Numark Kennel produced the mothers of 2002 National Champion Miller's True Spirit and the 2003 National Champion Texas Trail Blazer 

This article was written by John Lossing
Copyright 2009, All rights reserved

"Numark," by Elhew Sea Gazer x Elhew Raggady Ann                                 

Today in America the Pointer is represented by several different bloodlines.  Many of these Pointers  are beautiful  and make fine gun dogs, but none are without fault. A beautiful Pointer without functional sense of mind is a true waste, but so is a dog of excellent mind but structurally incapable of athletic movement.  Much has been written about certain Pointer  bloodlines which  have been line bred/inbred for many decades and advertised that their strain is free from fault and breeds true to type.  Experienced Pointer breeders realize that this is not a totally true statement. Most Pointer bloodlines still carry certain undesirable recessive  traits that show up from time to time. The underbite, prolapse of the third eye lid or cherry eye, reproductive diseases, skeletal, neuralgic, immune system, cancer, alimentary diseases, behavioral, hematopoietic and lymphatic diseases, and the list goes on. There is still much work to be done in developing the perfect Pointer, although the Pointer has a much smaller number of documented genetic diseases than most other breeds.  This could partly be due to the long period of time from the early seventeen hundreds that the Pointer has been selectively bred by a more privileged more knowledgeable group of owners.

Since owning my first Pointer in 1965, I have seen many novice breeders come and go.  Most new breeders don't survive to see their fifth anniversary. Success will go to the breeder who has a real passion for the Pointer, a clear vision of the breed,  a good eye and knowledge for selection of the set standard, and a commitment to improving the breed "for the long haul" of many years.  A dedicated breeder has to love his breed.  A money value can not be placed on the number of invested hours and the amount of energy required by the committed Pointer breeder.  Many family sacrifices (due to a full time 24 hour a day job, seven days a week, twelve months a year) are required, resulting in a life style that allows little time away from the constant demands of the kennel. These sacrifices affect not only the breeder but also the entire family.   Invariably there will be continual supplemental money necessary for kennel upkeep and unexpected expenses. Also, a dedicated breeder will spend countless hours researching and gathering information to improve his kennel's dogs.  A knowledgeable, serious breeder of Pointers will honor a responsibility to the public seeking information and quality breeding stock.  If money is the goal for choosing Pointers for breeding, you are fooling yourself. 

Numark Chelsea by Elhew Sea Gazer x Numark Fidhew Kate (Elhew/Fiddler cross)

Pointers are a very unique breed, but are ranked at least 100 places down the scale of the most popular breed of dog. I believe the Golden Lab is currently the number one most popular breed of dog.  If money is the goal, then the Golden Lab would certainly be the dog to consider and focus on.

Newcomers to the dog breeding profession are rarely able to afford the purchase  of a top dog.  Getting and developing a great dog is not easy and that is why there are so few of them. My intention is not to belittle the novice breeder.  A majority of novice breeders lack the knowledge, experience, and usually the pure dedication to become a reputable breeder. Many breeders have been burned by novices who don't know how to raise or develop a young Pointer. Education, dedication, and experience are imperative. Patience is a special virtue when it comes to breeding or training dogs. Time and experience  are excellent teachers. Once accomplished, the  dedicated breeder has a great inner satisfaction for his or her work.

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A  young twelve week old Pointer pup with perfect field conformation. Numark Pointers are bred    to a strict standard. Beautiful square chiseled heads, clean neck lines, deep chests, tight well structured feet, straight fronts, good angulations in the hind legs, dark eyes, nice top lines, well set ears, with high heads and tails.  No hound skin along the throat, no sickle tails, size 14 feet, or misshaped shoulders and back ends.
 

When first starting a breeding program of Pointers, whether as a hobby or for business, my advise is to start off with the line that comes closest to the correct Pointer Standard of your goal and work with it. Only after a few years of breeding and having selected each seasons offspring that comes closest to the Pointer Standard you have set,  you will have slightly changed the original line to your own ideas and standard.

