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Xoloitzcuintles And Kim's Philosophy And Strategy Of Breeding


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I asked Kim a question and as usual got an interesting answer, which he suggested could be shared here.

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Andrea Wilhelm [mailto:andrea@haidagwaii.net]

Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 7:44 AM

To: kim laflamme

Subject: Xoloitzcuintle

 

Do you consider Xoloitzcuintles to be Indian Dogs, and if so, have you

bred any into your family?

 

Just wondering. I saw a photo of one and thought "that looks like an

indian dog".

 

-------

 

Andrea ~ (you are welcome to use this on our forum if the subject comes

up)

 

Good question ...... Years ago, in the late 70's I met a fellow that was

doing the tour with the Peruvian dancers that I met at a Peruvian horse

show. He saw one of my AI dogs & said his family in Peru were ranchers,

that were still using the old dogs on their working ranch. That was

around the time when the Xolo's were just being introduced into the Rare

Breed Dog registry. I believe they used some other hairless breeds to

bring in more unrelated bloodlines, just to be hairless. Plus LOTS of

inbreeding; witch they already were, very inbred.

 

I did end up using one of his dogs in the breeding program. But the

breeders that started the Xolo club only wanted the "hairless" ones & to

keep the breed hairless. They would have been much better off, if they

had crossed in some AI dogs to help the health of that breed, but they

were & are into HAIRLESS. The problem with breeding for one "quality"

like that (I don't conceder it a quality, but a genetic fault) that if

kept breeding for will loose so many other qualities, only creates more

genetic problems that they already had; like bad skin problems. We are

still dealing with a slight skin problem from that one from years ago.

So I would not want to bring those lines into our breed, because of

there genetic problems. Learned my lesson from a Xolo.

 

But yes, they are old Indian dogs, to a certain extent, but too inbred &

not genetically sound enough for me to want to use again. Even the one I

used that had hair, was too related to the hairless one's for me to want

to use in our program again. It's the same thing with the Chihuahua's of

northern Mexico they have been inbred to be small, probably using other

small breeds. They were a lot larger & more related to the Tahltan,

through the Navaho dogs many years ago. So in my opinion I would rather

(as I did) use the part blood Tahltans (even if they aren't pure, they

are much healthier than using a Chihuahua, that is actually "less" pure

than the part bloods ... that have a much more "Indian Dog like" &

healthier cross than many of the other modern Indian dog bloodlines;

Catahoula's, Chihuahua's, Xolo's, Alaskin Husky, Carolina Dogs ... etc .

 

I've learned (the hard way) that just finding related bloodlines is not

the best way to go. You have to use healthy bloodlines, even if they

aren't as pure as I would preffer, it's still better to then selectively

breed them together selecting the best old dog types from them, rather

than breed to anything as long as it is most pure.

 

Kim La Flamme ~ founder/trustee of the AIDog breed for over 45 years --

www.indiandogs.com

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This really rells you that Kim is more interested in breeding healthy dogs, that don't have inherant failings of other dogs, carry on the good work Kim, your ways and the elders are definately the best! My near 14 year old verifies that!

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Thank you for posting this! I'd wondered the same thing actually, as I've read that Xolos and Chihuahuas are derived from older pre Columbian strains.

 

I also found this article a little while ago featuring a Cuban village dog nursing some piglets. I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the appearance of this dog and Kim's.

 

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/189710/slide_189710_349598_large.jpg?1315140569

 

I eventually ended up on this site about 'Carib Tykes,' which is the name given to these surviving (though inevitably diluted, as are ours) pre Columbian remnants. From what I can tell these guys are quite similar in type to AIdogs, but the personalities sound very different. While Kim's dogs are fantastic and adaptable household pets, these dogs are a lot more edgy - described as having an extremely high prey drive, territorial, aggressive with other dogs of the same sex, etc. Still, I can't help but wonder if there's a common ancestor somewhere back there.

 

Kim's breeding methodology is largely why I decided on an AIdog. I don't know any other breed this well-rounded in which the overall health of the breed is considered paramount over all else, including breed 'purity.'

Edited by woodrat
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Health over so-called purity... Lots of comments are possible, but I will settle with, yes, it means alot ot us, too, that Kim breeds for health, not color.

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