Why Do Some Dogs and Some Families and Strains Just Seem to Click with Certain Other Individuals Or Strains?

At first glance this seems like a pretty complex question. However, the bottom line is that each of the two individuals or strains that click together must carry a complete array of whatever genes the other needs in order to produce excellent offspring. For example, if one individual is an outstanding check hound as the result of having pure recessive genes for a trait such as close check work, the other breeding partner would have to also be pure for the recessive genes for close check work. If the breeding partner was only half pure for the recessive genes, half the pups would not check well while if it was pure dominant, none of the pups would be would be good check hounds.

To find a click for an individual dog or strain, we must find that elusive breeding partner that has all the needed complimentary genes to both continue the positive traits and to cover any faults or weaknesses. Since many of the traits we value in brace beagles do not occur naturally in the breed, I feel it is safe to assume that the majority of brace trial traits that are brought to the surface by our selective inbreeding are controlled by recessive genes. Therefore, the end result in a click is a litter of pups that contain almost all homozygous recessive genes for those desired traits that are controlled by recessive genes and one or more dominant genes for those remaining traits that are controlled by dominant genes.

An example of a click within my own kennel was my Mavis bitch and Fd. Ch. Fumas Phillip. I bred Mavis to a number of linebred and outcrossed studs and got no keepers. I continued breeding her as she possessed some traits I wanted very much to incorporate into my family of beagles. I eventually bred her to Phillip even though a previous mating to Phillips littermate, Fd. Ch. Fumas Fredrick, produced nothing of merit. Bingo, it clicked! That mating produced Fd. Ch. Bee Be Creek Tyrone, Fd. Ch. Gillums Canadian Fielder and Fd. Ch. Gillums Canadian Ace. The rest, as they say, is history as Ace provided me with the next step forward in my breeding program and both Ace and Fielder can be found in many if not most of todays pedigrees.

Over the years there have been some inbred individual dogs and even inbred strains of dogs that, when outcrossed, do not dominate dogs or strains that are inbred to a lesser degree. I feel this is caused by the inbred traits being the result of recessive genes. To dominate outside crosses, you would need to build a strain based on the majority of traits being controlled by dominant genes. The difficulty of doing this is a very good argument for building a strain or family of beagles and breeding within the strain as much as possible.
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