Registration Document Explanation
This webpage was mounted on August 31, 2006 and last updated on August 18, 2007
Every LM should feel supported because it has a 30-year-old organization standing behind it. Much thought and planning went into this organization, LMCNA, and every LM's registration document is packed full of related information. What does it all mean?
The front of this document is a Certificate or Registration, the back is a Pedigree. All the documents to support this certificate are kept by LMCNA as a permanent record.
LMCNA® is incorporated in Canada and the United States, so that all LM breeders can successfully raise LMs that satisfy jointly agreed upon hunting, health, temperament and conformation requirements. This upholds a breeding tradition that started over 100 years ago in the Münsterland of northwestern Germany. The name Large Munsterlander has come to mean "performance-bred according to LMCNA by-laws", similar to the breed's management in Germany and some other countries.
Your dog has a registered name preceded by a kennel name. Most breeders will eagerly follow your dog's performance through life to ascertain how successful they were in their breeding decisions. A breeder's first litter starts with A, then B and so on, which allows us to recognize the dogs' relatives at a glance. We encourage you to keep your dog's name short and to use it to avoid confusion. Occasionally owners choose a separate call name which is also recorded.
A tattoo was placed near the base and inside the right ear by the breeder. The last two numbers are the birth year, the other 1-3 digits are consecutive numbers identifying the dog in the LMCNA registry. Some owners use a microchip in addition to / or instead of a tattoo as of 2007.
Genotypes: The LM is black and white. Occasionally brown and white puppies are born to black parents, 1.5% of over 1300 puppies to date. This reflects the LM's common origin with the German Longhaired Pointer which is brown or brown and white. Genotypes identify coat color alleles as follows: Dog with black hair = B_; Dog DNA-tested and shown to be homozygous for black = BB; Dog with brown puppies or DNA-tested brown = Bb; Dog with brown hair = bb. (more information about coat color inheritance)
Inbreeding coefficient: Breeders are encouraged to breed many qualified dogs, but few times each, to maintain diversity for the health of the LM. Genetic diversity is firstly determined by the number and diversity of the founding dogs, 83 LMs in 1922. Secondly, mates should not be too closely related. LMCNA uses Wrights coefficient F (M.B. Willis, 1989, Genetics of the dog, Howell Book House, NY) to measure inbreeding. For example, an offspring from a father-to-daughter mating would yield F = 25, cousin-to-cousin F = 6.25. The coefficient for your dog is based on both of its parents' pedigrees and therefore calculated over five generations, one more generation than is shown on this pedigree.
Test Scores The performance test scores of the parents of your pup are listed on the front of the document. A Natural Ability test was required for the parents to breed but additional tests may also be listed. The back or pedigree side of the document shows the test scores for the ancestors also. Some of these may be tests from other countries, often Germany.
Hip Dysplasia Classification The back or pedigree side of the document shows the HD classication for the ancestors of your pup. Since dogs with HD are not eligible to breed, all these ancestors are HD free.
Gray or gold document: Every LM pup starts life with its potential unproven. Once the dog's talent and health are verified, these are recorded on a one-page document, known as the Total-dog Profile, which includes a photo. At this point a new, gold document is issued with the "not eligible to breed" statement removed (see certificate).
LMCNA's stated breeding requirements are basic requirements. If an owner feels his or her dog are sufficiently above average, especially if proven in an upper level field test, and if an owner is inclined to raise puppies, and selectively place these in hunting homes, we encourage owners to breed their female and help maintain the quality of our LMs. Similarly, we encourage owners of males to make their dogs available for breeding.
Quality control. Through LMCNA's structure, breeders can promise LMs that are not only capable hunters, but also healthy and mentally sound. The 100% perfect dog has likely not been born yet and LMCNA therefore takes a practical and scientific approach to breed management. There are traits with too great a burden for which a LM would be excluded from breeding, such as hip dysplasia, aggression. Some other traits provide little or no burden, such as one missing premolar or rear dewclaws. Between these extremes are traits with moderate burden (correctable surgically) and with low recurrence risk (ploygenic or multifactorial inheritance). These traits are considered "Once-on-a-Pedigree" traits - that is dogs are eligible to breed, but the trait needs to be tracked so that it does not proliferate in the breed. For this purpose, the trait is recorded on the pedigree. If the trait appears again within three generations, breeding eligibility stops. In this way the heritable traits reach a dead end.
Many other breed associations and registries "advocate" this level of transparency. LMCNA breeders are among the few who "practice" it. If your dog's pedigree shows such a trait, this is proof of due diligence by the breeder. You can be part of this solution by reporting any undesirable traits to your breeder and/or Breed Warden joe.schmutz@usask.ca. This is the best way we know to manage a breed for the sake of the dogs and their owners.
We hope that this information helps you to better understand and value LMCNA's breeding strategy and thereby your new LM. We trust that you'll enjoy your companionship with it and GOOD HUNTING!