Quote Originally Posted by Black Hand View Post
I don't know if I would breed to a dog out of a "solid litter" over an ace who was the only one worth feeding. for me it comes back to your question, how was the dog bred? does that ace embody everything that was hoped for in that breeding? was it a well caculated breeding that just happened to capture lightening in a bottle and the rest of em just didn't get what he got? sometimes that's how the dice roll. could possibly be different if u repeated the same breeding.
Exactly Black Hand. I agree. There are about a million variables. Well, not really a million, but there are a lot of variables to consider. For me personally, I would rather breed to a bum of a solid litter than the ACE of a litter where he's the freak. The odds of getting a freak is slim, in my opinion. If the freak is a bum, same goes.

The only think I don't completely agree with, and I'm assuming just a bit here, but your last sentence, regarding, "could possibly be different if you repeated the same breeding" shouldn't be a possibility, IF YOU KNOW THE BACKGROUND OF YOUR DOGS. If I really know my pedigree, I know all 14 dogs in the first 3 gens, then I should know what to expect. If the family is solid and it's a well done, linebred family, then the results, most likely, will be the same, concerning the average of the litter.