Estimation of Sexual Dimorphism in a Population of Dogs of the Romanian Mioritic Shepherd Dog Breed

Abstract

Romanian Mioritic Shepherd Dog, was selected from a natural population breed of Romanian Carpathian Mountains. The aim of this study was to analyze the existence and size of sexual dimorphism in a population of 26 males and 23 females of the Mioritic Shepherd Dog breed, for 6 body measurements: ear length, ear width, distance between the ears, distance between the eyes, length hair at withers and metacarpal perimeter. Following the study on the significance of statistical differences between body measurements recorded in 26 males and 23 females, it was concluded that sexual dimorphism is not evident in the population of the Romanian Mioritic Shepherd Dog studied in this paper, except the distance between the ears character. Among the other characters, the differences between the individuals of the two sexes are insignificant (p>0.05). We recommend to the dog breeders to take into account the genetic improvement programs, and also the results presented in this paper.

Keywords

• sexual dimorphism
• romanian mioritic shepherd dog
• males
• females
• body measurements