This page is not intended as an educational text on the complete theory on genetics of the carnivore’s mammalian, If one wants to learn more on this subject I shall suggest the following books in the order of my favorites listed first: Refer to bibliography.

How to Breed Dogs by Leon F. Whitney, D.V.M.

The New Art of Breeding Better Dogs by Kyle Onstott

A Standard Guide to Purebred Dogs compiled and edited by Harry Glover

The Inheritance of Coat Color in Dogs by Clarence c. Little, sc.d.

General Zoology by Gordon Alexander

Of Wolves and Men by Barry Holtein Lopez

Canines and Coyotes by Leon v. Almarall

Encyclopedia Britannica (all information concerning genetics)

The Wild Dogs in Life and Legend by Maxwell Riddle

The Complete Alaskan Malamute by Maxwell Riddle and Eva b. Seeley

German Shepherd Dogs by Franis Kern

The Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds by Ernest H. Hart

German Shepherd Dog by Jane Bennett

Rare breed handbooks

All old and out-dated dog books

(And any other books you can get your hands on. Education is the key to understanding.)

Simply put the Alsatian Shepalutes are the offspring of Selected German Shepherds that have been bred to superb Malamutes with an influx of the large boned English Mastiff.

What is a mutt?----- A mutt is a dog whose lineage, family tree or ancestors are unknown.

Even if the dog looks like a purebred dog it cannot be identified as a purebred dog without a written lineage and tattoo. A mutt is also known as a “Hines 57." (Don’t go looking for the breed Hines 57)! What that means is that the dog in question has so many different generations of different breeds in its family tree that this dog is a pure mutt.

There are dogs that have two different purebred dog parents. These would be called F-1 generations, or first generations. They may be called cockerpoo, terrypoo, shitzapoo, maltipoo, and many other forms of the names of two purebred registered dogs. These dogs have been given registrations from Mutt Clubs of America, or the Poo Club and whatever other clubs are out there. First generations do not breed true; therefore, first generational mixes are mutts also. A pure of breed (purebred) breeds true.

A hybrid is an offspring that was produced by a male and female of different species. Example: Mule. Different breeds are not different species. They are the same species carnivore domesticata or domesticated meat-eater. That to me does not include the wolf. If a wolf were a different species than the domesticated dog then a dog x wolf (or a pup from a mating of a dog and wolf) would be a hybrid. A pup as a result of a boxer and Rottwieler breeding would not be a hybrid. Alsatian Shepalutes are not hybrids.

What is a pure-breed animal?---- A pure breed animal is an animal that consistently reproduces itself. This means, the same height, width, size, weight, eye position, ear position, tail carriage, trot, gallop or pace with the same coat consistency and the same skull dimensions.

A purebred dog is a canine that has been bred with various selectively chosen other dogs that possessed some trait or traits that the creator or breeder of that strain of dogs wished it to obtain. When the offspring are bred to the same, they too will produce like progeny.

Create: 1. To cause to come into existence; originate. 2. To be the cause of; occasion: To create interest. 3. To produce. (Funk and Wagnall's Standard Desk Dictionary, p.150)

When the standards of a breed, any breed, are written down and followed then the formation of that animal comes together. The bonds of the genetic code are more closely related and breeding to only these dogs, which resemble that standard, would solidify the progeny. How many generations it takes to breed the dogs so that all puppies would resemble all other puppies, dams and sires, depends on how long it takes to get the results described in the written standards.

For example, say you wanted to create a new breed of dog, a dog that had a drop ear instead of an erect ear, yet with all other parts of the body being exactly the same. Well, when you finally have all pups in all generations with drop ears and they continued to produce only drop ears, then you would have accomplished your feat. (Erect ears are dominant. Ear positioning varies. I call it a sliding scale with the erect ear pulling stronger than the drop ear. Therefore, erect ears are the dominant of the many different ear positions).

It really upsets me that so many ill informed people including doctors of veterinarian medicine use this word (inbreeding) to describe something terrible, disgusting and almost alien.

Every time someone refers to the depletion of the breeds, whether it is the coat or skin allergies, they refer to this word “inbreeding“ as if this were the problem to end all problems. They may be correct in the way breeders chose to improperly inbreed dogs, but when used correctly inbreeding sets genetic characteristics.

Inbreeding is a good thing to do if the breeder understands what he/she is doing. The real trouble here is that a lot of breeders do not know how to inbreed.

Let me explain how to inbreed, or line breed. You have to have guts, determination and perseverance and you must go the distance! Most of the problems in the breeds today are that breeders didn’t/couldn’t go the distance. Kind of like riding a jumper and when you get to that 6-foot wall you pull up and slam into the wall.

Inbreeding is breeding father to daughter, half brother to half sister, son to mother, and by the closest inbreeding of all, brother to sister.

Inbreeding concentrates both the good features and the faults. It strengthens dominants and brings the recessives out into the open where they can be seen and evaluated. It supplies the breeder with the only control he can have over the combining and balancing of similar genetic factors. Inbreeding does not produce degeneration it merely concentrates weaknesses already present so that they can be eliminated.

