List the TEN top breeders. From people with character and good standing on this forum. - Page 16

No, they are just more complex like incomplete penetrance etc. (edit) Why would you breed for 1 testicle ? Unbelievable.

Whatva I'm done here. Have fun with it.

there is no such a thing as a perfect dog... definitions from books are great, years of breeding of stock show that even the most knowledgeable ones will NOT jeopardize the wholesomeness of the final "product" over missing testicle!

Pick your battles, genetics are a bitch, then one is talking about GMOs GSD rather than wild type.. what are we gonna do, inject dogs with "sequences" that eliminate the production of one testicle! LINKED GENES..

I rather have a missing testicle in a pup out of a whole litter of strong nerved, sound temperament pups than a litter with two testicles and weak nervy, unsound crappy pups. Most pet homes castrate any way, but you can't surgically implant solid nerves and sound temperament.
JMO

Very educating on genetics, but frankly speaking it has become too difficult to follow, but I'm sure many are enjoying themselves with this informative, rich discussion.

There's a marked difference between how one goes about breeding for something that will be eaten, versus something that will live in one's house, become a member of one's family, and spend [hopefully] 12-15 years by one's side as a companion and friend.  Even the most poorly-bred bovine can become hamburger.

A good friend stopped breeding dogs, now breeds longhorns. He says he can now eat his mistakes.

LOL, yup, preferrably grass fed, higher in Omega 3's.

I can understand why you think that way. But, genetics is genetics. The only difference between breeding dog mistakes and breeding meat mistakes is we do our own necropsies before we put it on the table, give to the public, freezer camp or call the protein truck. So everything it taken alot more seriously when breeding.

That said, we SEE what these diseases do to organs and systems in the body. We see the suffering. Believe me .. we DO NOT eat all our mistakes and neither does the public !! Not only that, but diseased animals in a herd mask and hide illness very well - they have to to survive rank, order and detection by predators. Genetics is key to knowing health when breeding for meat. Knowing saves us alot of time and money.

Health is number ONE when breeding for meat. Why would we spend months or years feeding/breeding something that carries a line disease and we can't even eat it anyway ?

Sure someone who has just entered the world of breeding for meat will have alot to learn and mistakes along the way, it's a whole "other" lifestyle and occupation to take seriously - not just breeding and eating. If you don't know the genetics behind diseases - your going to waste alot of time, money and animals will suffer.

I dunno, when I first bought my own GSD, I bought all kinds of books on health, genetics, training - I read alot. They DO NOT teach you in those books everything you need to know about genetics. I know this from being an Ag student most my life. It's almost like they want you to breed not knowing everything - and in a way I think it's to create breeding mistakes for the veterinary/medicine classes. Either that or the authors simply don't know.

Meat/milk breeders also have national and international - genetic and herd management software that connects all of us into one database (each and every animal we own by codes). Heck even meat rabbit breeders are advanced enough to have this. If I'm looking for a specific genotype - I can type in my code and find what I'm looking for. I don't see that with dogs. Yet. But when the demand is there and someone decides to create genetic programs like this for the dog or even cat - the level of "bettering the breed" will go to a whole new level where genetic health is concerned. Then, veterinary and comparative medicine classes will take the hit.

Maybe someone here can start such a genetics program ... ? ? ? 

Breeder I would recommend Kennel von Arizona www.germanshepherdvonarizona.com