What is the best way to tap into an established family or strain of beagles and continue it successfully?
By Ralph Gillum, BraceBeagling Columnist
October 02, 2004











The best way to start would be to buy the best females and males in the family. This is seldom possible unless the owner-breeder has died or is quitting the sport. Barring these circumstances, the best way to begin your program would be to get acquainted with the breeder and convince him that you have studied his strain of dogs and really would like to be an extended part of his family or would like to use his dogs as a base for developing your own family. Let him know you would like to be able to ask for advice when making your initial matings. Most breeders will be pleased that you admire their strain of dogs and will either loan, lease or sell you breeding stock of a better quality than that which they would usually let go.

If you are not able to gain access to any of the breeder’s better bitches, buy the best females from the family that can be bought from him or anyone else that may have a decent female from this family. Concentrate on females with as high a percentage of the family breeding as possible, which also possess a predominance of the family traits. If you are a small breeder and have access to the best males in the family, you should not buy a male as that just takes up space in your kennel.

After you get your primary breeding stock, be sure to consult the breeder for advice in making your initial matings. It is wise to take advantage of his knowledge as he not only knows the individual traits of your dogs, but the recessive traits in the family of which you may not be aware. He will not only know the strengths and weaknesses of your bitches and the males being considered, but which individual bitches are most likely to match up or “click” with which male. After you are established, you will undoubtedly want to put your own “stamp” on the family or line you develop. However, if things start to go off track, it would be a good idea to give the original breeder a call and do some brainstorming. He may have some insights gained over the years he was developing his family of beagles that could be of help to you.

If, for some reason, the breeder is not available for breeding consultations, I would recommend breeding to the best family bred male. Hopefully, the best male will have traits that compliment those of your bitch. However at this stage, I believe it is more important to breed to the best male rather than a lesser quality family male that may match up a little better. The most common mistake I have observed breeders make in this situation is to breed to a second rate, family bred male. This is often done out of convenience as it is either owned by themselves or a friend or is located nearby. This is a prescription for disaster as the second tier female, bred to a second rate male of the same family, tends to intensify the mediocrity of the two individuals. Since they both are likely to carry many of the same undesirable recessive family traits, they are not likely to bring to the surface the best family characteristics. In this case, don’t breed to a male just because he carries the family “blood” but breed the best females you have been able to obtain to the best male in the family. To put it in another perspective, the original breeder is breeding his best females to his best males. You have little chance of ever approaching his level of excellence by breeding mediocre to mediocre as the two parents share the family weaknesses and faults which are likely to be intensified by inbreeding.

Another mistake breeders trying to establish their own family often make, is to yield to the temptation to buy a good bitch that is not from the family. This is tempting, especially when you have the opportunity to buy a bitch that is as good or better than your family bred bitches. However, keep in mind that you would then have two families to try to develop, or else attempt to bring that individual into the original family. In either case, more often than not, more undesirable than desirable traits will emerge. It takes skilled breeders several generations to successfully bring an outcross into the family. Most breeders who yield to this temptation end up with a conglomeration of bloodlines with unpredictable breeding results. Only some type of consistent inbreeding can establish and maintain reproducibility.


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