Do not inbreed unless you have a really great dog. That is the difficult part. Getting yourself a really great dog and knowing it inside and out. But, let’s say you have a really great stud dog. You have stepped back and have looked at this dog objectionably. (In my opinion here lies the problem. Everyone thinks his or her dog is the really great dog!) I don’t blame you, we all want to think that, but can you look at your dog objectionably? As you can see this may be a slight problem for a lot of folks.

Let’s say you know your stuff and your dog is exceptional. You check out his pedigree. Let’s say his pedigree or family tree is not a lie. Next you contact all people who have all these dogs listed in the pedigree as far back as you can go. You go to see the dogs, take pictures and spend some time with them. You look at the family photo albums and you get to know the dogs. You take notes and color-code their faults on a chart that you have made up for all the dogs that you are going to see. Next you go to all the aunts and uncles in the direct upline and color-code their faults. Then you go to all the brothers and sisters you can find and color-code their faults. What do you mean you don’t see any faults? Hehe. Is there a perfect dog? Call me. Just joking.

Ok, now you have got an Idea of the genetic inheritance of the coat, skin, eyes, ears, body structure, bone density, x-ray and hips. The character of the whole mass of who your stud dog is and of what he possesses genetically. You will be able to see into the puppies that come from him which characteristics they have from these lines and what characteristics each of the parents are strong in.

Do not rely on championships handed-out in a show ring by judges who may be prejudice or who may have gotten a kickback when putting a certain dog up. All littermates could be dysplastic, rely on your investigative research. Show breeders may think that having a champion dog means that the dog has fewer faults than the other dogs and will breed fewer faults. It sounds logical, doesn't it? Their only proof that they bred a great pup would be if the pup wins in the show ring. What If I had twenty-six dogs and put them all in the show ring? Who would win? What if I found out that another dog might win over mine, so I kept all of mine out of the ring at that time? Can you understand why this type of thinking may deteriorate the whole breed? A champion stud dog, with hidden recessive bad genes (for say “hyperness”), is now breeding hundreds of bitches throughout the world. Do you think that a judge might possibly see that hyperness in that dog and not put that dog up? What if hyperness was confused with loving the show game and presenting himself as a happy go lucky dog?

Canines have been having pups and breeding on there own for longer than humans have been on this earth. The elements, the pain, the suffering and the dying are God’s breeding plan and his breeding has made the wild canine a strong group of mammals. Perhaps that is one reason the mutts of the world live longer than our pure-breeds. (And cost less in veterinarian bills.)

Here is my suggestion: Plan your kennels with grass, dirt, rocks and a stream going through it then leave the dogs to breed. Feed them good natural foods. Plant some grapes along the kennel run. Put some mint next to the water trough.

Test the pups and write it down on their charts. The first 6 weeks you should be observing and reporting all that these pups do. Who whines? Who walks first? Who eats more than the others do? Who is too weak to grab on to the teat? Of course some will die, especially if there is a lot of weakness in your breed of dog in the beginning.

For Alsatian Shepalute pups:

First test: For the first 3 1/2 weeks do not touch the pups! This is most important. Do not let them smell you or know you. Figure out per your breed standards what your pups should be like and with the least bit of interruptions that might sway the true nature and character of the pups, do your first real test. Remove the mother and lock her out away from the pups. Go into the pups and put your hand on the floor about one foot away from the pups. Don't say a word. Who comes to investigate first? Who runs? Who cries? Who shakes? If you have any like the before mentioned characteristics and that pup does not fit the breed standards what are you going to do?

Breeders belong to a strong unity of humans who understand the great importance of the work they do. They realize that every dog that they bring into the world is a representative of their dogs and of that particular breed. Breeders are a unique type of person and not everyone can be a breeder. It’s not easy and we do cry a lot at times.

Inbreeding is the way to fix certain traits. I had to inbreed three times strong back to a particular stud dog. Then I bred to the bitch’s half brother. Breeding like this brings out any hidden recessive traits that no one sees. It doubles and triples up those genes. That’s how I got rid of some really bad problems that came from the registered purebred stock.

Inbreeding also makes all of the dogs in a family so similar that they would appear to be twins. It sets the genes. This is why I continue to tell you that when inbreeding, the breeder absolutely must select only the strongest and most prolific pups in every litter. And It may not be the prettiest! So how do you know which one to breed back too? You must leave the pups do for themselves. You must observe and report and not touch the pups. You must do repetitive tests on all pups at certain ages in their growth. You must be strong in your goal and you must not waver off the path.

Inbreeding and line breeding are essential in establishing desirable traits and weeding out the undesirable. So when a person attacks breeders with that very bad word “inbreeding” and says that inbreeding is deteriorating the breeds and causing weakness and allergies in the pure-bred strains, then I say you do not know what you are talking about when it comes to the art and skill of breeding. I will agree that uneducated breeders may be inbreeding or line breeding and not going back far enough to double the bad traits and weed them out. I firmly believe that educating folks is the way to go, not bombarding breeders with the news media and unleashing the gates of hell on them. That just spreads hate and discontent and we have enough of that in the world.

