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Infusions
What they are and why they were needed |
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Rutland Manor was never just about breeding dogs. It was first registered as a Breeding and Research facility dedicated to developing a sound and healthy new dog breed for the specific purpose of supporting the physical and emotional needs of humans.
It's not registered that way now, but the fire never dims that burns deep inside me and urges me to keep pressing forward with research. It insists that I never take my eyes off the vision and the goals I set right from the beginning.
It's not registered that way now, but the fire never dims that burns deep inside me and urges me to keep pressing forward with research. It insists that I never take my eyes off the vision and the goals I set right from the beginning.
It's generally acknowledged, that there is no pure dog breed in existence (to my knowledge) which has been created from the combining of just two parent breeds. There would be no quicker road to a genetic dead end. Most if not all pure breeds have had infusions (been crossed with other breeds) to either widen the gene pool or to correct problems which were appearing at certain stages of the new breed’s development. I used several infusions along the way, for specific reasons and at specific intervals. But perhaps the most controversial has been to the Irish Soft Coated Wheaten.
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By the year 2000 some Serious Faults had crept into the developing breed and they needed correcting if my vision for the healthiest dog breed on the planet was ever to be realised!
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By the year 2000, some serious conformation faults were creeping in that threatened the health and longevity of my developing breed, and I decided that the best way to correct them was to infuse a well-established pure breed that was strong in the points that needed helping. The trick was to dodge shared hereditary diseases as well as to take care not to lose ground already gained. In this case hard earned traits were particularly, a sweet and gentle temperament, no aggression whatsoever and low to non-shedding coats. I had always chosen before, to infuse Field Champions rather than show ring champions and there were very good reasons for that choice. Because of my background as a show ring conformation judge, I knew that show champions often had their Ch titles as a result of clever handlers who disguised their faults during the few minutes they were in the ring. And then there was the politics! Ooo La La!
On the other hand, a field trial champion had to stay sound over hilly terrain for hours, plunge into icy rivers to retrieve birds whilst keeping their jaws nice and soft and gentle. Neither dog nor bitch would ever be considered suitable for breeding unless they proved themselves in the field.
Now I was about to break my own rule by infusing two show champions into my breed. But early doubts were soon swept away by the obvious genuineness of this breeder's show dogs.
On the other hand, a field trial champion had to stay sound over hilly terrain for hours, plunge into icy rivers to retrieve birds whilst keeping their jaws nice and soft and gentle. Neither dog nor bitch would ever be considered suitable for breeding unless they proved themselves in the field.
Now I was about to break my own rule by infusing two show champions into my breed. But early doubts were soon swept away by the obvious genuineness of this breeder's show dogs.
It's interesting to compare the faults of the dog pictured above, with the pictures further down this page, of progeny sired by the infused sires. Even to the untrained eye, it can easily be seen that the shape and stance of the infused progeny were already much more sound and physically more athletic.
The breed I would choose to infuse would need to be compact in build, but still be well angulated and have a thinner coat that didn't shed. It would also have ears that were elevated at the base, with minimal inner hair and have a more open canal.
It was a tall order to expect one infusion to correct so many faults, but I'd come too far to back out. I researched pure breeds for two years, but I discarded them for one reason or another. Either they shared too many hereditary diseases or there was too much variation in their general population concerning the points I wanted to improve. I thought I was on a winner for a while with the Soft Coated Wheaten, but I decided against it when I learned of temperament and health problems I didn't want to introduce. There were no DNA health tests back then for dogs.
It was a tall order to expect one infusion to correct so many faults, but I'd come too far to back out. I researched pure breeds for two years, but I discarded them for one reason or another. Either they shared too many hereditary diseases or there was too much variation in their general population concerning the points I wanted to improve. I thought I was on a winner for a while with the Soft Coated Wheaten, but I decided against it when I learned of temperament and health problems I didn't want to introduce. There were no DNA health tests back then for dogs.
Then a Breakthrough!
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In 2004 I was holidaying interstate when I stumbled across a breeder's website which explained the differences between the original IRISH Soft Coated Wheaten and those who had been exported to other countries where they were bred primarily for the show ring. They were like two different breeds!
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Even more exciting was that the breeder was in the same State that I was holidaying in! I studied her website and 2 days later I summoned up the courage to call her. To my utter surprise, she didn’t hang up on me as I expected. It was and still is, frowned on to breed any two different breeds to one another, and so I was pleasantly surprised when she asked if I had a website which described what I was doing. So naturally I was excited to give it to her. She said she would read up on what I was doing and for me to call her in another couple of days which I did.
During our phone call two days later, she said she felt honored that I was considering her breed to improve the beautiful breed I was working on. I almost fell off my chair! I eagerly accepted her invitation to visit her and her dogs. I wasn’t sure what to expect but when I arrived at her home I couldn’t have been more delighted. After sounding the alarm with deep warning barks, her lovely dogs stood in front of her at the door and greeted me with waving tails, smiling faces and charming manners. What wonderful dogs! I felt my heart beating faster as I ran my fingers through their silky wavy coats, looked into their amazing lustrous dark eyes and enjoyed their happy kisses. One of them, a nine-year-old bitch looked as sprightly and as abundantly healthy as would a dog many years her junior.
