Windmill Farms Golden Retrievers

02/16/2025

Kelly Kosinski and I spoke this week about outcrosses. She is breeding for genetic diversity as well. Its great to compare notes. We came across some interesting results as she too, uses UC Davis.

I prefer to use Universities and their extensions. They are primarily research and educational based. They are not marketing based. I support the undergrad and graduate students in the veterinary programs as opposed to 50% off your next valentine genetic panel.

Up to this point, I have chosen to cross field with working goldens. US x UK. Kelly has worked some show lines into her pedigrees so I was anxious to compare the VGL reports. Interestingly she has IR numbers lower than mine which is great! The DLA haplotypes on mine carried lower frequency percentages and finally she had 8 homozygous sites for the diversity panel and I had 5.

Either way we are both getting really nice results. However, I was pleased to see that I can get similar results using field x working.

I really appreciate people like Kelly who are willing to share and compare. It makes our work both rewarding and encouraging.

The next hurdle for me is no matter which way I take a 50:50 working/field back to either US or UK, I start to double up on one side or the other. So it will take some creative pedigree work to figure out what lines I can use.

The kicker is Ephraim. Through my studies at the ICB, I discovered how to use inbreeding to outcross for genetic diversity. The great thing about Ephraim are the 30 years of gun dog breeding in his pedigree. Trait retention.

https://www.instituteofcaninebiology.org/blog/using-inbreeding-to-manage-to-inbreeding

He will play a key roll as we produce working x field crosses along with and hopefully Clancy in the future.

By Carol Beuchat PhD Let's say we have a population of animals that are randomly breeding. Over generations, the average level of inbreeding in the group will increase, just as you can imagine it...

02/15/2025

Windmill Farms Golden Retrievers

02/15/2025

This morning Clancy did a mark in the snow, over an obstacle and behind the bush. He found it and brought it back. Good boy! Early on, he's showing tenacity, intent and marking skills. He wants to work with you and please. Dallon has some frozen teal ducks in the freezer on the training grounds. Next week I'm going to take him out and throw him some ducks. 🦆

02/13/2025

I received the full genetic panel for Clancy. Here's the summary if you don't want to read the data below.

Clancy has the most genetic diversity of any test I've performed to date in the 3 key areas of:

1. IR - Inter-relatedness He is in the negative chart.
2. DLA haplotypes that control immunity. He is less 4% shared.
3. Diversity panel which includes the test panel of 33 STRs, those that are recommended for universal parentage determination for domestic dogs by the International Society of Animal Genetics (ISAG). He only has 5 sites of homozygousy. IE he is over 90% unrelated.

The results are incredible.

WM Farms The Clansman
http://k9data.com/pedigree.asp?ID=1363003
Genetically CLEAR

For those that are really determined to breed for higher genetic diversity here's the full outline. I knew this could work!!!! Keep trying.

From the calculated position using RetreiverData - I provide this comparison to the genetic position outlined below.

COI and AVK 10 generations:
Coefficient Of Inbreeding (COI): 1.2%
Ancestor Loss Coefficient (AVK): 39.22%
He only has 2 common ancestors in 10 generations.

Holway Westhyde Zeus 3.52%
Holway Gaiety .49%

Now, lets compare this to the genetic panel from UC Davis.

First IR
Internal Relatedness: The IR value is a measure of genetic diversity within an individual that takes into consideration both heterozygosity of alleles at each STR loci and their relative frequency in the population. Therefore, IR values heterozygosity over homozygosity and uncommon alleles over common alleles. IR values are unique to each dog and cannot be compared between dogs. Two dogs may have identical IR values but with very different genetic makeups.

Clancy has a - negative IR meaning he is in the bottom 5% for inter relatedness. Incredible diversity as he is well below the mean ave.

