DIVERSITY! DIVERSITY! DIVERSITY! Diversity is our goal and is it obtained by the way we choose to breed the blood lines in our Standard Poodles. Diversity produces a low COI in our Standard Poodle puppies. COI stands for Coefficient of Inbreeding (small gene pool). Essentially, it measures the common ancestors of dam and sire, and indicates the probability of how genetically similar they are. The following link explains the importance of low COI in determining the amount of genetic health issues. http://www.dogbreedhealth.com/a-beginners-guide-to-coi/. High COI in the STANDARD POODLE is the result of trying to attain and keep the Poodle Club of America standard that is written for AKC. We sacrifice complete control of that exact AKC show look and select our breeding stock for more random qualities of beauty,temperament and most important health. The other factor causing high COI (small gene pool) in the breed is breeding for specific colors. You may have read earlier on our website that we are able to produce every color accepted by AKC. Many people have inbreed inside the same color lineage to retain that “perfect color” but unfortunately this is one of the causes for the many genetic defects. To obtain diversity we have crossed up solid colors with other solid colors that have very little or no common genetic background. An example of this is, mixing our brown line with our red line. Now some breeders would gasp with disgust because this can produce a liver nose on an apricot or red. To some breeders this is a NO, NO. A liver nose is even accepted in the AKC show ring, it is not desirable but is accepted. There are lots of people including us that think a red or apricot Standard Poodle with a liver nose and amber eyes has a beautiful expression. (see pictures below). This is one example of where some breeders seek to avoid a cosmetic trait like a liver nose and forgo the diversity which lessens the chance of a genetic defect in certain blood line. We have also done the same with our parties and phantoms. We have sacrificed having a whole litter of partis or phantoms by crossing our solids with our partis or phantoms. When you do this you will only have a certain percentage and sometime no partis or phantoms in the litter. This type breeding can take several generations but this process waters down or diversifies the very small gene pool of the partis and phantoms and therefore reducing the chance of genetic defects in these colors. We have most recently been blessed to add a very old and healthy bloodline from Canen Standard Poodles from the UK. We have introduced this line crossed with a very diversified Russian line into our Silvers, normally a very high COI color. We also have another breeding from the Canen line to enhance the health of our Browns & Blacks. Shirley Bell bred a large bone robust Standard Poodle for over 60 years. The introduction of these line into ours is greatly reducing the COI in our puppies. Our breeding practices may produce some undesirable conformation or cosmetic traits (according to AKC standards) but our main goal is to enrich the very small gene bank of the Standard Poodle pedigrees which is and will continue to be the best weapon against genetic disorders. [slideshow id=268]