I learned a great deal during that visit. This breeder’s integrity and passion for keeping the purity of her breed was evident, as was her dismay at the way it had been corrupted in the hands of some breeders as they bred for poofy extravagant coats and exaggerated conformation for the show ring whilst the true flowing coat and type was gradually becoming lost. Here was a lady after my own heart. She understood.
During our phone call two days later, she said she felt honored that I was considering her breed to improve the beautiful breed I was working on. I almost fell off my chair! I eagerly accepted her invitation to visit her and her dogs. I wasn’t sure what to expect but when I arrived at her home I couldn’t have been more delighted. After sounding the alarm with deep warning barks, her lovely dogs stood in front of her at the door and greeted me with waving tails, smiling faces and charming manners. What wonderful dogs! I felt my heart beating faster as I ran my fingers through their silky wavy coats, looked into their amazing lustrous dark eyes and enjoyed their happy kisses. One of them, a nine-year-old bitch looked as sprightly and as abundantly healthy as would a dog many years her junior.
I learned a great deal during that visit. This breeder’s integrity and passion for keeping the purity of her breed was evident, as was her dismay at the way it had been corrupted in the hands of some breeders as they bred for poofy extravagant coats and exaggerated conformation for the show ring whilst the true flowing coat and type was gradually becoming lost. Here was a lady after my own heart. She understood.
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The IRISH Soft Coated Wheaten breed had exactly the qualities and traits that I was hoping to infuse so as to improve my own developing breed.
They were compact, with shorter strong backs, well defined neck and laid back shoulder, sloping croup for power across the loins, sturdy limbs their ears had a slight lift at the base that should help improve my own breed's chronic ear infection status and the icing on the cake was that they had the most delightful and gentle natures. Not at all terrier like. I was smitten! |
I was so excited! It was agreed that I could purchase frozen semen from two superb Irish line studs as long as I didn't put her studs' names or ancestry on my puppies' pedigrees. It was against the rules to allow a pure-bred dog to mate a non-recognized breed or cross breed and she could have been banned from registering or showing her dogs. There was nowhere to register my breed at that time, so I devised code names that only I would recognize for the pedigrees of the progeny.
Shortly after I returned home I decided to infuse these sires into the woolliest tightest curliest coated females I could. Why I'll never know. Talk about making a challenging task harder!!! Misty, a Café Miniature and Bunnie a Standard Cream were selected for this exciting trial. Both girls had a history of producing mainly tight curly wool coats in their offspring regardless of the sire used. So I figured it would be a great test to evaluate the Wheaten's influence if any, on coat type. I wanted to start moving away from tight wool coats and curly coats which were both high maintenance.
Shortly after I returned home I decided to infuse these sires into the woolliest tightest curliest coated females I could. Why I'll never know. Talk about making a challenging task harder!!! Misty, a Café Miniature and Bunnie a Standard Cream were selected for this exciting trial. Both girls had a history of producing mainly tight curly wool coats in their offspring regardless of the sire used. So I figured it would be a great test to evaluate the Wheaten's influence if any, on coat type. I wanted to start moving away from tight wool coats and curly coats which were both high maintenance.
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Bunnie and Misty were AI’d (artificially inseminated) a week apart in August 2004. Bunnie produced eleven puppies and the Miniature Misty produced seven babies that same October.
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As the eighteen puppies grew it was so exciting to see the strength and balance of their conformation. The soft silky coats and the wonderful natures emerged unscathed, too.
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Then began the telephone calls to people waiting on the RM waitlist to explain what had transpired and to offer them one of these exciting new puppies.
From each family I called, only one refused the offered puppy with an incomplete pedigree. Everyone else was excited to be a part of this new era and I will always feel indebted to them for staying in touch through the years with feedback and photos. Naturally I retained several of the puppies to continue selective breeding with some of my breeding pods.
To help keep track of the Irish Wheaten infused lines, I named succeeding breeding progeny with a 'Wh' in their names. for several generations until I was sure the infusion had been successful.
From each family I called, only one refused the offered puppy with an incomplete pedigree. Everyone else was excited to be a part of this new era and I will always feel indebted to them for staying in touch through the years with feedback and photos. Naturally I retained several of the puppies to continue selective breeding with some of my breeding pods.
To help keep track of the Irish Wheaten infused lines, I named succeeding breeding progeny with a 'Wh' in their names. for several generations until I was sure the infusion had been successful.
Interestingly, The Australian Labradoodle registries never accepted the infusion then, nor even since as of 19 years later, in 2023. Fortunately for the emerging pure breed, the MDBA did.
Below: Some 1st generation puppies 2004 from tightly curled wool coated Bunnie! Ten silky coated puppies, 9 Black or Silver and 1 golden female. All with straight swinging coats!
The first two larger Rutlands sires with the Irish Wheaten infusion
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Above: Rutlands Wh Mon Ami (Pal)
Below: Rutlands Chevonne. I loved her silver frosting but I wasn't able to reproduce it so it was lost. There was no DNA testing for dogs back then. 
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Above: Rutlands Wh Special Angel. A beautifully sound female and one of the first with the lovely floating movement.
Below: 2 Miniature descendants from Misty. 
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