Quote Originally Posted by EWO View Post
I always preface these posts with "I am not a breeder", so with that said, for me breeding is far more art than science. I like pedigrees as much as the next guy, I always take a glance at the coefficient as well, but I have always wondered if there is any real connection between a higher coefficient and a higher percentage of success. EWO
IMO, breeding is both art and science.

SCIENCE: You have to know what you're looking at in a pedigree. You have to know the best breeding patterns to reliably and consistently "get what you want" from your dogs.
ART: You have to get a feel for your dogs. You have to have a good eye and select the right dogs to put into the breeding patterns.

Regarding the Wright's Inbreeding Coefficient, I personally don't think a higher coefficient necessarily means anything at all.
This thread is getting sidetracked on the WIC, rather than just the ability to "see" the relatedness in a pedigree.

I.e., most people can clearly see a mother/son inbreeding, because the mama's name is the same, but they're blind to a nephew/aunt inbreeding because the bitch name changes (even though the mama and aunt have the same pedigree).

In other words, if Lasso was bred back to his mama, Black Widow, everyone could see this and agree it's an inbreeding;

But when Lasso is bred back to Black Widow's sister, not as many people can see this is still an inbreeding, yet Black Widow/Judy have the same pedigree.

Jack