Open AccessArticle
Population Structure Analysis of the Border Collie Dog Breed in Hungary
by
1,*
, 2 and 1
1
Department of Animal Sciences, Kaposvár University, Kaposvár, H-7400, 40, Guba S. str., Hungary
2
Department of Hippology, Kaposvár, Kaposvár University, Kaposvár, H-7400, 40, Guba S. str., Hungary
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 21 March 2019
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Revised: 12 May 2019
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Accepted: 13 May 2019
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Published: 16 May 2019
Simple Summary
The appearance of dog breeds is constantly changing, for many reasons. The Border Collie breed has several lines depending on sport, show, or work requirements, with closed breeding practices within these lines in recent decades. The aim of the study was to map the current population in Hungary and determine the possible inbreeding levels in and between the different subpopulations. The main finding of the study was that there is a detectable genetic divergence between the show and working line. In addition, genetic variability within the breed is decreasing due to a lack of suitable mating plans and the education of the breeders who are repeatedly choosing to breed animals with similar show-related characteristics. The size of the active breeding population has decreased dramatically in the past years. However, there are many dogs in the country without a pedigree. It can be seen that despite the proportion of registered breeders, dog owners prefer not to buy purebred dogs, and thus most of the pups born in Hungary are exported to other countries.