Rutland Manor Australian Labradoodles - Beverley's Tips on Selecting Breeding Stock
 | Which puppy to keep from the litter?
They all appear to be healthy and are from health tested parents, their faces are sweet, coats beautiful and non shedding, nature wonderful, so how to choose? Any dog left entire (not spayed or neutered) is not necessarily suitable to be a breeding dog. There are many hereditary factors to be taken into consideration, not the least of which is Form to Function. |
What is Form To Function?
This means that all the body parts (conformation) are in correct balance and symmetry in relation to one another. It is critically important to avoid breeding for exaggerated features, because this causes lack of balance, which puts strain on ligaments tendons muscles and joints. For instance If narrow is 'good' then narrower is not better. Over thirty or so years in the show ring, I saw trends and fashions come and go. In some cases I observed pure breeds steadily decline in functionality, including my own beloved breed of that time, the German Shepherd Dog, which is a classic example.
This means that all the body parts (conformation) are in correct balance and symmetry in relation to one another. It is critically important to avoid breeding for exaggerated features, because this causes lack of balance, which puts strain on ligaments tendons muscles and joints. For instance If narrow is 'good' then narrower is not better. Over thirty or so years in the show ring, I saw trends and fashions come and go. In some cases I observed pure breeds steadily decline in functionality, including my own beloved breed of that time, the German Shepherd Dog, which is a classic example.
Movement Tells The Story !
Many animals including the dog, can look beautiful when they are standing still, but it is when they move that we can easily tell if they are properly put together and balanced. A well structured dog will move effortlessly, with drive from behind and a forehand balanced in its structure to allow that drive to be translated through the front end without putting stress and strain on bones, joints, muscles ligaments and tendons. This is the reason that conformation show judges require each dog to gait (trot) in a triangle before awarding winners and placings. Gaiting in a triangle means the judge can see the dog trotting towards, away and from the side view.
Some clever handlers encourage a badly moving dog to 'play up' (misbehave) during the workout, in an attempt to fool the judge, but good judges ask for a second workout when this happens and if they can't get a clear picture of the dog's movement from each direction, no award will ( or should be) given to that dog no matter how perfect it may look when 'stacked' (set up to pose).
In the pictures below note the full extension on all four limbs and the way the hind paws land snug up behind the front paws, or slightly overstep them a trifle to one side. In the correctly moving dog, there is little to no up and down movement in the back (topline) as the dog trots. It is the trot in which any imbalance, lameness or other movement fault is most easily noticed, which is the reason why dogs are not shown and judged at the gallop, but always at the trot.
One of the dogs in the photos is not a very good mover. See if you can pick which one it is. The answer is at the end of the page.
Click each photo to enlarge
Some clever handlers encourage a badly moving dog to 'play up' (misbehave) during the workout, in an attempt to fool the judge, but good judges ask for a second workout when this happens and if they can't get a clear picture of the dog's movement from each direction, no award will ( or should be) given to that dog no matter how perfect it may look when 'stacked' (set up to pose).
In the pictures below note the full extension on all four limbs and the way the hind paws land snug up behind the front paws, or slightly overstep them a trifle to one side. In the correctly moving dog, there is little to no up and down movement in the back (topline) as the dog trots. It is the trot in which any imbalance, lameness or other movement fault is most easily noticed, which is the reason why dogs are not shown and judged at the gallop, but always at the trot.
One of the dogs in the photos is not a very good mover. See if you can pick which one it is. The answer is at the end of the page.
Click each photo to enlarge
The Properly Conformed Australian Labradoodle is characterized by an effortless airy movement that is graceful poetry in motion. Before you classify this as just so much hooey, go to an off leash dog park where Labradoodles gather, or to a Labradoodle Romp, where you will see the difference I am talking about (that's if there are any really well bred dogs there).
They should appear to float across the ground with ease, and their footfall should be light and airy. Any stilted movement, or pounding on the ground instantly tells us that the dog is not correctly constructed and therefore does not have Form to Function. These stilted moving, or pounding - the - ground dogs, are the dogs who are most likely to develop problems in limbs, joints and backs, and who are most likely to develop arthritis as they age.
It's easy to see the drive from behind being transmitted effortlessly through the front end by the straight and level backs on the dogs, and the long length of stride both front and rear. The driving hind leg is tracking right up to the weight bearing front leg and landing snugly just in front of it on an inside track. A shorter stride from behind would mean that the hip joints and angulation are not in symmetry.
