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Old 13-04-2006, 00:20   #3
Dharkwolf
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Ok I just reread my post and I think I need to add some more ideas.

Technically you need to start by defining the phenotypes which you wish to look at – that is to say those characteristics which are discernable in wolfdogs and which you can judge in an objective fashion – for instance you will need criteria for defining various muzzle colourings if you are interested in this. (Easiest thing would be to use the bonitation codes in this particular case

Once you have defined the phenotypes which are interested in you can start to have fun by building up family trees of wolfdogs to see how the phenotypical characteristics which you have defined are inherited through the various generations. Unfortunately for you, you will not find many backcrosses amongst wolfdogs (backcrosses are the mating of a mother or father with their children – it makes for horribly inbred wolfdogs but can give a lot of information on the genetics of wolfdog traits)

Once you have the trees setup you can start to wean little by little how those phenotypes which you can see behave genetically. That would be the time to postulate things about dominant, co-dominant, recessive and (possibly) lethal traits (I’d be surprised if you found many lethal traits in wolfdogs though!) as well as all the subtle shades which come with situations where a specific phenotype is actually influenced by a wide variety of genes (which – is of course the case with coat colour!)

If you knew all this already – don’t worry. I like to talk and I suppose I particularly like to talk about genetics.

Cheers,

J.
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