genetics – BusyDoggie

Risk and uncertainty of dog genetics, unpacked (Part 2)

Health discussions in dog breeding often sound more decisive than the evidence allows. Genetic information is probabilistic, contextual, and population-dependent, but it is repeatedly treated as categorical, individual, and decisive.

The language and mechanisms of dog breeding, unpacked (Part 1)

A lot of misunderstandings about dog breeding start with language. Basic genetic terms are often used loosely, and different ideas are treated as if they were the same thing, which makes it harder to judge risk and harder to ask good questions about the dogs people live with and breed from. This post unpacks a few of the terms that get most commonly tangled up, because clearer language makes better decisions more likely.