Second DLA
The DLA consists of four gene rich regions making up a small part of canine chromosome 12. Two of these regions contain genes that help regulate normal cell- (Class I) and antibody mediated (Class II) immunity. Polymorphisms in these regions have also been associated with abnormal immune responses responsible for autoimmune diseases. The Class I region contains several genes, but only one, DLA-88, is highly polymorphic (with many allelic forms) and is therefore most important for immune regulation

Clancy
1006 @ 1% frequency
1067 @ 4% frequency
2007 @ 1% frequency
2017 @ 3% frequency

Again no homozygousy at any DLA haplotype and all are less than 4% frequency. A "DLA haplotype" refers to a specific combination of genes within the Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA) region of a dog's DNA, which are inherited together as a block and play a key role in the dog's immune system; essentially, it's a pattern of DLA genes passed down from parents, influencing how the dog's body responds to foreign substances like pathogens.

Third - Diversity Panel
The allele and allele frequencies can be used to do a standard genetic assessment of heterozygosity at each STR locus. The value Na is the number of alleles that are observed at each locus for a specific breed, while Ne is the number of effective alleles observed at each locus. Effective alleles are those alleles that contribute the bulk of the diversity. The Na values for individual STR loci for this population of 691 Golden Retrievers ranged from a low of 3 to a high of 13, while the Ne ranged from 2.136 (AHTk211) to 7.494 (AHT137). Observed heterozygosity (Ho) is based on the actual allele frequencies at each STR locus and their distribution, while the expected heterozygosity (He) is the value that would be predicted if allele frequencies at each locus were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). HWE is achieved when all alleles are segregating randomly either at a single locus or across all loci tested. A Ho value of 1.0 would be observed when alleles at each locus are unique for each dog in the population. A Ho value of 0.00 would occur if there is no heterozygosity, e.g. every individual has the same alleles at each locus.

Clancy only shares 5 locus homozygous types of the 33 tested. By far the lowest I have seen in any cross I've tried. WOW, this one blew my mind. At locus 6: AHTk211 he was homozygous with a 66% frequency. All other shared sites had less than a 50% frequency and the 5th site was only 3%.

I never imagined I would see these results in a UK x US cross.

Possible contributions:

This is Gaels first litter in the USA.
Oakley has a strong field pedigree, numerous titles with low popular sire input.
Both have strong field traits, picking up and upland game.

In summary there is a lot of luck as no one can predict how the genes land. However I think the key is to breed for traits while finding the working and field jewels. I really like RetrieverData as it helps me get started before I genetically test. There are correlations to be found.

02/13/2025

Chilly day today, but Cowboy is coming along nicely with his obedience. Thanks again Erin for all your help.

02/13/2025

Clancy is a fun little guy, we introduced a larger soft bumper and we tossed in some obstacles today. He loves it!

02/12/2025

Side note:

One of the effects of inbreeding is a compromised immune response.

Immune system issues:
An overactive immune system can cause autoimmune diseases like lupus, Addison's disease, and inflammatory bowel disease.

An underactive immune system can be caused by a hereditary disorder. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, and lymphadenopathy.

When I select a genetic panel, a key piece of information is what the DLA I & DLA II results are. Why?

The dog leukocyte antigen (DLA) is a group of genes that regulate the immune system and are linked to many autoimmune diseases in dogs.

Several of the studies on canine auto-immune diseases have shown that dogs who are homozygous for DLA may be at increased risk of developing breed specific diseases.

Haplotypes are important for studying the genetics of common diseases.

Cora is heterozygous DLA1 & DLA2 & haplotype 1&2

She carries 1006 & 2007 both of which are in less than 1% of goldens studied.

Just a reminder, understand something about which tests results are a priority. Fur color is not a priority at WM Farms. In the future, when you purchase a WM Farms pup, we are making strides to give you the genetic diversity results of the parents DLA as this will help us understand disease probabilities in your new pup. If you want less than a 60% chance of your new golden getting cancer. Look at the big picture - Titles, usage, size, nutrition, temperament and of course genetics.

02/12/2025

Genetic Panels Update (Have included all my resources at the bottom of the page.)

I doubt many care about this stuff but I find it very interesting and enjoy the dissection of it.

