I'm sorry but your friend should not be allowed to own animals at all. How irresponsible, I hope her dogs get taken off her (You should report her! friend or no friend!). I don't really agree with aborting puppies at this stage, but under the circumstances I would do so a.s.a.p. It may be too late in which case your friend will end up with puppies that will most likely have serious health problems, nasty natures (which could result in them being put down later on) & possibly deformities. I hope your friend does not try and sell these pups! as who wants interbred pups (they are not worth a penny). It was cruel of her to let these bitches continue with their pregnancies!! Wow what a harsh lesson learn! (that is... harsh on the pups, who have not even entered this world yet!) I hope others think twice!!!

It's a shame that, unless you register Guest, you can't answer this question. While I agree 100% with you that this woman has been extremely irresponsible, I was wondering why you think any resulting pups will, as you put it >most likely have serious health problems, nasty natures (which could result in them being put down later on) & possibly deformities.<?

I have known a pup from a mother son mating.He ws a gsd and looked exactly like agsd except his legs were half the length they should have been.
Archer

Achondroplastic dwarfism is known in a lot of breeds, and of course is more likely to be expressed in an inbred pup as both parents have a higher chance of carrying the same recessive traits. 

On the other hand this trait can occur quite randomly.  A well known stud dog in our breed in one litter for his owner produced a bitch pup who had legs about half the length they should have been, they were perfectly staight too, they weren't as short as those of a Basset (but then again none of those low breeds had such short legs in the past).

She used to joke that after 30+ years of careful breeding, and the pillar of her achievements was 'Dolly'.  She had lots of offers to buy her because of her unusual appearance, but flatly refused.  There are unscrupulous people who would deliberately to try to bred on such a 'sport' or freak.  Wyhe someone in TV who had a Labrador like this (was it Jimmy Hill?) suddenly people wanted Dwarf Labs!!!

Just trying in a long winded fashion to say that inbreding of itself does not produce problems, it just makes any latent bad genes, as well as good more likely to come together in the offspring.

Unfortunately this is even more likley in such haphazardly bred animals as in this instance, as it is unlikly that either original parent had been selected to complement it's mate, and may even have had very obvious undesirable characteristics, which are likley to be even more fixed in the offspring of Son to Mother.  If the people were extremely lucky there may not hagve ben any problems in either parent to pass on, or nothing that drastic, but if there were faults in any of them then they are likely to be intensified in these son to mother and brother to sister pups.

There are an enormous number of dogs around from close inbreeding like this, with no problems whatsoever. Inbreeding can only show up problems that are already in the genes, not create them.
:)

Inbreeding and line breeding done by knowledgeable people who know the history of their dogs does not cause problems...this kind of 'accidental' breeding where the dogs are not health tested etc can and does cause probems
Archer

"Inbreeding and line breeding done by knowledgeable people who know the history of their dogs does not cause problems"

Not so. Nature has a way of reminding even breed 'experts' that she is still in charge. An indepth knowledge of your breed and lines does not mean that you will not encounter problems when line breeding/in breeding. 

I remember a TV programme about gene pools, and they took the cheetah as an example. From all the DNA samples they have of both wild and captive-bred animals, they are all very closely related. The situation was likened to that of a single mother and her cubs surviving the last Ice Age, and all modern cheetahs were descended from them. Any cheetah breeding is, so we were told, effectively a very close in-breeding. They seem healthy enough ... Of course, the ones that aren't healthy, die. All breeders should be prepared to do the same if they get it wrong. If not, don't breed. IMO

Guest, why dont you register? Its free, and its sound like you have some good advice. :)

sarah xxxx