Health Checked versus Health Tested!

There is a huge difference between the meaning of health checked and health tested when you are researching a litter of pups!

Health Checked purely means that the pups and or parents have been checked by a vet for general good health/wellbeing. While this is great and pups should be health checked before leaving for their new homes it is not the same as Health Tested.

Health Tested means that the parents of the pups have had several tests performed on them prior to being bred from to prevent pups being born with hereditary diseases specific to the breed. Some of which can seriously affect your pups future quality of life.

Health testing that needs to be done as a minimum on the parents of an ACD puppy:

DNA Test for PRA prcd, PRA rcd4 & PLL

BAER Hearing Test

KC/BVA Hip & Elbow Scoring

Health Testing on the actual puppy:

BAER Hearing Test

DNA Test for PRA prcd, PRA rcd4 & PLL if parents results can’t determine no Affected pups

If you purchase a puppy without the above testing being done you must be prepared for your dog to develop any of the above life changing conditions! You may be lucky it may not be your dog, it may be its sibling, you dodged a bullet hey!

Remember you are as responsible for the breeding standards of dogs in this country as the breeders of the dogs themselves are! If you buy them they will breed them again and again and more dogs will suffer in the future. Ask the questions about health testing, be prepared to walk away and wait for a puppy bred by someone who cares about what they are selling you!