At Deragon Papillons we strive to breed dogs to the Breed Standard. This means that we have researched the specifications set forth by the parent club for our country and compare each of our breeding dogs against those standards. In America these standards are outlined by the Papillon Club of America, and are mirrored and upheld by the American Kennel Club. A breed standard is an important tool necessary for the preservation of a breed and it’s characteristics. 

We know through the study of genetics that with each new generation every individual will undergo the process of the combining of their parents genes. This process of joining the DNA of two individuals into one contains mutations from both errors and information loss. Imagine a dog’s DNA is a text book listing out every detail that makes the dog, them; from their fur color, to their size, right down to their health and personality traits. The first step of the process involves the body making a complete copy of each parent’s DNA. So imagine you sit down and type out a copy of that entire text book letter by letter, word for word. You do this for each dog on a type writer, no backspace button. Just typing and copying non-stop until you are done. No matter how good you are with a keyboard as you can guess there will be instances where a word was accidentally skipped, or a fumbled key stroke resulted in a misspelling. The same thing happens every time a parent’s DNA is copied within their body to be passed to their offspring. Sometimes these “mistakes” result in good changes that strengthen the offspring, sometimes they do the opposite and cause detriment, and other times it is never expressed and just sits in the background. After randomly combining traits from each book you end up with a new individual, made from portions of two imperfect copies which were randomly combined. 

The overall process is of course much more complicated, and can even result in past generations genes coming back into play! But this gives a high level idea of what breeders are dealing with when trying to “predict” genetics. There is no way to control this, and in a way it is what makes life so beautiful. It is why individuals of a species can adapt by gaining new physical characteristics, can change in appearance, or unfortunately even develop and pass on new genetic diseases over time. It is why we have so many different and wonderful breeds of dogs today, and is also why we can lose those breeds if we do not stay vigilant. This is where our breed standard comes into play.

No individual within a breed will ever be perfect due to the aforementioned genetic progression. But by having a standard we can compare each individual against this breed “blue print”. This will tell us in which ways an individual matches and in which ways they may slightly vary. We can then pair them with another individual which compliments them and can help their offspring come closer to the standard. It also helps to identify when individuals express drastic variations in appearance, structure, temperament, etc… If drastic variations are further perpetuated the breed can quickly evolve away from the physical characteristics and abilities we love them for. Which is why when these individuals show up in a litter we must avoid adding them to the gene pool by referencing the breed standard, researching pedigrees and their likelihood to pass on certain traits and responsibly implementing spay/neuter practices. Every dog is a good dog, but not every good dog should be bred. It is our responsibility as breeders to play a balancing act, we must ensure each pairing is thoughtfully combined to improve the quality of the next generation while also respecting and maintaining the integrity of the breed.