It is always better to breed to a stud dog that has multiple champions in his litter, and this is even more true if you can find a stud that has a sire and dam that also came from litters of multiple champions.  This is an indication of the purity of the genetic pool from which they came.  If you don't have a brood bitch from this kind of background then lease one. It will save you years of trying to catch up with other top breeders.  Since anyone can usually breed to any dog in the country that is truly superior and possesses the bloodlines you are searching for, the quality of the bitch is of utmost importance.

Do you have a strong background in genetics or a friend or associate who does? If not, my advice is to restrict your breeding to mild line breeding and avoid the use of closely related individuals or inbreeding. This advise was passed to me many years ago by a professional breeder.  Many books and articles have been written on the subject of breeding dogs and their genetics.  Use every opportunity to gain knowledge, whether it be books, seminars, experienced breeders, or the internet.

One of the biggest dangers is intense inbreeding of a small family of dogs. Inbreeding is the mating of individuals that are closely related.  In a broad sense, all English Pointers are related. As a result, any seed stock breeder is practicing a certain degree of inbreeding each time two Pointers are mated. Breeders generally reserve the term inbreeding for matings that both the sire and dam have one or more of the same parents or grandparents. A good rule of thumb is like cousin to cousin or closer.

Inbreeding can have a dramatic effect on a line of Pointers. These effects are the result of an offspring receiving identical genes from each parent. If the parents are related, it is more likely that they have genes that are identical. An individual receiving identical genes from each parent is said to be homozygous. An inbred individual is more likely to be homozygous for any gene, so the animal is more likely to express undesirable genes, and hence, undesirable traits.  Please note that inbreeding does not create undesirable recessive genes, but it does tend to bring to light these unfavorable genetics. A responsible breeder must do away with those animals that are unfit for the breed. These dogs should be neutered or spayed.  If not, the unfavorable genes lead to a decline in average phenotypic performance (by appearance and not by it's hereditary potentialities)  called inbreeding depression. This phenomenon has been well documented in all major livestock species. 

Inbreeding has the greatest effect on reproductive traits, followed by growth traits. DNA has been a great tool in the mapping, marking, and identity of the characteristics caused from unfavorable genetics such as, dwarfism, infertility, hip displaysia, and various physical abnormalities.  As a breeder it is easy to see the external abnormalities, but what about the internal abnormalities? The breeder has a significant responsibility to have his veterinary to screen all breeding stock extremely close for internal flaws as well as external ones.  Breeders must be familiar with all the unfavorable traits of the Pointer, such as the cleft pallet, cherry eye, anal prolapse, and the list continues on.  Careful observation and thorough evaluation of the attributes of the offspring from the breeding stock are important in determining the quality of the breeding stock.

The Pointer has been listed to have 43  identifiable genetic diseases or disorders.  This is documented through the mapping of its DNA, as compared to the German Shepherd with 138 and the Labrador Retriever with 111. This information is listed by Dr. George A. Padgentt,DVM, in the book Control of Canine Genetic Diseases.  Inbreeding depression is essentially the opposite effect of heterosis (hybrid vigor), which is the advantage gained from out crossing two lines of Pointers. Inbreeding, if used or pushed too far, especially with the wrong dogs, will loose its intended advantages.

Inbreeding of an individual using the inbreeding coefficient.  The inbreeding coefficient measures the percent increase in homozygous gene pairs in an individual relative to the average of the population from which the individual came. An example is if the inbred coefficient of a Pointer is said to be .25, the Pointer is expected to have 25 percent more homozygous gene pairs than a non-inbred individual from the same population.

Inbreeding can have benefits, if the breeder understands how to monitor it and is willing to sacrifice some performance in the process. Inbreeding seems to split a breed into families which can be identified and crossed with some small benefit. Creation of families is unlikely to contribute to genetic improvement, but may aid in merchandising if other members of the family have done well.  Certain families may demonstrate superior performance, but if a family group has poor average performance, it should be discarded quickly.

