Inheritance Percentage Chart

Welcome to the wonderful world of "GENETICS"
We've added the Inheritance Percentage Chart below for those of you who are eager to learn and self-educate.

The purpose of crossing the Merle, Brindle, Piebald or combination Pattern Rat Terrier to the Miniature Pinscher was to reintroduce those patterns into the Miniature Pinscher.  The patterns at one time were a part of the Miniature Pinscher make-up but had become extinct over the years.

A lot of thought was put into the crossing as we wanted a breed that would compliment the Miniature Pinscher without drastically changing the conformation of the Miniature Pinscher itself.  At the same time we had to use ONE breed that had all of the desired patterns already established in it in order to produce all of the 'forgotten' patterns.  The Rat Terrier was the PERFECT dog that would do everything that was needed to re-establish the Harlequin Pinscher without adversely affecting the Miniature Pinscher.

Initial Cross - Patterned Rat Terrier X Miniature Pinscher = 50% Rat Terrier - 50% Miniature Pinscher = F1 Harlequin Pinscher

F1 Harlequin Pinscher X Miniature or Harlequin Pinscher = 3/4 Miniature/Harlequin Pinscher - 1/4 Rat Terrier = F2 Harlequin Pinscher
        (*75 %)                                       (25%)                                                                 
                                                    
F2 Harlequin Pinscher X Miniature or Harlequin Pinscher = 7/8 Miniature/Harlequin Pinscher - 1/8 Rat Terrier = F3 Harlequin Pinscher
(*87.5%)                                      (*12.5%)                                                            
F3 Harlequin Pinscher X Miniature or Harlequin Pinscher = 15/16 Miniature/Harlequin Pinscher - 1/16 Rat Terrier = F4 Harlequin Pinscher
(*93.75%)                                      (*6.25%)                                                          
                                                   
F4 Harlequin Pinscher X Miniature or Harlequin Pinscher = 31/32 Miniature/Harlequin Pinscher - 1/32 Rat Terrier = F5 Harlequin Pinscher
  (*96.875%)                                     (*3.125%)                                                      
 
    
F5 Harlequin Pinscher X Miniature or Harlequin Pinscher = 63/64 Miniature/Harlequin Pinscher - 1/64 Rat Terrier = F6 Harlequin Pinscher
 (*98.4375%)                                      (*1.5625%)                                                     
 
  
F6 Harlequin Pinscher X Miniature or Harlequin Pinscher = 131/132 Miniature/Harlequin Pinscher - 1/132 Rat Terrier = (*F7) Harlequin Pinscher
(*99.24242%)                                      (*.75758%)  (*Less Than 1%) (*<1%)                 
 

An F7 is considered a purebred and all F-series beyond F6 are dropped and the animal is considered a PUREBRED Harlequin Pinscher.

F7 = PUREBRED HARLEQUIN PINSCHER

Now I must also explain that this percentage chart works in "THEORY".  Let me explain:
Every dog inherits genes from each parent from a variety of loci.  When you breed a Rat Terrier crossed with a Miniature Pinscher
then you WILL HAVE 50% Rat Terrier and 50% Miniature Pinscher.  That should be simple and easy to understand.  Now it will
start getting less simple and less easy to understand.  You breed the 50/50 (*F1) Harlie to a full blood Miniature Pinscher and in
theory you will get a 75% (*F2) Harlie - Well it doesn't necessarily work that way unfortunately.  Depending on what the genes
are that the F2 pup inherited could make it anywhere from a 50% to a 100% Harlie.  If it inherited ONLY the Rat Terrier
genes from the F1 parent then it would still be a 50/50 cross.  If it inherited only the Miniature Pinscher genes from the F1 parent
then it is already a 100% Harlie.   Short of DNA testing every pup in the litter, it was decided through previous research years
ago that it was possible for a single gene to carry for 7 generations but the percentage chance (*possibility) of it was greatly
reduced to less than 3% which is how the 7 generations purebred came in to play.   A lot of breed groups and even registries
consider 3rd generation purebred - However HPA determined that the Harlie breed was worthy of going the 7 generations
to refine it enough and hopefully breed out the Rat Terrier characteristics to take the Harlie breed into the future.
Your goal as a conscientious and dedicated breeder of Harlies is to keep back the offspring that have the characteristics
of a Harlie and not that of the Rat Terrier - short of coat pattern of course.   Common sense will tell you that the LESS
they look like the Rat Terrier - the less genes that they carry for the Rat Terrier.