Thanks to all those who sent me links and information about your genetic panel test results. I'm working through it, but its slow. I should have a report soon. Early summary shows that the Show x Field or UK x US or US x CAN or CAN x UK breedings range from 13-19 genetically tested COI. I have not found one with a COI less than 10 yet. It would be rare to find a golden with less than a 10.

I have mapped out 33 of the locus types and put %'s with them. I'm done with Cora. She has 12 of the 33 locus types less than 10% of the average. I'm looking for allele frequencies identified in the GR breed. For example below is the Locus Name: AHTk211 it has 6 variations. Cora is homozygous at this type. 93:93. This type has an allele # associated with it IE 87,89,91... followed by the % occurrence in GRs. If you have a 87 paired with a 97 or 91, its rare and you are producing more genetic diversity in your program. I have chosen to review 23 of the most common allele types and placed the % of time that allele occurs in the tests I preformed. Its takes some time.

AHTk211
87 0.0016
89 0.0775
91 0.1120
93 0.6640
95 0.0329
97 0.1120

Early summary is that I'm getting more mixed or heterozygous alleles in the UK x US pairings that any full US or UK singularly. Also see that same result for Field x Show pairings. There is one particularly interesting that I will share later. I'm still building his pedigree in RetrieverData. There is an association between greater heterozygous outcomes and calculated COI and AVK. The higher the AVK the higher the heterozygousy, from my limited research.

I shared with you a link to the 33 main locus names from the NIH website. I personally have used Wisdom, Embark and UC Davis. Someone asked about which ones I tried. I tried all three. My results come from own personal study of the 3 genetic panels. This post is not meant as a debate about which one is best. If you like one and its giving you the format and results you align with, GREAT! Use it.

Some use a whole number for COI while others use a %. There are various formats representing homozygousy or heterozygousy. Another uses fractional numbers in a graph. Some are more cryptic while others give you plenty of information about skin and coats. I don't care as much for coat color and shedding.

I'm looking for at least 3 main things:
IR or COI
Diversity Panel
DLA - DLA genes are involved in regulating antigens in the immune system.

The IR (Inter relatedness) values studied for the 226 Golden Retrievers resulted in a mean average around 0.206 for the total population with at least one dog having an IR value as low as -0.117 (most outbred) and at least one dog with a value as high as +0.627 (most in**ed) One of my UK x US crosses is at .14 & .16. Less than the mean average. If I can split that again my results should be around .12. It'll be a couple of years.

I talk a lot about the retention of key field traits. There is new research on traits listed below with a link. I'm interested in prey drive and compatibility.

A study, published Oct. 2 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, points to 131 genetic variants, and offers new evidence to support what scientists have long suspected: that some of the behaviors that help characterize breeds — a drive to chase, for example, or aggression toward strangers — are associated with distinct genetic differences among them.

They found that about half of the variation in the 14 measured behaviors across breeds could be attributed to genetics — a greater proportion than previous studies have found.

What seems obvious is that genes can influence an individual’s behaviors — has not always been easy to support with evidence, in large part because behaviors are complex traits, the researchers said. Tendencies such as aggression, anxiety, or a compulsion to chase anything that moves are governed by many genes, not just one.

Resources:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.0716

https://research.nhgri.nih.gov/dog_genome/breen2001/data-markers/cfa11.shtml

02/11/2025

Reminder

All WM Farms golden owners. We are giving away a collapsible Rock Creek Crate at the end of the year for the best picture. (See Website)

Yes, it will fit in your SUV. IATA compatible, venting and mounting.

3 colors to choose from.

Runner up prizes include hand made pens and insulated logo'd thermos's.

Happy 20th Anniversary and thank you for your support.

02/11/2025

Update:

Cowboy has a home. Very apropos name as he is headed to OK.

Thank you for the inquiries.

02/10/2025

Last week I had a guy from MT call me about a new gun dog. A buddy of his was hunting with a WM farms GR. He liked what he saw. We had a nice conversation about upland and waterfowl hunting. He is predominantly upland game.

During that conversation he said "Oh yeah, I don't want a boot licker!"

