OUTRCROSS HOW AND WHY?
What is outcross and why is it important?
Below is a description of where the purebred dog comes from, what problems the purebred dog encounters and why outcross can be significant in this.
What is pedigree dog?
The origin of a "pedigree dog" involves looking at certain traits and external characteristics of that dog. Whereas the breed used to be selected mainly for utility purposes, the terms purebred dog and breed purity only came into existence when the elite (the affluent people) began to see the dog as a status symbol. So, despite the fact that some breeds have been in existence for hundreds or even thousands of years, the definition "purebred dog" and the accompanying pedigree papers have not been in use for very long at all.
When there were about a dozen suitable males that met the requirements, they were registered and named as a particular breed. These males were then allowed to be crossed with females also found to be suitable. All offspring of these dogs have been registered with the FCI (founded in 1911) for decades. Eventually, the dogs that were found suitable could only be crossed with registered offspring. But because many pedigree dogs originated from a small group of selected dogs, you can imagine that at some point they were all related somehow. Eventually, in-breeding/line-breeding happened. Previously, this was not a big problem. Surely it couldn't do that much harm?
Unfortunately, we now know better and over the years many problems have indeed arisen in purebred dogs. Due to too little variation in their gene profiles, many purebred dogs can suffer from hereditary ailments. It is therefore not for nothing that many crossbreeds are now known as 'healthier and stronger' because these dogs generally have more variation in their genes.
Predictability
The advantage of a purebred dog is that to some extent you know what kind of character and qualities to expect from that dog. You also know roughly what the dog will look like because the parents both meet a certain appearance described in the 'breed standard'. This is a nearcertainty a person likes to rely upon. This means not taking unnecessary risks if the dog has an important task ahead of it, which may also be a source of income for its owner. It is therefore understandable that a lot of value was attached to this in the past.
Purebred
With a crossbreed, you have to wait and see in terms of appearance, character and health of the offspring. For example, a sheep farmer needs to trust their dog will be suitable for herding and keeping the flock together without attacking the sheep. However, a crossbreed with another type of dog that has a lot of drive for hunting in it could result in very bad outcomes for the farmer. By contrast, a hunter has no use for a cosy hairball on legs that is constantly distracted by its surroundings. A hunter wants a dog that will sit with full focus on the track of a wild boar.
Crossing dogs, then, with totally different characteristics, can sometimes turn out differently than expected. People did not want to run that risk, so crossing different dog breeds became highly undesirable. The 'image' of the purebred dog also became increasingly important and sothe purchase price rose. Crossbreeds, which were often conceived and born on the streets, were still accessible to people who did not have the money to obtain a purebred dog. They were called 'dirt bikes' which just goes to show once again that this custom was once considered undesirable. Only puppies that came from parents that were 'approved' were considered 'pure'. These pups were then given a pedigree certificate as proof that their parents met the breed standard and all the characteristics that went with it. This further helped kill the image of (healthy) crossbreeds. Even to this day, the 'crossbreed' has a bad image and seems hard to get rid of.
Health
A breeding policy with a tunnel vision for promoting the popular looks of the breed in question, the behavioural characteristics of the original behavioural function and breed-specific health examinations is high risk.
You do not need to have studied higher mathematics to conclude that this breeding policy has definitely not benefited the health of a pedigree dog. Fortunately, more and more breeders and authorities are asking critical questions about this way of breeding. We ought not want to be putting the focus on appearance, and of course it is important to carry out all hereditary and breed-specific health examinations to check whether an animal is burdened with certain defects that could endanger its health. But even if a dog is healthy, the diversity of different bloodlines is also important for its health. For example, you can have two healthy dogs that are completely free of health problems and both have perfect looks, but if they are cousins, that is definitely not a responsible combination(!).
The word 'breeding-pure' is, unfortunately, seen as something very valuable. In the case of purebred dogs, it only means that the parents met the requirements for belonging to a purebred at the time. As regards the health of an animal it says nothing at all. Indeed, the more interbreeding that takes place, the greater the chance of hereditary defects occurring. So what is so positive about the word 'pure'?
What is outcross?
Outcross is the deliberate crossing of different breeds for the benefit of a breed's health, with the aim of obtaining offspring that do meet all the characteristics of a purebred dog but with greater genetic variety through selective breeding.
So outcross means deviating from those current bloodlines.
As a breeder, you should not cross two parent dogs that both belong to the same breed. Rather you use a totally different bloodline (another purebred, look-alike or a crossbreed) to cross with your own purebred dog.
Of course, you need to test both parent dogs for hereditary and breed-specific defects, and both parent dogs have to be extensively tested for health.
Puppies born from this mix will have the genes of both the mother and the father dog. One should therefore take into account the parent dogs and thus the different breeds.
Such a first generation (F1 generation) outcross is thus a lot less predictable, because one puppy will be more like the father dog, while the other will have inherited more of the mother dog's character.
Outcross does not stop at breeding one generation. The idea is to select the pups that most closely match the desired breed (both appearance and character) and that will bring in genetically good/diverse material. The selected pups can be used again in backcrossing with a dog that does match the breed characteristics. The chance that their offspring will again resemble a purebred dog is then much greater. This is called an F2 generation. In this way, you can ensure that the gene diversity within the purebred dog population remains high, while retaining some predictability because you are selecting specifically for breed characteristics.
Source: translation of "St. Promovere Sanus Canibus" - www.sanus-canibus.nl