Health Testing

Lucy's hips.

Because Lucy's owners want to breed her this year, she needs to have all her health testing completed.  The goal of Responsible Breeders (as opposed to "puppy raisers") is to produce the best puppies possible.  Although they are  hoping to get a few show potential pups from a litter, they also want to produce dogs with wonderful dispositions and excellent health potential.  There are a number of tests that can be done on dogs before the decision is made to breed them, tests that will maximize the chances of their offspring living long & healthy lives.  Health testing is one of the things that separate Responsible Breeders from commercial breeders (often referred to as puppy mills) and backyard breeders.

In Dals we test hearing, x-ray hips, and have eye checks done.  Additional testing includes elbow x-rays, thyroid testing, and cardiac tests.  Lucy was hearing tested (we call that BAER testing) along with her littermates when she was about 7 weeks old, so we know she hears in both ears.  Her hip and elbow x-rays yesterday looked great, but they were sent off to OFA (Orthopedic Foundation For Animals) for evaluation.  When Lucy goes to the National, she will have her eyes, thyroid and heart checked out.  IF she passes all these tests, she will be bred. 

To be continued . . .