This breeding plan template turns the thinking in Designing a long-term breeding program into a working document you can plan generations against and revisit each year. A downloadable, editable version accompanies this page.
The most important first
- Plan the line, not just the next litter.
- Tie every planned generation back to your goals.
- Build in diversity and health checkpoints, not just matings.
- Revisit and revise it yearly against real results.
How to use this breeding plan template
Fill in each section for your line as a whole. Keep it realistic — a plan you’ll actually maintain beats an elaborate one you won’t — and treat it as a living document that changes as results come in.
1 · Direction
- Where this line should be in five to ten years, in a sentence or two.
- The top goals it’s built around (from your goals worksheet).
2 · Current position
- Your line’s honest strengths and weaknesses today.
- Health and diversity status now (baseline).
3 · Planned generations
- Next planned combination(s), and the goal each serves.
- Which dogs you intend to keep, place or bring in — and why. Avoid over-using any one stud.
- Any planned outcross or diversity move, and when.
When you plan an outcross, write down why you need it and what you will check in the resulting puppies before you breed from them. UK research suggests that bringing in dogs from outside a narrowing population is the most practical way to restore diversity. It works best when it’s planned before the line is in trouble.
4 · Checkpoints and review
- Health and diversity checkpoints to watch, using fields like these:
- Diversity: COI of each planned mating, compared with the current breed average (check how many generations it’s based on), plus DNA diversity or EBV results where available.
- DNA status: each parent’s result for the DNA tests that matter in your breed. Never pair two carriers of the same recessive condition; the FCI advises that carriers be bred only to dogs shown not to carry that variant.
- Screening: each parent’s results under the parent club or national scheme (for example the CHIC protocol in the US).
- Use of males: how many litters each stud in the plan has sired, and whether one dog is starting to dominate.
- Offspring feedback: health and temperament results from puppies already placed.
- Review date, what you’ll measure, and what’s changed since last time.
How to use it well
The value is in the why column. A plan that lists matings without the goal each serves is a calendar, not a strategy.
Work on it
A few minutes here will teach you more than re-reading the article.
Do one thing
- Download the editable template and draft at least the Direction and next planned generation today.
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Sources & further reading
- Fédération Cynologique Internationale — International Breeding Strategies. fci.be
- The Royal Kennel Club — Inbreeding calculators (COI). royalkennelclub.com
- Orthopedic Foundation for Animals — CHIC Program. ofa.org
- American Kennel Club — Bred with H.E.A.R.T. requirements. akc.org
- Lewis TW, Abhayaratne BM, Blott SC (2015), Canine Genetics and Epidemiology 2:13 — Trends in genetic diversity for all Kennel Club registered pedigree dog breeds. link.springer.com
- Farrell LL et al. (2015), Canine Genetics and Epidemiology 2:3 — The challenges of pedigree dog health: approaches to combating inherited disease. link.springer.com
- Bannasch D et al. (2021), Canine Medicine and Genetics 8:12 — The effect of inbreeding, body size and morphology on health in dog breeds. doi.org
- Leroy G (2011), The Veterinary Journal 189(2):177–182 — Genetic diversity, inbreeding and breeding practices in dogs: results from pedigree analyses. doi.org
A practical aid; adapt it to your breed and situation.
Next steps
- Back to the guide: Designing a long-term breeding program.
- Return to the area hub: Building a breeding program.