Breeding Rules from John Buddie, Tartanside Collies

John Buddie has spent a lifetime with Collies. His Tartanside family of dogs is world-famous and widely respected. His Breeding Rules are a distillation of more than 50 years of experience and success. This is part one of a two-part series. Buddie’s original breed mentor gave him much of the knowledge he continues to share today. “This was mentorship in the days of letter writing, plus weekends spent doing kennel chores, brushing dogs, really hands on work,” Buddie said. “When I asked a question, she would ask me a question to make me think.” Spoon-feeding someone an answer doesn’t have the same impact as helping someone come to their own conclusion, Buddie observed. Buddie’s “rules” are guidelines that are applicable across breeds and generations.

*Leave the sport/breed no worse than you found it

Show respect for the lines and breeders who came before by preserving that quality.

*The number of champions finished/ribbons earned is not the measure of a breeder

“There have been many important contributing breeders who changed the face of a breed who bred on a small scale,” Buddie said. “For every record achieved there will always be someone who can break that record.”

*Learn to read a pedigree

Research, look to breeders of the past, learn what they accomplished and how.

*Look to the grandparents

Most top producing dogs are just carrying the pedigree forward. Top sires, often the strength comes from dam side. “I’ve had great success using the Maternal grandsire effect, in other words breed a quality bitch to her maternal grandsire,” Buddie said.

*You can never outrun a problem

“It’s a lot easier to rid yourself of problems with testing now. But you have to admit the problem and deal with it. It can mean scrapping a couple generations of breedings to clear it out. But you have to protect your breeding program as a whole.”