Welcome to the
Learning Center

TellTail’s Learning Center contains valuable resources for both responsible dog breeders and curious pet buyers. Sniff around and discover something new!

Select a category or scroll down to browse all. Return to all articles

Resources

Health and Nutrition TellTail Health and Nutrition TellTail

What is a mutt?

The term "mutts" is often used to refer to mixed-breed dogs, or dogs that do not belong to a specific breed. While the term is commonly used in a casual or affectionate manner, it has also been the subject of controversy and debate within the dog breeding and ownership community.

Read More
Health and Nutrition TellTail Health and Nutrition TellTail

Merle Genes in Dog Breeding

In dogs, "merle" is a pattern of coloring that can appear in the coats of certain breeds. The merle gene causes irregularly shaped patches of solid color to appear amidst a background of a different color. The patches can be any color, but are most commonly shades of blue or brown.

Read More
Health and Nutrition TellTail Health and Nutrition TellTail

The Ethics of Inbreeding

While inbreeding can be beneficial in certain circumstances, such as preserving the purity of a breed or promoting certain desirable traits, it can also have negative effects on the health and well-being of the animals involved if proper precautions are not taken. As such, the ethics of inbreeding in dog breeding is a controversial topic.

Read More
Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative

Hybrid Vigor in Dogs

Hybrid vigor is defined as the extent of improved performance of an individual trait in the first cross (F1) generation over the parent generation. This is usually expressed as percent improvement. For example, in poultry, an F1 generation might exhibit a 3-9% increase in egg production over the parent populations.

Read More
Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative

Heritability of Behavior Meta-Analysis

Heritability is a measure of how differences in genes account for differences in traits. Heritability does not indicate what percentage or proportion is determined through genes but rather what percentage or proportion of the variation in a trait in a population can be attributed to genetic differences.

Read More
Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative

Heritability of Behavior in Service Dogs

This study aimed to uncover if the variation in tested behavioral characteristics between dogs was heritable. Another goal was to determine if a structured breeding program focused on enhancing working characteristics had any effect on the level of heritability of desired characteristics for service dogs.

Read More
Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative

What Genes Control White Spotting in Dogs?

This 2014 paper examined the role of mutations in a gene that is known to affect white spotting in dogs. Specifically, this paper looked at polymorphisms (another word for mutations, meaning “different versions”) in the MITF (“microphthalmia associated transcription factor”) gene. The paper looked at the promoter region of the gene.

Read More
Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative

Variation in Neuroanatomy Across Dog Breeders

Different brain areas are associated with controlling different neural processes, and the size of a brain area in a species tends to correlate with how much that species uses that process. For example, olfactory (smell) areas tend to be larger and more complex in animals that depend heavily on smell, while prefrontal cortices are larger in animals with high cognitive abilities, such as humans and primates.

Read More
Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative Health and Nutrition The Functional Dog Collaborative

Why Large Dogs Die Young

Large dogs die younger than small ones. This well-known pattern poses a conundrum for evolutionary biologists. Across species, large mammals live longer than their small counterparts; for example, an elephant versus a mouse. In marked contrast, within species large size seems to carry costs in terms of an individual’s life span. The phenomenon has been documented in several species, but the negative relationship between size and lifespan is most evident in the domestic dog.

Read More

Is your breed the right fit for an interested future family?

Choosing perfect homes for your puppies is what I believe to be one of the most difficult parts of being a responsible dog breeder. There are so many “what ifs.” Here are some of the “what ifs” that go through my head when I open up my puppy application for new applicants:

  • What if the new families don’t love my puppies as much as I did?

  • What if the new families don’t know how to handle illness and emergencies?

  • What if the new families don’t ever keep in touch with me?

  • What if a family breaches my contract?

What if you felt empowered to choose new families (customers) for your puppies based on an application or interview process that gives you confidence in a new family rather than doubt?

Read More
Health and Nutrition Tiffany Provence Health and Nutrition Tiffany Provence

What’s so important about dog DNA?

This blog post will cover why it's so important to purchase a puppy from a breeder who does DNA tests on their breeding stock and what to look for when provided a copy. We will cover in a future post why you might consider DNA testing your own dog, especially if you rescued, purchased from a puppy store, or bought a puppy without researching the breeder.  

Read More
Health and Nutrition, Pregnancy and Whelping The Functional Dog Collaborative Health and Nutrition, Pregnancy and Whelping The Functional Dog Collaborative

The Impact of Inbreeding on Litter Size

Inbreeding refers to the breeding of related individuals. Inbreeding depression is the reduced biological fitness (an animal’s ability to survive and reproduce) in a population because of inbreeding. For example, scientists researching the Australian Thoroughbred horse population found that inbreeding led to reduced racing performance.

Read More