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Posted by Laure
on November 5, 2009, 4:35 am, in reply to "Missing Teeth"
81.62.234.234
Thanks David for your feedback and comments on European/american breeding differences.
I'm not breeding but I know many breeders and learned a lot about breeding these last 12 years.
In Switzerland, we have really only few breeders because it's really hard breeding due to the rules. These guidelines are given by the breed club, but most of them are similar:
Health:
- hip/elbow dysplasia
- teeth check
- entropion/ectropion
- skeleton problem
- complete vet check
Temperament: test done according to the breed. For exemple, herding breed are tested on sheeps.
Whelping: the mother and puppies have to be in their own room (not living room or kitchen) with direct access to the outside. There are also specific guidelines for the size for the room!
Here are the continental club rules:
http://www.continental-bulldog.ch/zuchtreglement.htm
http://www.continental-bulldog.ch/reglement_elevage.htm
It's in german and second link is in french but you might use an automatic translator.
In Germany, for the american bulldog, they test for hip/elbow dysplasia, cardiac echo, NCL, spondylosis. Most of the dogs are temperament tested or working dogs.
In my opinion, few missing teeth is ok, if you breed it with a dog with all teeth. Wry jaw is a serious fault.
Same with hip... a dog with "good" hips (C) should be bred with a dog with "excellent" hips (A).
I think there are faults that are more important than others!!! If you sell a dog with dysplasia, wry jaw, spondylosis or OCD, it is more problematic for this dog (pain, problems to walk or eat, etc), than a dog with 4 missing teeth or longer coat (that only causes problems for shows!).
That leads to the breeder quality and pet quality. But most of LB breeders are hobby breeders, meaning that some of them are not event knowing the problems that have their dogs!
I remember 10 years ago, breeders were saying that LB's dont have hip dyplasia (only mine! lol)... of course, none was doing x-ray! I'm glad to see today that all breeding dogs are x-rayed.
Genetic is very complicated and multifactorial. It takes generations to improve breed but with 2-3 generations, you can already see improvement if the work is done correctly.
On my 4 dogs (4 different breeds), I had 1 with hip and elbow dysplasia (LB), and 2 with spondylosis (AB and rottweiler), and one dog with OCD (AB). Spondylosis is not only hereditary. The only way to know about it is to make the x-ray when the dog is young (on my dogs, they were 9 and 10 years old!).
For Hudson, and my next LB's, I'll do hip AND elbow dysplasia, but also spondylosis (back x-ray).
I know tests cost money, but when you consider you'll breed your female 2-3 times, and your male as many as he can, you can spend the price of one puppy in tests (only my opinion!).
And yes, creating your lineage/breeding foundation cost a lot of money... and takes time. But when you're successfull it's so rewarding!
Thanks for reading.
Laure
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