For a split second I thought "Huh?" then I smiled, told him I'd never heard it called that before. Boot Licker! LOL, I knew exactly what he was talking about. Anyone who has upland hunted should be familiar with the term as well.

I assured him that any litter from Cora, Pepper, Ailsa, Quincy, Ephraim and others should give him plenty to work with. We both laughed when I told him I'm going to use his description of what a good gun dog shouldn't be.

At WM Farms Golden Retrievers they are bred with the original traits in mind. While field goldens are successful at many things, We train, hunt, swim, play and walk on the grounds. Our goldens are never in guardian or loaner homes.

02/09/2025

Follow Up on genetic testing.

Here's another hint and another key web link to the locus types.

UC Davis has a Canine genetic diversity test that is less expensive, concise, but takes some understanding of IR, DLA and Locus. So, for those looking for some study time, review and study the different canine haplotypes. Here's a couple of options to consider.

You can look at this chart of locus types for canines:
https://research.nhgri.nih.gov/dog_genome/breen2001/data-markers/cfa11.shtml

The UC Davis IR is based on Dr. Pedersen’s research interest with 226 goldens that targeted at two general areas:

Genetic diversity across all dogs and within individual breeds
The role of genetic factors in autoimmune disorders and allele frequencies across all 33 STR loci which can used to calculate a mean observed heterozygosity. I went deeper and found figured out each % type at each location.

https://vgl.ucdavis.edu/canine-genetic-diversity/golden-retriever

Got to this site, scroll down and find the PDF. Study it before you order your test so that you can understand what you are ordering.

I've given you two key sites that explain golden retriever genetic diversity and how to understand it. However, before these made any sense, what really helped me was the online class I took from ICB (Institute of Canine Biology). Breed Preservation class. A semester studying genetic nomenclature and watching private YouTube lessons, set the path to understanding the results.

Good Luck!

Overview The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL), in collaboration with Dr. Niels C. Pedersen and staff, has developed a panel of short tandem repeat (STR) markers that will determine genetic diversity across the genome and in the Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA) class I and II regions. This test panel....

02/08/2025

Need HELP!

If you've completed a full genetic panel on your field or working golden and have a single digit genetic COI, IE less than 10% or your IR is in the lower 25% graphical range. Please message me. (I'm not asking for pedigree calculated)

If you have completed a full genetic panel on a 50:50 golden preferably UK x US but potentially unrelated CAN x UK and are you willing to share/compare results, please contact me.

If you have a quality gun dog or performance field golden that DOESN'T have line breeding in him or multiple popular sires, (I'm not necessarily looking for titles) please message me with his pedigree. I found something very interesting in my results.

I have completed and studied 3 genetic panels on 3 of my 50:50 goldens.

I worked through comparisons. regarding the IR, Haplotypes, diversity panel and health conditions. Each of them produced some unexpected results.

Sage, Cora and Clancy. Cora and Sage are from a UK brother and sister paired to US lines. Clancy has a UK father paired with a US bred foundation female Sheila. There is an unexpected twist in the results and I think it leads back to our first gun dog Sheila who is:

COI and AVK 10 generations:
Coefficient Of Inbreeding (COI): 0%
Ancestor Loss Coefficient (AVK): 71.85%

The results from a double outcross starting with a simple/plain gun dog with excellent field traits then followed by a UK cross produced genetic results I was not expecting. So much so, I sent off for two more genetic tests through UC Davis. Once I get those back, I can piece this together.

In summary

Sage is the off spring of Toffee and Copper. She is highly genetically diverse and I'm studying her pedigree to figure out why this pairing produced what it did. Copper has passed away. I have one more frozen breeding unit for him. If I can pair that with the another UK female or perhaps an unrelated US 50:50 female, I could replicate what I got in Clancy. Sage's IR is less than Cora. Of the 274 genetic health risks analyzed she is heterozygous for 2. This pairing managed to split or clear every testable health risk. In addition she has EXCELLENT hips, elbows, eyes, teeth, size, coat etc. A poster child of what we are trying to achieve.

