More on crossbreeding in Finland

Kromfohrländer

Due to interest in my previous post on Instructions for Crosses Between Breeds , I have been asked to provide some more information.

At the moment, we have two crossbreeding projects going on in Finland: one in the Pinscher and another in the Kromfohrländer.

The crossbred progeny are always registered in the appendix, ER-register, for three generations. From the 4th generation onward the progeny is registered in the normal, FI-register.

The Pinscher is being crossed with the Schnauzer and the FKC has granted permission for four F1-litters. Three of them have been made so far (the project started in the 1990s).

Here’s the newest report of the Pinscher project:

http://www.elisanet.fi/yarracitta/CrossbreedingsENfinal.pdf or see the article under Crossbreeding on DogWellNet.

Kromforhländer has been crossed with three different breeds (Standard Poodle, Parson Russell Terrier and Tibetan Terrier) in order to keep the breed as diverse as possible and not to take it in the direction of one foreign breed only. I am waiting for some written info about the project (in English) and will try to provide this – and pictures – in the future.

We have also made three other cross-bred litters:
Barbet with Spanish Waterdog
Barbet with Pont-Audemer Spaniel
Brasilian Terrier with Danish-Swedish Farm Dog (info coming on these litters as well)

(Note that the breed in which the progeny is registered is mentioned first)

The main challenge with crossbreeding in Finland is this:
Many breeders here would like to crossbreed but, we always ask the opinion of the country of origin, and we would prefer to get their support. We have had problems with this – sometimes having no response to inquiries to the national kennel club. In at least one case, a request to the breed club in the country of ownership – in a breed with well-known heath issues – provoked the response that: a breeder who did any cross would have their membership from the club revoked and their stud dogs removed from the club registry. So we are very grateful for Germany and France for being so open-minded and giving our inquiry a positive feedback .

From our perspective at the FKC, we do not understand why people are so afraid of breed crosses. After all, that is how most breeds have been developed in the first place. We are just taking a short step back, in order to then move forward with healthier dogs, with appropriate temperament who are able to do the activities for which the breed is intended. We know that we might get some undesirable surprises with crossbreeding, but that might happen in “purebred” breeding as well. Of course, care should be taken in choosing the foreign breed and the individuals, as well as in deciding which crossbred dogs to use in further breeding, but this should, again, apply to any breeding, whether purebred or crosses.