Located in Central Louisiana, Charolais Golden Retrievers breeds a few litters a year. Our Sire is 100% European with Champion bloodlines. Our Dams are 100% American Golden's with AKC Grand Champions & Champions Close up in their pedigrees, These crosses on lineage results in a C.O.I  

 (Coefficient Of Inbreeding) of 0% resulting in very healthy beautiful puppies. 

What is COI?

COI stands for Coefficient of Inbreeding.  Essentially, it measures  the common ancestors of dam and sire, and indicates the probability of  how genetically similar they are.

Why should I care?

There are consequences to being genetically similar, some good, some  bad.  The fact that dogs within individual breeds are so genetically  similar is what makes them that breed- and why , if you breed any  Golden Retriever to any other Golden Retriever, the puppies will look recognizably like  Golden Retrievers.

OK, go on…but please keep it simple..

Many of the 20,000-odd genes that go into any dog of a particular  breed are ‘fixed’.  That means that every Golden will have two  identical copies of them- one inherited from their dam; one from their  sire.  Others however, are not so fixed.

Genes always come in pairs.  The gene-pair is called an ‘allele’.   When the pair is identical, it is called ‘homozygous’.  When the pair is  not identical, it is called ‘heterozygous.’

‘Allele’, ‘homozygous’ and ‘heterozygous’ are three good words to  understand if you are a dog breeder.  Homozygous and heterozygous are  terms often used more generally, too, when talking about diversity.  The  more gene-pairs that are homozygous = less diversity.  The more  gene-pairs that are heterozygous = more diversity.  Geneticists in the  main consider diversity a good thing.

So not all the pairs of genes are identical?

Correct.  And this is what gives us variation within a breed.  It’s  why, as mentioned above, Labradors come in three colours.  And it’s also  what makes some bigger or shorter or faster or cleverer or more able to  withstand disease than others.  Of course environment can play a big  role too, but the raw potential for every dog lies in its genes.

I thought we were talking about COI?

Many pedigree breeds are already highly homozygous, ie many of their  alleles contain only a single gene type.  This means that the  characteristics that these genes produce will be the same in all  puppies, regardless of which parents from the breed are used (ie no  breed diversity)  The COI is really just measuring the probability of  any individual allele being homozygous due to an identical gene being  passed down to the puppy along both the dam and sires lines from single  common ancestors.

Give us a dead simple example

1. Breed two completely unrelated Goldens
2. Mate two of their offspring together
3. What is the resulting puppies’ COI?

In this instance the puppies’ COI will be 25% – that is,  statistically, there is a 25% chance that any allele will contain the  exact same gene as a direct result of having common ancestors – in this  instance the same grandparents.  This is in addition to the levels of  homozygosity that would be present in the breed regardless.

You say ‘statistically’?

Yes, in reality, they could be much more than 25% genetically  identical/homozygous – or much less.  The only way to know for sure  would be to minutely examine every dog’s DNA which would be impossible  (at the moment at least).  But the statistical likelihood is  nevertheless very useful to dog breeders.

What about other COI examples?

Parent/offspring:  25%
Full sibling:  25%
Grandparent/grandchild:  12.5%
Half sibling:  12.5%
Great grandparents/great grandchild:  6.25%
First cousin:  6.25%

What about other common ancesters?

COIs are much more than looking at a dog’s parents.  COIs also track  how related dogs are further back in the pedigree.  Look back 10  generations in our own family trees and you are very unlikely to see the  same name twice.  This is not true for dogs, though.  The same names  can appear many, many times.  Traditionally, breeders have very commonly  used grandfather/grand-daughter matings (and often even closer) to  ‘fix’ certain traits.

To get a true picture of how inbred a certain dog is, then, you  should go back at least five generations and ideally ten.  As you go  further back, in most instances, the COI is likely to rise.

Why are high COIs considered a problem?

Two reasons:

1. Inbreeding will help cement ‘good’ traits but there’s a danger of it  also cementing bad ones.  In particular, it can cause the rapid build  up of disease genes in a population.
2. Even if a breed of dog is lucky enough to be free of serious genetic  disorders, inbreeding is likely to affect our dogs in more subtle, but  no less serious, ways.

These include smaller litter sizes, less vigorous/viable puppies,  fertility problems and weakened immune systems.  These effects have been  very well documented in other species and are known as inbreeding  depression.  Farmers, who used to breed livestock in much the same way  as we still breed dogs, have now changed the way that they breed their  animals.  In fact farmers so recognize the benefit of hybrid vigor that  much of the meat we eat, milk we drink and eggs we boil are from  crossbreeds.  That’s because the yield is likely to be  more/healthier/disease resistant than that from purebred stock.

A study of Standard Poodles discovered that dogs with a COI of less  than 6.25% lived on average four years longer than those with COIs over  25%.

Now nothing in genetics is inevitable.  There are some examples out  there of very inbred populations that appear to be pretty healthy and  whose fertility/fecundity have not been affected.  But the above effects  have been observed far too often to ignore the risk.  While a low COI  does not guarantee a healthy puppy, a high COI should definitely be a  cause for concern.

Why bother to check a dog’s COI?

As well as limiting further genetic problems, having a low COI may  show that the breeder has tried to follow good breeding practice and  limit inbreeding.  This hopefully will reflect in other good practices  such as socialization and worm control so that your new puppy will be  happier and healthier in many respects.

Important Caveat

COIs are not the be-all and end-all of a dog.  They’re just one  measure.  So don’t freak out if you discover your dog has a ten  generation COI of 30%.  Likewise, if your dog has a COI of only 1% it  does not guarantee his health and fitness but his chances of having  inherited a double dose of defective genes is far less.

Our most recent litter of 14  puppies, all received the exact same results when visiting the vet at 8 weeks, before going to their new families......Results below....WE DO A VERY VERY Thorough Vet Check on all of our Puppies, 

EYES

Abnormal discharge ... NO

Vision problems...NO

Eyelash Disorders...NO

Cherry Eye...NO

MOUTH TEETH & GUMS

Malocclusion...No

Bite...Normal for breed

MUSCULOSKELETAL

Umbilical Hernia...NO

Inguinal Hernia...NO

Hip Pain...NO

Unilateral Patellar Lux...NO

Bilateral Patellar Lux...NO

Bilateral Patellar Lux...NO

Open Fontanelle...NO

BODY CONDITION SCORE

... IDEAL

CARDIOVASCULAR

Heart Murmur...NO

RESPIRATORY

Coughing/Congestion...NO

Stenotic Nares...NO

EARS

Abnormal Debris...NO

Discharge...NO

EarMites...NO

Signs of Infection ...NO

Responds to sound...YES

UROGENITAL

Reduntant Vulva...NO

Undescended  Testicles...NO

Fecal Flotation...NEGATIVE

SKIN & COAT

Fleas or ticks...NO

Alopecia...NO

Signs of infection...NO