Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Inbreeding 
Name: Denise
Status: Educator
Grade: 9-12
Location:CA
Date: 6/22/2005
Question:
Can a brother and sister Yorkie (dog) mate without genetic complications? How about a father and daughter, or mother & son?


Replies:
Simple answer: absolutely not. It is not safe at all to breed two individuals in the same family, especially as close as those you are specifically asking about. The reason pure breed animals have so many problems is just because of these sorts of breeding practices. Basically, the same genetic problems that people have breeding with family members hold true with these animals (hence the reason it is not legal for family members to marry, at least in the US). If there are any recessive genes that are going to cause problems for the offspring, they will most certainly be expressed through inbreeding.

Susie Sample
University of Wisconsin
Vet. Medicine
Click here to return to the Veterinary Topics Archive

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory