This is a "window study" of the ISAA's breeding information during the period January 1,
2003 until October 4, 2008. It is not a comprehensive study so the information presented is
preliminary. The club is working towards the collection and presentation of data at present. We are
looking for donors wishing to fund this project. If you are interested in giving to this project, please
contact ISAA's Treasurer, Judi Vittetoe at pjvittetoe@comcast.net.
Below are the comments presented by Dr. Sundgren in regards to this window study. Please send
comments and questions to isaabod@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
ISAA BOD 3.28.09
Dr. Sundgren's Comments
"All your data has been read into LatHunden and I have made some analysis. There were quite a
large number of dog still lacking ID-numbers. I could however not find any duplicates among names
and thus I had my computer to create ID numbers for all those dogs and use the created ID:s
wherever the dogs were found as individuals or as fathers and mothers. I then got a database
including in all 863 dogs. There were another 33 dogs known as parents. They had however no
influence upon litter numbers and calculations. Their progeny had so short pedigree tables that no
calculation of inbreeding on their litters was possible. The analysis presented in the attached
documents will thus fairly well represent the status of the American population of the Icelandic
sheepdog.
Some few comments about the results. You may have questions about my comments and the tables
and I will do all I can to give the answers.
Effective populations size
As for all the other countries participating in ISIC the American population is too small to be
independant. The utilized effective population size is only 41 and the available even lower, only 29.
This is to say that without imports the population would be in a bad state with very low genetic
variability within few generations although the inbreeding level for the time being is satisfactory. The
reason for that is of course the continuous importation of dogs.
Breed statistics
The main comment to the breed analysis so far is that a number of dogs, the Matadors, have either
too many own offspring or too many grandchildren. See the list of Matadors. Another comment is
that the mean age at first mating is all too low for males with some male being used already at an age
of just above 7 months. No dog is fully grown either physically or mentally at that age and one
cannot know enough about the dog to use it for breeding. Also some females are used before they
have reached the age of one year. Thats is a bad practice because a bitch is not mentally ready to
care for her puppies in the best way until her hormone systems, that regulate maternal behaviour, are
fully effective. A bitch is not completely ready to care for puppies until she is at least two years old.
Use of Males
There is a special list with some examples from the calculations of effective population size. Some
males are listed, just random examples, with informations about the change they would cause in the
average inbreeding level if they are mated to average breeding bitches in the breed. As you will find
the average breeding level i 1.9 % during the period analysed. The two first males will produce and
average of 6 % in inbreeding mated randomly to average bitches. That is an increase of the
inbreeding level of about 216 % compared to general breed average. In one case the male actually
reducec the average level of inbreeding but is still not recommended for further breeding. The reason
is that he has already produced 6 litters with in all 29 puppies and he also has 19 grandchildren. As
will see from the list of Matadors he is already classified as an overused male. Another way to put it
is to say that the genes that male carries are already common among the bitches of the breed and
need not be increased further.
It is necessary to point out that the recommendations on the list have nothing with other qualities of
the males. It is just a list to be used to avoid unnecessary inbreeding in a population.
Best regards / Per-Erik
2003 until October 4, 2008. It is not a comprehensive study so the information presented is
preliminary. The club is working towards the collection and presentation of data at present. We are
looking for donors wishing to fund this project. If you are interested in giving to this project, please
contact ISAA's Treasurer, Judi Vittetoe at pjvittetoe@comcast.net.
Below are the comments presented by Dr. Sundgren in regards to this window study. Please send
comments and questions to isaabod@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
ISAA BOD 3.28.09
Dr. Sundgren's Comments
"All your data has been read into LatHunden and I have made some analysis. There were quite a
large number of dog still lacking ID-numbers. I could however not find any duplicates among names
and thus I had my computer to create ID numbers for all those dogs and use the created ID:s
wherever the dogs were found as individuals or as fathers and mothers. I then got a database
including in all 863 dogs. There were another 33 dogs known as parents. They had however no
influence upon litter numbers and calculations. Their progeny had so short pedigree tables that no
calculation of inbreeding on their litters was possible. The analysis presented in the attached
documents will thus fairly well represent the status of the American population of the Icelandic
sheepdog.
Some few comments about the results. You may have questions about my comments and the tables
and I will do all I can to give the answers.
Effective populations size
As for all the other countries participating in ISIC the American population is too small to be
independant. The utilized effective population size is only 41 and the available even lower, only 29.
This is to say that without imports the population would be in a bad state with very low genetic
variability within few generations although the inbreeding level for the time being is satisfactory. The
reason for that is of course the continuous importation of dogs.
Breed statistics
The main comment to the breed analysis so far is that a number of dogs, the Matadors, have either
too many own offspring or too many grandchildren. See the list of Matadors. Another comment is
that the mean age at first mating is all too low for males with some male being used already at an age
of just above 7 months. No dog is fully grown either physically or mentally at that age and one
cannot know enough about the dog to use it for breeding. Also some females are used before they
have reached the age of one year. Thats is a bad practice because a bitch is not mentally ready to
care for her puppies in the best way until her hormone systems, that regulate maternal behaviour, are
fully effective. A bitch is not completely ready to care for puppies until she is at least two years old.
Use of Males
There is a special list with some examples from the calculations of effective population size. Some
males are listed, just random examples, with informations about the change they would cause in the
average inbreeding level if they are mated to average breeding bitches in the breed. As you will find
the average breeding level i 1.9 % during the period analysed. The two first males will produce and
average of 6 % in inbreeding mated randomly to average bitches. That is an increase of the
inbreeding level of about 216 % compared to general breed average. In one case the male actually
reducec the average level of inbreeding but is still not recommended for further breeding. The reason
is that he has already produced 6 litters with in all 29 puppies and he also has 19 grandchildren. As
will see from the list of Matadors he is already classified as an overused male. Another way to put it
is to say that the genes that male carries are already common among the bitches of the breed and
need not be increased further.
It is necessary to point out that the recommendations on the list have nothing with other qualities of
the males. It is just a list to be used to avoid unnecessary inbreeding in a population.
Best regards / Per-Erik
Analysis of ISAA Breeding Information
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