After getting impregnated by her brother, there's a high chance that female dogs will not deliver healthy babies. They may come out without any problems, but most cases of inbreeding result in spontaneous miscarriages and uterine complications. The hormones tend to go out of whack with incestuous pregnancies.
If two mates are paired together, both touting desirable traits, they can make excellent quality pups. Even if the two are related, exceptional genes can pass down through the lineage with each litter. However, where good combinations lie—bad ones do, too.
Severe separation anxiety, impulsive behaviors (compulsively chasing vehicles or running out into the street), fearfulness, and even a complete lack of affection for their human family are all more common in inbred dogs.
Some inbred or badly bred dogs suffer partial or complete deafness, blindness or both. Skin conditions are more prevalent with inbred dogs. There is thought to be higher risks of genetically related cancers developing because of inbreeding. Occasional genetic mutation.
Professional trainers like myself recommend against bringing home two puppies around the same age, let alone two from the same litter. While this sounds like a good plan in theory, in practice it often causes quite a bit of heartache and potentially some serious aggression trouble.
This can be done by keeping them in separate rooms where they cannot see each other, tying them away from one another, keeping the female dog in an enclosure, or leaving the female dog in an outdoor enclosure that is cool, safe, and secure.
After getting impregnated by her brother, there's a high chance that female dogs will not deliver healthy babies. They may come out without any problems, but most cases of inbreeding result in spontaneous miscarriages and uterine complications. The hormones tend to go out of whack with incestuous pregnancies.
If a dog is extensively inbred, it will likely have a shorter life. And how about spaying and neutering? They impact your dog's life span too, by giving him (or her) protection from certain kinds of cancer.
The highest level of inbreeding by far (> 80%) is for the Norwegian Lundehund. This breed suffers from extremely low fertility and high puppy mortality as well as an often lethal gastrointestinal disorder.
Inbreeding affects health
The average inbreeding based on genetic analysis across 227 breeds was close to 25%, or the equivalent of sharing the same genetic material with a full sibling. These are levels considered well above what would be safe for either humans or wild animal populations.
Shorter Life Span
With all the complications we have mentioned so far, no wonder inbred dogs have shorter life spans as compared to outbred ones. Research conducted in the Bokyo Lab shows that there is a 6 to 10-month reduction in lifespan for every 10% increase in inbreeding.
Multiple litter also pose the risk of hygiene concerns and deadly viruses and parasites such as parvovirus and hook worm which are rapidly spread. The mother can be severely affected by malnutrition, hypocalcaemia (potentially life-threatening low levels of calcium), uterine infections, and mastitis.
Not all dog breeds are alike in terms of health, however. Tamaskan Dogs, Barbets, Australian Labradoodles, Danish-Swedish Farmdogs, Mudis, and Koolies were some of the least inbred, and they had rates of vet care comparable to mixed-breed dogs.
For every 1% increase in inbreeding, a dog lives on average 20.6 days less.
Through the use of studbooks to ensure pure-bred pedigrees in the last 100 years, inbreeding has become the norm in many breeds. At the behest of genetics, these inbred animals—especially large dogs—develop chronic health issues, which contribute to costly vet bills over their lifespan.
Inbreeding levels of 5-10% will have modest detrimental effects on the offspring. Inbreeding levels above 10% will have significant effects not just on the quality of the offspring, but there will also be detrimental effects on the breed. Do I still have to worry about COI if I am doing the health tests for my breed?
Many brachycephalic dog breeds have major difficulty giving birth. British bulldogs, French bulldogs and Pugs are deliberately selected for a large head, broad shoulders and narrow pelvis, which means the pup's head and shoulders are too large to fit through their mother's pelvic canal, causing major birthing problems.
Benefits of inbreeding may include doubling good genes within a breed, establishing predictable offspring, removing unwanted traits, or eliminating recessive genes.
If a female dog has mated with two or more male dogs, she can have puppies from different dads in the same litter. While the puppies may have different dads, each individual puppy will only have one father.
Purebred dogs also had a significantly higher absolute rate of aging, which explained alone between 8% (at age 10) and 40% (at age 4) of the variance. Counterintuitively, the relative rate of aging was higher for mixed breed dogs, albeit not significantly different.
The most obvious effects of inbreeding are poorer reproductive efficiency including higher mortality rates, lower growth rates and a higher frequency of hereditary abnormalities. This has been shown by numerous studies with cattle, horses, sheep, swine and laboratory animals.
Australian Cattle Dogs
Bluey, an Australian cattle dog, entered the Guinness Book of World Records by living to the ripe old age of 29 years and 5 months, setting the record for oldest dog ever.
Depending on when the pup is rehomed, dogs can recognise their relatives later in life. If puppy littermates remain together for the first 16 weeks of the puppy's life before being rehomed, chances are they'll be able to recognise their family later on, at least for a few years.
Why do female dogs cry when mating? Making noise during mating is normal for some dogs. However, it can also sometimes be a sign of stress, pain or that she's not keen to mate. Try not to intervene unnecessarily, but if you're concerned about your dog then try soothing her and see if that helps.
Dogs new to mating may experience a bit of anxiety at being locked together, but it's a natural process. Help your dog to remain calm and stand still until the two can safely separate. This will occur on its own once the male dog's arousal subsides.