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The ISSA Outcrossing Plan - Defining our Goals

The first thing the ISSA had to do was define the goals for this outcross. They included fixing some structural weaknesses in our breed; securing a more stable temperament without sacrificing the sociable, eager-to-please nature of our dogs; and attempting to reduce the incidence of heritable disorders we see most often in our dogs.

Below you'll find an excerpt from the actual report we contructed for our first outcrossing project.

Outcross Planning Checklist

International Shiloh Shepherd Alliance

April 2017

PART ONE, SECTION ONE : DEFINE GOALS

❖ Create a summary description of the starting breed (Shiloh Shepherd) and its primary breeding goal(s).

Description: The Shiloh Shepherd is an excellent family-friendly companion breed, gentle with children and other animals. The Shiloh can excel as a Therapy or Service dog prospect. Some lines retain working ability paralleling the purposes of its forebears: as a guardian of home and family; as a breed with scenting aptitude able to work in demanding disciplines such as search and rescue; and even as a herding dog.

Primary Breeding goals, temperament:

We wish to produce less insecurity and more confidence in our pups. We also wish to retain the people-focused, biddable (urge to please) nature of our breed. We are already seeing too many hard-headed, stubborn, or self-indulgent pups, so outcrossing to a temperament of that type is not ideal.

Primary Breeding goals, health:

We are seeing more of the following diseases and wish to utilize this outcross to lower their incidence in our breed:

  • 1. SAS
  • 2. Mega-E
  • 3. EPI

In addition, we wish to maintain or improve the state of joint health our breed already possesses in accordance with our breed founder’s original wishes, so we include the following on this list:

  • 4. Hip Dysplasia

Primary Breeding goals, structure:

  • 1. Better front placement and angulation (breeding for this will help give better chest width and better neck length to meet our standard)
  • 2. A level top line, without excessive slant, sag, or roach
  • 3. No cow hocks. Cow hocks are a big issue in our breed, resulting from a structural instability where the inside of the rear thigh is inadequately muscled. The individual we choose for outcrossing needs to not have this instability issue.
  • 4. A thicker lower jaw with a more squared-off muzzle (so the lower jaw is not receding)
  • 5. Better proportions in line with the 9:10 called for in the breed standard to correct our many long dogs (probably 90% of our gene pool is quite long-bodied).

In addition, there are the goals of the breed founder. She considered the priorities of the breed to be: well-angulated movement; level top line; smaller, strong, triangular ears; good (saber) tail, carried low; large size; and good bone.  We recognize that we cannot breed for everything with a single outcross, or even two, so we are addressing two of these in particular: movement and top lines.

  • 1. Well-angulated movement: we are selecting for this with looking for a breed (or dog within the breed) with better front structure and not too straight of a rear.
  • 2. Level top line: we are selecting for this by seeking a breed with an appropriate top line. We are also helping it by choosing a breed without the muscling/cow hocks issue we have, as that fault can cause the top line to arch upward.

For the rest of the key Shiloh traits, we believe that we have a good representative portion of the population that is correct for ears, tails, size, and bone. Should we perceive that we are losing some of these traits in future generations, they can be considered when choosing our next outcrosses.

To move on to the next page, History and Population Research, click here.

To return to the Outcrossing Checklist page, click here.

© 2016 International Shiloh Shepherd Alliance, Inc.