Cora, a 1/2 cousin to Sage is the off spring of Brook x Reggie. Her IR is slightly higher than Sage. Of the 274 genetic health risks analyzed she is heterozygous for 1. The inverse of her cousin. However, what happened in her Haplotype results was really interesting. 3 of the 4 in DLA I & DLA II where less than 1% common in GRs. A lot of diversity. She received some rare genetics results. DLA haplotype testing in golden retrievers can help determine the dog's genetic diversity and identify haplotypes unique to the breed. DLA genes are linked to many autoimmune diseases in dogs. DLA genes are part of the immune system and play a key role in the body's early defense against foreign invaders.

Finally Clancy. He's only a few weeks old but his test results are very interesting. He has two significant outcrosses in 4 generations.
First, Sheila our foundation female purchased in 2005 from a duck hunter/breeder. Second Athollridge Gael in the UK. Similar to Sage & Cora except there is not a single health risk variant in his genetic testing. I sent off a haplotype test so that I can compare his to Cora.

I believe our foundation female on the maternal side, paired with a UK male on the paternal side in 4 generations with a very high AVK of over 70% has produced something rather interesting. I understand that genetic testing give more details. No argument here. However, Retriever Data base is a valuable tool in pre-determining potential genetic results. I try to use every tool possible.

Its not going to be perfect in every litter. We have a long way to go and more to learn. Early genetic summary of our 50:50 program is favorable in that they retain key field traits while splitting or mixing most of the testable health and haplotype results.

02/08/2025

I've been asked about where I get my data and resources. I search the internet for research papers which leads to more papers and so on.

I will give everyone interested a short cut. We need more golden breeders maintaining trait qualities while breeding for more genetic diversity.

Here's one I found very valuable for published data research.

The International Partnership for Dogs

dogwellnet.com

The International Partnership for Dogs (IPFD) is a non-profit organization leading a global, multi-stakeholder effort to enhance dog health, well-being, and welfare.

They have a wealth of information including health strategies, genetic testing results, research by breed, health statistics, articles and education.

They have numerous links to collaborative research from institutions such as the Morris Animal foundation and others.

Dig around and you will find more research data that you can imagine.

Good Luck

02/04/2025

Cancer-

I've had several calls, texts and messages about golden retriever cancer this last week. Almost everyone I've spoken to has had a golden retriever pass away from cancer or battled it. Always an important topic. I don't look at cancer from a breeder stand point. Continue to read and find out why.

I look and study cancer as a golden retriever condition. The whole of it. As the golden retriever now stands, I look at mitigating cancer in goldens not the eradication of cancer in goldens. I explain why below. I have included all of my references as well.

Through their history, goldens have had a relatively longer lifespan up until the last 50 years, where their risk for cancer and other diseases has gone up exponentially, especially in the United States. In the 1970s golden retrievers were regularly living up until around 17 years old, but now an optimistic lifespan is only around 10-12 years.

I re-watched the Morris Animal Foundation video. They hope to have around 5 million data points by the time the research is complete. They are looking for biomarkers that would help us identify cancer early or even before it starts.

Titled:
"What we're learning from 3,000 dogs in the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmca0JNmEl0

The Morris video talks about why they chose golden retrievers and that golden retrievers are now the most likely breed to develop cancer in their lifetime, with 60% of all goldens' lives ending due to developing cancer.

One of the cancer theories they are trying to substantiate is if the founding dogs of the golden retriever breed happened to have genes that increased their risk for cancer. Since all golden retrievers come from these founders and no new genes are being added to the gene pool, the cancer causing genes are recycled over and over in the population. If this is true, then everyone interested in a golden would be focused on how they could mitigate these cancers. Why? Because that means they would be in everybody's lines.

The four most common types of malignant cancers found in golden retrievers include Lymphoma, Hemangiosarcoma, Osteosarcoma, and Mast Cell tumors.These four cancers make up about 80% of all cancer deaths in golden retrievers.

Other factors include:

Genetics: Some dog breeds, like golden retrievers, are more likely to develop certain types of cancer.

Age: As dogs age, their risk of developing cancer increases.

