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CMDR Founder And Genetic Nerd Awards

The Founders Award
The Founder Award is a personal award from the CMDR genetic director. It is in celebration of the dogs that influence the breed deeply, and prove themselves in multiple generations, through multiple lines. I wait until I can observe great grand pups. The Founders Award is not a competition. They are given to the breeder and primary owner/handler of the dog.

Rarely, we find “unicorns”, that have wonderful trait combinations both inside and out. These are dogs that are so good, and so prepotent (able to pass their traits into multiple lines), that they create a stamp on the breed, and have a high enough quality to warrant line breeding (crossing back to a grandaughter, etc) to set type.

By the time a dog has multiple offspring and grand offspring, that have matured, coming through different outcross dogs of multiple lines, we begin to know when we have a stellar dog who is going to leave his mark on more than just fire hydrants.

When a dog has contributed so much to the breed, it’s time for the community to cheer that dog.

The Genetic Nerd Award
The Genetic Nerd Award is given to developers in the CMDR who have innovated in multiple lines of outcross genetics. These people are the ones who are actively putting the CMD breed on the map! We all depend on the work of breeders who have grasped this level of being an authentic breeder. The two things that build a breed stress each other — the perfecting of traits, and the broadening of genetic diversity. Most breed clubs focus only on honing traits, and when they reach the perfect tip of that genetic pyramid, they suddenly have nowhere to go, and collapse into a coefficient black hole. In the Colorado Mountain Dog, we won’t let that happen. This award is to celebrate our developers, who shoulder much of the expense of authentic breed building.