By Christine Edwards, to Kennel Arddun March 2007( needs update for additionals received lately)

The genes to live by.

Cardigan corgies, in common with other canines, like all other mamals are a complex grouping of hundreds of genes which control the way they look, behave and how they potentialy will develope.

With just a basic knowledge of genetics it is possible to understand how each pup will be affected once the parents and grandparents are known.

For instance Cardigan colour. All Cardigans come in one of two basic colours They do not have solid colours but may have various other interactive genes that overlay or dilute the basic patterns. At the A locus, either at^at, black and tan pattern, or ay^ay, sable based pattern.

Things like masking (Em) on the face and head, striped overlay on the basic red shades (called brindle) which may be light or heavy and almost completely disguise the base colour. This can be seen by possible shades that brindle (kbr) shows, from palest yellow brindle to the almost black brindle with no undershade visible, sometimes mistakenly referred to as black and white dogs.

(White is the locust,'S' which I will come to later so as not to confuse).

In the sable group of (red) ay^ay dogs, come with three bands of colour on each hair strand. They can be either black tipped or red tipped sable, but each will have three bands per hair length.

The black and tan group of at^at dogs have one colour per hair strand, with only certain regions where the tan points are in view. Distinctive splashes (over the eyes), cheeks along the chin, lower leg or toe areas and under tail region. These basic shades are altered by modifiers from 'B' and 'D' 'E' locust action or possibly 'Ch' that change in tandem with the basic genes when present.

They may also be hidden by the 'S' locus which will overide their presence. B- bb will dilute black to chocolate brown (liver) D- dd will dilute black to grey or light grey (blue)

When present in tandem with 'M' merle they appear as dilute red merle (liver) or blue merle (blue) 'E' modifiers will affect the intensity of shade, from Em masked to e^e ( rich red to pale yellow underlay in sables or brindles .

'Ch' though not very common, when present, will hide the (eumelanine) stripes of brindle making the dog look red, and a red dog a very pale shade of yellow instead of a rich red. K locus is the controlling region for black, since Cardigans are neither dominant nor recessive for black so unless they carry brindle k^ kbr, or show kbr^kbr, they have k^k always.The brindle factor kbr (carried) by a black and tan dog may overide the tan portion of the markings in his/her offspring as it is dominant over tan, resulting in brindle patches instead of tan ones. .

M is the merle locus with a distinctive concentration of spotting or patches in one or two shades of pigment, throughout the body surface and face.(For modifiers see B and D above). Note.!! Merle to merle or double merle breedings are not desirable as they lead to health deficiencies some of which will die in eutero others will survive to birth, but be health problems in later life. Merle to other than black and tan based dogs leads to hidden merles, not a desirable outcome due to merle factored health issues.

'S' the white locus which inCardigans is possible in any combination of si,sp or sw any two of which may be present. The most likely combination is 'si' or Irish spotting which results in absence of colour pigment in certain predictable areas, namely face, collar, paws or lower legs and tail tip. The combination of si^sp may give the same combination above with additional white, in unexpected areas of the body, head or ears. The combination of si^sw can give the expected irish markings, plus extensive white regions on full head, wide neck and body markings, with diminished coloured areas of basic pattern.

When planning breedings to retain or improve the flashy markings so desired in the show dog, be very careful what you choose as you may inadvertantly express more white than desired.

Excessive white in head regions may lead to health deficiencies in eutero with resulting blindness or deafness after birth.

Then there are the hair length ' L' genes. L is short coat, Ll mixed length , ll long coated..... this does not include curly coat , hairless, or any other dogs type Cardigans come in varied length with double coat and straight or wavy soft or coarse texture. many variations from these ,may be normal in dogs but undesirable in this breed. Things like short coat throughout or single coated. Cardigans have Ll mixed length and double coat, so the chances of ll pups longhair /fluffy cannot be ruled out and must be expected. The short close to body Cardigans are less likely to produce ( ll long coat) offspring being on the shorter side of the scale. ll long coat are more likely to come from the longer coated (plush coat) dogs, often favoured in show circles.

What you see is what you get! or is it?

When I began in dogs this was a common saying among dog breeders, but over the years and with greater understanding I now know better. Like the iceberg floating in the ocean, what you see is the tip only, the greater portion is out of sight.. Many important things are not visible to the naked eye. Things like temperament, behaviour, working potential, health issues now and in the future, and many other genetic functions that may or not be working correctly. Family relationships, pedigree or trophy ribbons cannot guarantee the dog's potential, only activated traditional working skills and practical experience will bring them out if hidden in the genes or prove them lost forever by poor selection.

Pedigree research can inform one of potential dangers.

Breed lines of phenotypical (non related) but complimentary dogs- "Assortive matings". Dogs from this style of breeding with good results, produce many top or outstanding dogs. Extra care in selection for breedings is needed to get these results.

One of the results of these breedings :- Many popular sire breedings by unrelated dogs can pass on recessive or carrier genes and shrink the size of the overall gene pool, higher numbers of COI% (coefficient of inheritance %), available for the future..

The other sort of breeding is" relative matings" of closely related dogs selected for their similarity, both in and line matings are still in- breeding. The difference is closeness of relationship between them and the number of distinct genes that may be copied in offspring. .

This is not so good, many inherited genes have become duplicate in each generation ( thus carriers of the gene) reducing the diversity and health of all future pups, making those genes more likely to produce affecteds.

One of the results of these breedings :- With a higher inherited COI % what was an occasional health problem, becomes a predictable increase of potential affected numbers- for that desease. ie. PRA, EPI, Vwd. HD. etc.

Too many popular sire breedings by related dogs will produce affecteds and pass on recessive or carrier genes, and to further shrink the overall gene-pool of the future.

Health Information.

What above was written about desease may at this time be an identifiable blood test of status or it may be a process or stage of another major health problem as in the case of EPI. EPI is the end stage of PAA. ( Progressive Acinar Atrophie), a serious problem in many dog breeds.