Environmental factors: Exposure to carcinogens, like pesticides, herbicides, and air pollution, can increase the risk of cancer.

Sunlight: Prolonged exposure to the sun and UV light can increase the risk of cancer.

Weight and diet: Obesity can increase the risk of certain types of cancer. Poorly stored food or food with preservatives, fillers, or other chemical additives can also increase the risk of cancer.

Viruses and infections: Viruses and infections can contribute to cancer.

Risk factors that may have developed in ancestry predispose dogs to distinct malignancies. In addition, during the selection process where strict breed barriers were imposed, risk-related factors may have independently evolved in some breeds. Unfortunately, as the popularity–and therefore the demand–for a breed increases, so does the risk for genetic mutations; the speed with which breeders are mating dogs does not allow for a more selective process to ensure that only the healthiest and strongest dogs produce offspring. You can see this happening right now with the popularity of French Bulldogs: their gradual breeding is beginning to, more often than not, produce puppies with an ineffective, and at times dangerous, snout length. This breeding change can be seen as a more localized development in golden retrievers, with American bred goldens having a higher likelihood of cancer than their European counterparts. In 2010 the mortality rate of golden retrievers in Europe found the percentage at 38.8%, contrasting the 61.4% in American bred goldens

As a breeder, I can get all the performance titles, accolades, bragging rights, cool pictures and convince everyone I have the best breeding program ever! I wish we could pause and consider for a moment that the golden retriever is so versatile that its many things, not one thing. Then consider that the fact remains our US bred golden retriever needs some serious attention. 60%+ is unacceptable for me. What if you told your doctor you wanted to start a family and he/she said, that's great but you and your children have a 60% chance of dying from cancer. Oh and by the way your lifespan has been decreased by 30% the last 50 years.

I believe, despite the uphill battle, that there are things we can do.

My time and $$$ the last 5 years have been focused on importing genetics from the UK/EUR. Thankfully before the CDC changed the regulations. The direction I'm headed is the result of studying, reading and figuring out how I can improve the breed. Even incrementally. While 99% of the breeders would take the Mr. Speaker and other frozen I have and breed it to a MH, HRCH. AFC, FC etc. I will use it with a UK or 50:50. Why, because I know Speaker lived past 15 years of age and I know that goldens in the UK/EUR live linger and have a 22% +- less chance of getting cancer. I also know that I can breed for key field traits giving me a higher likely hood of producing field bred offspring with talent, temperament, health and longevity.

Tireless debates will continue about one point or another. Food, titles, environment, vaccinations and more. Studying the science has changed they way I breed not FB threads. I now breed for mixed genetics, traits and genetic diversity. If it works, then the breed benefits.

Happy Training

REFERENCES:
https://www.purinaproclub.com/breed-update/golden-retriever/fall-2018 #:~:text=One%20in%20eight%20Golden%20Retrievers%20develops%20lymphoma%2C%20and%20one%2Dthird,monitoring%20for%20the%20cancer's%20return
https://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/golden-retriever-lifetime-study-rfp
https://www.thewildest.com/dog-health/large-scale-cancer-study-golden-retrievers-holds-hope-all-dogs
https://www.imprimedicine.com/imprimed-list-of-top-breeds-with-lymphoma-or-leukemia
https://holidaybarn.com/blog/why-are-golden-retrievers-so-cancer-prone/
https://tvmdl.tamu.edu/2021/04/12/t-cell-lymphoma-is-not-always-terrible/
https://cgejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40575-022-00122-9
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33759213/
https://www.postandcourier.com/features/high-calcium-levels-revealed-lymphoma-in-golden-retriever/article_4e8b8f0c-0425-11e7-b77b-2bcb97eea0f2.html
https://www.thedrakecenter.com/services/dogs/breeds/golden-retriever
https://retrieveradvice.com/why-do-golden-retrievers-get-cancer-vet-explains/
https://www.medvetforpets.com/take-idexx-challenge-golden-retriever-enlarged-lymph-nodes/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6090884/
https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/65/13/5654/518326/Distinct-B-Cell-and-T-Cell-Lymphoproliferative