 

I'll include a breeding chart here for you to get a visual idea of how it works.

We will use R for Rat Terrier and M for Miniature Pinscher.

 
  MM
  MM
  RR
  RM
  RM
  RR
  RM
  RM
 In this Chart ALL of the puppies are RM which means they are 50% Rat Terrier and 50% Miniature Pinscher (*F1)

 ____________________________________________________________________

 
  MM
  MM
  RM
  RM
  MM
  RM 
  RM
  MM
Now you have F1 bred to full Miniature Pinschers and if the genes inherited on an individual puppy percentage wise, you
would have an F2 that was full blood Harlie as you have 2 that are RM and 2 that are MM.

____________________________________________________________________

 
  MM
  MM
  RM
  RM
  MM
  MM 
  MM
  MM
Now you have an F2 bred to a full Miniature Pinscher and if again the genes inherited percentage wise you would have an F3
Harlie and 3 full blood Harlies.  Keep in mind however that there is the chance that one is still full of Rat Terrier genes.
  This chart will remain the same from 3rd generation to 7th generation thus the very important part of the breeder to
weed out the ones that continue to carry the Rat Terrier appearance and use only the ones that have the look that
we are striving to achieve.

_________________________________It's a matter of selective Reproduction________________________________

I'm sure we've all seen dogs that were considered purebred, registered as purebred, YET we doubt they could be
and have used the term "something in the dog pile" somewhere.  Eliminating the 'dog pile', "Selective Reproduction"
comes in to play and whoever bred these dogs along the line either had tunnel vision where their dogs were concerned
or didn't care that they weren't quality breeding stock to begin with.   (*Ignorance is NOT an excuse for poor breeding!)
In the Miniature Pinscher world we see them from what we consider Large to Small.  "Selective Reproduction" is
the reason they come in a variety of sizes, shapes, muscle mass, head shape, ear stance and so forth.
If we choose to breed those with muscle mass, natural erect ears, long legs, dilution, merle, piebald and/or brindle then
we will continue to produce those types.  If we decide that we just don't want those types then we stop using those
in our breeding program, stop keeping back those that have those characteristics and eventually we will no longer
be producing them in our own breeding program. 
 
Every breed has been developed by "Selective Reproduction" and the Harlequin Pinscher is no exception.
Note: Every time some little group deems to change the breed standard, those who have been
breeding for 'selective reproduction' to match the breed standard is left with the option of selling out and starting over with dogs from those who wanted the breed standard changed as they apparently couldn't breed their dogs to the current standard or they can start over with "Selective Reproduction" to eventually be in line with the new breed standard. 
The Miniature Pinscher breed standard has been changed many times over the years thus the reason
there are so many sizes, shapes and looks of our current day Min-Pin.

 

Now, we need to be sure and not rule out those that just don't care what the breed standard is and
breeds little John-Paul and little Miss Buffy simply because they can.

I see no problem with "Additions" to Breed Standards.
I however do see a problem with "Eliminations" or "Changes" that affect a vast majority of breeders
simply to appease the few that have the current 'powers that be". 
 
Do you ever pay attention to other breeders websites and what they actually have on them?
I see those that think simply having AKC papers makes their dogs breed standard and of better
quality than others that choose to use a different registry.  A piece of paper - never has and never will,
determine the quality of a dog - that was the responsibility of breeders through the years that were
breeding that bloodline of dogs.  If AKC papers meant, what many seem to want to refer that it does, then
there would be no poor quality dogs with AKC papers but that simply isn't the case.
Let's not leave out the ones that post on their websites that they breed to the Breed Standard.  Apparently
some have never read the breed standard or else they are breeding to a different breed standard than
the one they are registering their dog to as AKC's breed standard doesn't include a stick dog "YET".
The AKC breed standard at one time called for them to be 8 to 10 pounds and 10 to 12.5 inches tall.
ALL breed standards should include a height, weight and length standard in my opinion as this is the
ONLY way to ever standardize the look of a given breed.  AKC did at one time have a height and
weight standard but it has since fallen to just a height category leaving many to breed dogs
with short legs, long legs, muscled, so slim they have become fragile and a variety of other looks
that keep the Min Pin from having a standardized appearance.
 
No matter how you look at it though - it still comes down to "Selective Reproduction".

 

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Harlequin Pinscher, Merle Miniature Pinscher, Kaleidoscope Min Pins, Piebald, Brindle, Merle, Run-N-Ridge Harlequin Pinschers, Kristin Wiggins, Miniature Pinscher, Min-Pin Puppy