Founders, genetic variation and development

Genetic variation (or heritable variation) is a term that refers to the amount of genetic variation within a species. The lack of variation within a species or population makes it vulnerable to disease and infestation. It should be pointed out that, mainly during the Second World War, in some lines, other breeds were mixed in, which are reminiscent of today's Samoyed. An advantage could be that we got individuals into the breed that broadened the genetic base, but to the detriment of the specific characteristics of the breed, the polar adaptation. Basically, when the Samoyed breed was established, the breed was small, it was built up from a very small number of original dogs (founders), which meant a narrow genetic base already at the beginning.  

Historically identified genetic bottlenecks:

1. Very few individuals (the founder population in the western world) were taken out of Siberia, perhaps as few as 50 at most.
2. All original imports from Siberia were not used in breeding.
3. All multi-colored puppies were systematically euthanized early in the establishment of the breed in the Western world.
4. During the first part of the 20th century, large parts of the Western breed population were severely affected of distemper and other epidemics which came to wipe out large numbers of individuals.
5. The two world wars have also had an impact on purebred dog breeding in general with a sharp decline during these periods.
6. Strong inbreeding pervades the breeding method from the start in the Western world until about the beginning of the 2000s.
7. Previous matador breeding, on a few in the show ring winning male dogs, has led to many dogs today being relatively closely related genetically.
8. Today we see a clearly escalating division within the breed population with more or less closed genetic subpopulations, which has led to populations within the population.

Above: A diagram of how genetic variation in the breed has shrunk over the years. Even today, we continue to lose more genetic variation. The more genetic variation we lose, the greater the risk of autoimmune diseases popping up and affecting the breed.

The fact that over the centuries the breed has survived the heavy-handed thinning for various characteristics while maintaining health speaks for the fact that the dogs in Siberia must originally have been thoroughly healthy and possessed an indomitable vitality.

The limitation of the number of offspring after each breeding dog is a possible way to spread the breeding among several individuals. It is equally important to minimize the number of breeding restrictions to the benefit of more animals in breeding. One way to inform breeders and male dog owners about the influence of males in breeding is by studying the so-called "grandfather curves". These reflect how many grandchildren the dog's grandfather has. A male dog can have many offspring, but if these are used to a small extent, that male dog's influence may be limited in the long run. The reverse occurs if a male has relatively few offspring that are instead used extensively.