Could some please explain this to myself in simple terms please
The breed (gsd) average is 3.4

I lifted this for you from the Kennel Club site. I think it explains it better than I could:

"What does this value mean?

*Inbreeding is defined as the mating of related individuals, whether they are closely related or more distantly related. The inbreeding coefficient of an individual is the probability that two copies of the same gene have been inherited from a common founder, that is an ancestor shared by both parents. The lower the inbreeding coefficient, the lower the probability (risk) that this will happen."

You can use their site yourself here and just have a play using the buttons at the top.

> the probability that two copies of the same gene have been inherited from a common founder, that is an ancestor shared by both parents.

But dont forget.... the same goes for good genes like longevity and health.
These days it is common to think only outcrosses are healthy but unrelated dogs with unhealthy genes are more likely to produce problems.

A low COI doesnt guarantee a heathy individual.

>But dont forget.... the same goes for good genes like longevity and health.>These days it is common to think only outcrosses are healthy but unrelated dogs with unhealthy genes are more likely to produce problems.

>A low COI doesnt guarantee a heathy individual.

Yes that's true. There's no substitute for experience, and newcomers to any breed can benefit from picking the brains of those respected elder statesmen within their breed. Mind you, they don't always agree with each other but that's another story!

Also the KC figures tend to be very misleading. For my main breed it's given as something like 2.2 %. I sat down and put all the dogs at Crufts one year through my own pedigree programme and most were between 10 and 20 %. Mate Select does not allow for the fact that imports have a, to them, unknown background, so any import is counted as 0 % (even though in reality it most likely is NOT) and therefore it lowers the overall average -the more imports the bigger the effect. Mate an import to a UK born dog and again the figure becomes lower than it in reality is. We've had a LOT (the great majority of show litters) of import sires recently in my breed, hence the false low figure.

ditto my breed, numerically small so regular imports.

We sometimes find the calculation only covers 4 or 5 complete generations where imports or overseas dogs are used.

Agree, my breed is also numerically small and has a number of imports, especially in the last five years. These give false data on the KC programme.

Also agree with toolz, well said :)