French Bulldog"On breeding"

The novice breeder’s challenge is a daunting one, not only has he to suffer the rigours of what will hopefully be a trouble-free whelping, take out a mortgage to properly rear a litter of four or more hungry Frenchies pups, if he has aspirations to show the resulting offspring he has the added burden of finding a suitable sire, so that his pups will not only be happy and healthy but also look like typical Frenchies.
He will have to wade through the morass of information on the breed, he will hear conflicting opinions and have opposing advice. He will encounter words and phrases he will not understand, none of which makes his job any easier.
Breeding is such a vast subject that given the time and the inclination I could fill a book and not just a few pages of Bat Ears. But for the purposes of this article I will try to explain how I interpret two of the most frequently used but seldom understood phrases.
Line Breeding and In Breeding.
I suppose that for you to understand what line breeding means you need to know what a line is. It is not a prefix or a Kennel. A line is a series of closely related animals, a family if you like, who have reproduced themselves fairly accurately over the generations. In simple English, if you use a stud dog from a well established line the chances are that you will get at least some pups that resemble the father, grandfather etc.. Of course, to line breed successfully you first have to understand your breed and understand true Frenchie type.
The newcomer can sometimes be confused by assuming that simply because two dogs share the same affix they are similarly bred. This is not necessarily so. One could be sired by an American import, the other by a Dutch import and their dams may not be related at all. A line is something that is worked at and worked for. A line does not come overnight. In fact in any breed I would say that the number of existing, established lines can be counted on the fingers of your hands.
The secret of linebreeding is to capitalise on the inherent virtues of a pedigree by doubling up on them and emphasizing them.
To begin, look at your bitch’s pedigree. It may just be a jumble of names that mean nothing to you. To understand you will need the honest opinion of someone who has been in the breed long enough to remember some of your bitch’s ancestors. It may be that your pedigee (try to obtain a five generation) has a predominance of dogs from one particular Kennel. Are these dogs related? Do they appear on both side of your bitch’s pedigree? Were they actually any good?
Some years ago a well-meaning lady bought a Great Dane bitch for me to see. She wanted my advice as to a stud dog and came armed with a pedigree. She was obviously convinced that she had line breeding taped! She announced with great satisfaction that a certain dog appeared six times on her bitch’s pedigree And then confided that she had located a dog which boasted the same dog as double grandsire. I felt compelled to cut short her euphoria by asking if she had actually seen this dog. Of course she hadn’t. How could she? He had died two years before she acquired her first Dane.
I knew the dog. Well I had seen him hobbling up and down the ring many times. Frequently I would argue with other breeders which were worse, his forequarters or shoulders and invariably agreed that both these defects were overshadowed by his appalling head.
What looked like a golden opportunity for linebreeding was in fact a recipe for disaster.
I examined the pedigree closely. In the fifth generation a bitch appeared twice. She was not a champion, her name did not appear in red, but she was a good, sound, typical, well-balanced Great Dane. They bore quite different prefixes, but they were litter brother and sister. I suggested that here was something on which to build. We discussed available stud dogs. I knew of a good dog who was out of a bitch sired by yet another litter brother.
My advice was taken. This is not always the case. This well-meaning novice had placed her foot on the ladder of line breeding programme.
She will need to give each successive generation equal consideration. To dilute faults, consolidate virtues.
By the time she gets to her fifth generation of home bred stock she may be able to claim she has a line.
The essence of a line is consistency of type. I would like to think that people could sit at a ringside watching a class of 30 Great Dane pups and pick out the Dicarls.
You will only get this consistency of type if you are prepared to breed fairly closely. Rushing off to use all and sundry, no matter how much they may have won, will guarantee you nothing more than a lucky dip. A litter of pups that look like a variety class at kindergarten. You must be aiming for type. You must be aiming for consistency. Like begets like and the mating of opposites does not produce a happy medium.
The only way you will produce good Frenchies is if you breed good Frenchies. I mean dogs that not only meet the breed standard, but have a good pedigree to match.
Line breeding is a means to an end. It is exploiting the past to invest in the future. Line breed to typical stock and you will breed typical stock. Line breed to rubbish and you will produce rubbish.
In breeding is merely an intensified form of line breeding. I would consider granddaughter to grandfather, niece to uncle, half brother to half sister as line breeding. In breeding would include mother to son, father to daughter, full brother to full sister.
In breeding is, believe me, best left to the experts. If there are any skeletons in the closet you can guarantee that an incestuous mating will bring than rattling into the light.
Most breeders would agree that inbreeding is only to be considered for a specific reason and after much research. This article is aimed it the novice breeder and if you are considering in breeding take my advice. Don´t!

Breeding, like judging is all about virtues. Every pedigree, like every dog, has its virtues. It is up to you to recognise them and having done so you are in a position to embark on a course of selective line breeding.
Good luck.