A breeder must also understand the hybrid vigor of outcrossing and use that when needed. The mirror opposite of inbreeding is outbreeding.

Education is the key to understanding and understanding is the key to the universe as love and understanding hold us all together.

Linebreeding --- Linebreeding is a broader kind of inbreeding that conserves valuable characteristics by concentration and in a general sense gives us some control of type but a lesser control over specific characteristics. It creates “strains” or “families” within the breed itself, which are easily recognized by their similar conformation.

Linebreeding entails the selection of breeding partners who have one or more common ancestors in their pedigrees. These individuals occur repeatedly within the first four or five generations so that it can be assumed their genetic influence molds the type of the succeeding generations.

Selection is an important factor here also, for if we line breed to set that specific type of character, then we must select breeding stock in the next generations, which is the prototype of that individual.

1. Decide what traits are essential and what faults are intolerable. Character and temperament must be included. You must be able to strip away the training influences to see the raw dog.

2. Develop a scoring system and score selected good and bad faults with your breeding aim in mind.

3. Line breed consistently to the best individuals produced which by your temperament and character tests show that they will further improve the strain. Understand that coat and coloring of any animal is the easy stuff to fix. The hard part is the unseen character of the dogs.

Outcross breeding --- Outcrossings can be made to bring in the wanted characteristics if they are missing from the basic stock. It is also vital in strengthening lines. Most breeders refuse to outbreed because the result might be no ribbons, recognition or monetary rewards.

Relationship need not be close in the foundation animals since wide outcrosses will give greater variation and therefore, will offer a much wider selection of the desirable trait combinations.

Outcross breeding is the choosing of breeding partners whose pedigrees in the first five or six generations are free from any common ancestry. One of the partners should be inbred or closely line-bred. Outcrossing will bring in new and needed characteristics into the strain. This is vitally important for vigor, strength, and vitality in your strain.

What is intelligence and how do we define it when we talk about breeding dogs?

Funk and Wagnall define intelligence as “the ability to adapt to new situations. Understanding; reasoning.” If this is the true definition of intelligence, then animals cannot be classified as intelligent. I beg you to reread that definition of intelligence. The Homo sapiens are the only creatures on earth with the ability to reason. That is one of the ways that we were formed in the likeness of God himself. I have not found any animal that could reason in my lifetime. So what is intelligence in the dog?

If by intelligence in the canine we accept the definition “the ability to cope with the environment” then God certainly has the upper hand here. If a canine cannot cope in the wild, it dies. What about domesticated dogs? Certainly most of the breeds would never make it in the wild. I Guess all our breeding's for the perfect domesticated dog took the intelligence right out of the canine!

I believe that any doggy intelligence tests given to different breeds of dogs could only be validated if judged within the separate breeds and amongst themselves. Certainly, a Chihuahua cannot compete with a German Shepherd Dog when a human wishes to determine which breeds of dogs are intelligent or not. It is rather stupid to judge “the ability to cope with the environment” of a dog in a test of all breeds tested together. But it was done! And it was on National TV. I knew right away that the person performing such a test could not know much about the domesticated dog breeds throughout the world. Different breeds have been bred for different characteristics. And tell me who would want a domesticated dog that was closest to the wild? “Able to cope with the environment." That's the reason civilized man took the dog out of the wild, to domesticate him. To make him stupid? Ha! No way! The reason was to make the dog fit into our domestic ways, to take the wild out of the dog. And we did it with the most submissive of animals for they are the ones that were able to fit into the homo sapiens world, to take care of his clan, to hunt and to stay by his side.

If Intelligence in the canine is defined as “the ability to adapt to new situations within the earths wild environment and survive” then by this definition alone the wolf would come out as intelligent and I would not be able to use the word intelligent together in the same sentence with a domesticated dog. But, if someone included the definition of the domesticated canine as: “the ability of the species to perform the work it was created for and to adapt itself to the changes in the environment and the conditions it encounters as it performs its designated tasks”, then I believe we could once again use the word intelligence within the breeds.

The easiest way I know of to provide such breeding for intelligence tests would be within the breeds own club. Yes the breed club! Who would know more about that particular breed than those who admire and love the breed? Those who have given their lives to the breed and who have studied, bred and tested their dogs.

Animals do not think as you or I do. They learn by a process of what works and what doesn’t, combined with genetic instincts. God created animals with a sole, if you believe in the words of the bible in Genesis. Unlike humans though, they do not have the ability to reason. Their thinking process is just a learned process by the way of what works or what doesn’t work for them to survive or to get what they want. Many folks will disagree with me and bring up many examples, far too many to write in this book. If you take an open and objectionable look at any of those examples you will find that the animal learned the behavior that you are describing.

Animals do not plan ahead, nor do they know what “time” is. When they go to the door at five o’clock to meet you they have learned that the consistent sounds of the day tell them what is going to happen next. School busses, mail trucks and the morning alarm all signal them. It is because of consistency. They know what will happen next because it always does.

They act in the “now” and they have a learned process of what they have done before that is applied to what they are doing. They run off hunger and sorry, but they do not know what love is or means. After 18 years of being with you they do miss your presence around them. They have grown accustomed to you always