately.

If you outcross then cross back into the line while selecting for your standard, it allows you to filter out type and performance variations while allowing for internal biochemical variation so the dogs may look and act the same but can be bred very differently. As Lee will tell you, it's not a recipe it's about selecting traits. Look at Linebaugh.  No one would guess he's half english mastiff. I would have guessed he was a corso.

I don't intend to create a "pure" breed, it's the flawed concept of modern show breeders. I will always be crossing and selecting and as long at I'm consistent in what matters, I am happy to allow for phenotype variation within the midgard mastiff.

Too many breeds have been ruined because one dog was selected because the angle of his stop was 35 degrees while his better working brother was selected against because his was closer to 45.