Movement can be assessed in puppies as young as eight to ten weeks of age. You can see in the photo of the young puppy trotting straight towards the camera, that the elbows are turned neither in nor out, thus allowing for comfortable effortless extension and no bobbing or pounding as there would be if extra effort were needed to fully engage all joints muscles, ligaments and tendons in symmetry one with the other.
Click the photos to enlarge
An Important Part of the Selection Process
Rutland Manor Breeding Stock have evolved through a highly selective process which focuses on physical and emotional soundness, form to function and maintaining the amazingly intuitive and trainable nature for which they have become renowned. The non shedding allergy friendly coat goes without saying. When breeders focus on 'pretty' dogs, 'pretty faces' 'popular colours' and even on striving to upgrade their dogs for better coats, rather than focusing on Form to Function, that is when the breed starts to deteriorate. All the health testing in the world can be done, but if Form to Function is ignored, the breed suffers irreparable damage.
There can be a tendency amongst breeders of animals to think that 'more is better'. For instance if the breed standard calls for a well angulated shoulder, surely the more angulated it is, the better? Or for a broad head, the broader the better? Certain kinds of skeletal structure are made up of overall 'long bones' and others, overall 'short bones'. For example a dog with long pasterns will probably have long cannons and a long back as well, with its resulting weakness over the loins, which puts strain on hip and elbow joints as well as on the spine.
Exaggerations will eventually destroy a breed, and conformation judges should be careful to not award high honours to dogs who exhibit exaggerated conformational features. One example of how this happens is the beautiful little Dachund, who has chronic back problems caused by an exaggeratedly long back, comparatively huge and bulky chest, and heavy body (remember 'long' should not mean 'the longer the better?) and all this on short fine boned little legs that are too weak to support the weight they are expected to carry.
OCD's such as Hip Dysplasia and Elbow Dysplasia for example, arise when attention is not paid to maintaining balance in the structure of the dogs one breeds. Impulsion for movement begins at the rear of the dog and the energy transmits from the back to the front. So regardless of how correct the hind angulation may be, the shoulders need to be symetrically angulated to 'free up' a place for the stride to move forward. A lack of this symmetry puts strain on joints, bones and soft tissue as the dog struggles to balance itself in movement due to a lack of balance throughout its body and limbs. No amount of health testing will improve the breed until breeders learn the fundamentals in selecting their breeding stock.
For instance, during the first few years that I was developing the Australian Labradoodle and the Labrador Retriever influence was still strong, I was concerned at the way some of the dogs' elbow radiograph results were at times a (1) or a (2) instead of the perfect zero score. These readings weren't severe enough to actually produce elbow dysfunction, or send the dogs lame, but it seemed to me that the problem was more one of a conformation fault than a purely hereditary issue.
The dogs with the flawed scores were those who had the heavy 'loaded' shoulders commonly seen in the Labrador Retriever. I determined to lighten the forehand (front assembly) of the breed to see if this would in time eradicate the 'downhill' forehand on the dogs. I noticed a marked improvement after the infusion of the light shouldered Irish Water Spaniel and this proved to be successful. As the breed moved further away from the influence of the Labrador Retriever, the incidences of less than perfect elbow scores lessened until finally, all the elbow scores were coming back as the perfect '0'. Touch wood, as at 2011, elbow dysfunction in Rutland Manor Australian Labradoodles has been bred out.
Did you pick the right picture ? See photo below
The dog on the left is not a really good mover. At first glance she appears to have good drive and reach with her hind leg, but look closer and you'll see that her shoulder angle is too steep (upright) when compared to her hind angulation and this is preventing the impulsion from following through. Her front paw has just landed, so this is her full extension for her front limbs. Look even closer and you'll notice that although her topline looks level, she is actually running 'downhill' at the front. This dog will prefer to gallop rather than trot and will tire more quickly.
Now compare the photo on the right, and the powerful elasticity of the dog's reach and drive and how much more effortless it looks (and is). This dog's shoulder is well laid back and the angulation is equal to that of the hind end which has the effect of lengthening the stride. Note also the length of the wither and how it flows gracefully into the neck. Not so, the dog on the left whose neck is shorter and stumpier.
Now compare the photo on the right, and the powerful elasticity of the dog's reach and drive and how much more effortless it looks (and is). This dog's shoulder is well laid back and the angulation is equal to that of the hind end which has the effect of lengthening the stride. Note also the length of the wither and how it flows gracefully into the neck. Not so, the dog on the left whose neck is shorter and stumpier.
 This dog's reach in front is restricted through her upright shoulders which do not allow her drive to transfer from behind |  Compare the fluid effortless reach of this young puppy who has the shoulder angulation required for the transmission of rear drive through the front quarters |
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