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inbred Norwegian elkhounds

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2K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Keechak  
J
#1 ·
Hello Everyone,
Wanted to get some opinions about a situation i'm in. I have a breeder who is expected a litter of pure bred norwegian elkhound puppies. The problem is, they parents are brother and sister. I guess the male snuck in with the female and impregnated her without the breeders knowledge. She isn't 100% sure but she is pretty sure it was this pair of dogs that are siblings have gotten pregant. Anywho, she is planning on giving them away for free because of the inbreeding. Am i getting myself into a bad situation by picking one of these puppies up? I know elkies are an ancient breed that are usually very healthy and the grandparents were unrelated and all the dogs have been tested for not showing signs of hip problems, eye problems, etc. All the dogs are very very healthy and these two siblings mating is the first inbreeding among any of these dogs. Also the dogs are not from the same litter, they are a couple years apart but i don't think this makes a difference. Just want to hear some opinions on what could happen, what I should do etc. Thank you!!
 
#3 ·
If the parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles are all healthy, I can't see why there should be any issues with the puppies.

I'd be a little iffy of a breeder who wasn't sure who fathered the puppies though. Make sure you see proof of all health clearances.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Is it easy to get a DNA sample of the puppies before they're born?

Inbreeding generally causes problems over multiple generations. If the parents and grandparents are all healthy and have no issues, it is unlikely that the "oops" inbreeding resulting in this litter would produce issues.
 
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#6 ·
Are the parents true brother and sister, or just half bother and sister? i.e. did the breeder repeat the breeding and that's how she ended up with brother and sister being a couple years apart?

In theory as long as everyone in the family is healthy and no issues have popped up then your risk is minimal that the pups will be any worse off health wise compared to other dogs of the breed. Keep in mind though that you are doubling up on genes. So any minor issue with the genetics will be magnified. You also have a high chance for recessive genes to pop up and create new issues.

Beyond the genetics of the pups, I have two big concerns about this breeder just based on the info you've given. I would want to know how the accidental breeding happened in the first place. And if the brother/sister thing happened because of a repeat breeding I would want to know why they repeated the breeding. Now both of these things on thier own aren't necessarily red flags, there may be valid reason for both issues to pop up, but I would want to know more. Since these are just two possible issues, based only on what you've told us in your original post, I would want to know more about the breeder. Perhaps there's more concerns with things you haven't even told us about.
 
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#9 ·
The the lines are generally not inbred, and the parents are health tested, I don't think you'll have any more issues than you would with any other elkie. There is always a possibility that they will have some unknown recessive gene that shows up, but if the breeder knows her lines well and hasn't seen it yet, it's unlikely.
 
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