Inbreeding is capable of promoting an increase in prepotency, but can also have the opposite effect. Prepotency is the ability of an individual Pointer to consistently pass on its characteristics. This prepotency results from the increase in homozygosity. Since an inbred Pointer will have more homozygous gene pairs than a non-inbred Pointer, there are fewer possible gene combinations for the sperm or egg cells.  As a result, the offspring should be more similar to each other.  It is critical for breeders to carefully evaluate individuals and test for the presence of undesirable recessive genes. This process is needed before forming a breeding program around that individual.

Inbreeding should only be used by breeders who have a clear understanding of its purpose. Unless approached carefully, the dangers of inbreeding far outweigh the advantages. Perhaps the most important concept to remember about inbreeding is that practicing a high level of inbreeding may result in a decline in average phenotypic merit for various traits.  If a Pointer carries undesirable recessive genes, these genes would be expected to be brought to light by inbreeding practices. Average phenotypic merit would be expected to decline. For example, the decline may impact fertility traits. Results of practicing inbreeding are a function of the genetic merit of the individual used in the breeding program.

Line breeding can be an effective tool for perpetuating the genes from an outstanding ancestor.  It should be used only in Pointer families that are superior, and only those stud dogs that are clearly outstanding should be the object of a line breeding program.  Mating of close relatives, such as brothers with sisters or parents with offspring, should be avoided, even though some breeders have done this with measured success.

I have touched on some of the most important high lights of breeding Pointers. Whole volumes have been written on the subject of genetics.  Genetics is somewhat like the game of poker. (And I am not a poker player or a geneticist.)  Poker is a game of calculation of the cards played and knowing the percentage of probabilities remaining.  Breeding dogs is a bit like playing poker--there is never a sure thing.  I have tried to inject into this article what seems to be some of the most important issues in breeding Pointers.  How many breeders totally fly by the seat of their pants breeding to each new National Champion?  Do they have a plan or are they out to entice the uneducated puppy buyers or novice to think that a champion sired pup is the best? Without a good breeding plan, these breeders will most likely never improve upon their original stock.

 Improved testing and techniques using frozen canine semen continues to gain popularity among dog breeders.  One of the main benefits is the better-than-average fertilization results of using frozen semen to impregnate a female Pointer. A greater number of breeders are using the frozen semen method because of the technical progress that has been made in the last few years. Great advances have been made in Canine Reproductive Science. On going research is being conducted to overcome the breeding obstacles that we face today.  DNA mapping of the dog has been completed and has been found to be very similar to the DNA map of the human.  Coming soon will be the option of selecting gender by choice--either the X chromosome (female) or the Y chromosome (male).

We are seeing a higher percentage of confirmed pregnancies through the use of Artificial Insemination. The key is determining the exact time when the female ovulates. Different methods are used to determine the accurate time to breed. Blood is drawn from the female and tested to determine the levels of the luteinizing hormone (LH) and progesterone.  Raioimmunoassay (RIA) technique allows for accurate progesterone testing by telling exactly when the female is ovulating.  Conception occurs precisely three to four days after ovulation.

The first cloned dog has taken place in Korea. I certainly have mixed feelings about cloning due to the ethics standpoint, and the lack of research and information.  Numark Kennel has taken major steps in setting up an on sight facility for the storage of canine frozen semen, an analylitical progesterone testing machine that is accurate with the results in about thirty minutes and surgical implanting. Rather than driving the recipient female dog hundreds of miles for testing and surgery,  the frozen semen is usually stored hundreds of miles across the U.S.  One of the biggest worries is having the semen to arrive in good condition.  The outcome depends on so many factors, including FedEx. Numark Kennel will soon have it's own on sight frozen semen storage tanks, accurate and almost immediate progesterone analysis results, and surgical implanting. This is a logistical decision that will increase accuracy, reduce time and travel, and improve the success rate for a live litter.

I look forward to my family members continuing their breeding of fine English Pointers and making excellent progress in the quality of our dogs.  We find it extremely helpful for our dogs to be hunted and tested in the West Texas quail country. More can be accomplished in a few days than most hunters accomplish in a season.  This is due to the much higher number of wild birds that exist in Texas.  Testing the offspring's hunting qualities is a key factor for success in breeding quality gun dogs for breeding stock.

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