A Veterinary Health Check.

All our breeders registered adult dogs receive a full veterinary check up at 12 months of age and are only approved by the MDBA for breeding if they are 100% heathy & sound. This is to insure they will produce healthy sound puppies.  

What does the vet check in a health check? It is a physical examination which checks the following things

     Their heart – Must be strong and normal

     Their Patella’s – Must score 0 to 2 only

     Their teeth & bite – Scissor (normal) Level (is acceptable)

     Their height – Must be between 24cms to 30.5cms

     Their weight – Must not be over 5kgs

     Their overall general appearance – Healthy, shiny coat    

Why is their heart checked?

They are looking for a good strong healthy heart and to ensure there are no heart defects such as a heart murmur. 

What is a Patella?

The patella is a dog's kneecap. It is a small, floating bone located within the quadriceps tendon of the hind leg. Its primary job is to act as a lever, allowing the thigh muscles to straighten the knee and enabling the dog to stand, run, and jump.

Patellar Luxation: The most common patella-related issue in dogs is Patellar Luxation, which simply means the kneecap dislocates or slips out of its groove. There are two main types:

Medial Patellar Luxation (MPL): The patella slips toward the inside of the leg (more common, especially in toy and small breeds).

Lateral Patellar Luxation (LPL): The patella slips toward the outside of the leg (more common in larger breeds).

A dog's patella (kneecap) is evaluated using a 0 to 4 grading scale (often called the Putnam system). This scale measures patellar luxation, which occurs when the kneecap slips out of its groove in the femur. Grade 0 indicates a perfectly normal, stable knee, while Grade 4 represents a severe, permanent dislocation. The standard veterinary grading scale is as follows:

Grade 0 (Normal): The patella tracks normally in the femoral groove and cannot be dislocated.

Grade I (Minor): The patella can be manually luxated (pushed out of place) by a vet, but it returns immediately to its normal position when released. No treatment is usually needed.

Grade 2 (Occasional): The patella luxates spontaneously during movement or leg manipulation, but it returns to its normal position on its own. Owners typically notice a brief "skipping" or lifting of the hind leg.

Grade 3 (Frequent): The patella is luxated most of the time but can be manually pushed back into the groove. It pops back out as soon as the manual pressure is released. This causes considerable limping or crouched walking.

Grade 4 (Severe): The patella is permanently out of place and cannot be manually repositioned. Dogs with this grade experience significant mobility issues and may walk with permanently bent knees.

The MDBA only approve dogs for breeding with a Patella score of 0 to 2

The Bite of a bog what does this mean?

A dog’s "bite" refers to how their upper and lower teeth align when their mouth is closed. This alignment is largely genetic and heavily evaluated by veterinarians. 

The four primary types of canine bites are:

Scissor Bite (Normal): The ideal alignment for most breeds. The upper incisors (front teeth) sit just in front of and lightly touch the lower incisors, resembling the blades of closed scissors.

Level Bite (Pincer): The upper and lower incisors meet exactly edge-to-edge. While acceptable in some breeds, this causes the tips of the teeth to grind against each other, leading to accelerated wear as the dog ages.

Overshot (Overbite): The upper jaw is longer than the lower jaw, creating a distinct gap between the upper and lower front teeth. In severe cases, the lower teeth can strike the roof of the mouth, causing pain and trauma.

Undershot (Underbite): The lower jaw is longer than the upper jaw. The lower incisors protrude outward and sit in front of the upper incisors. This is standard and required for some flat-faced breeds (like Boxers or Bulldogs) but is a disqualifying fault in many others.

All our breeders dogs have been genetically tested for PLL 

What is P.L.L

Primary Lens Luxation (PLL) is a well-recognised, painful and blinding inherited eye condition that affects many breeds of dog, particularly terrier and terrier-type breeds. In affected dogs the zonu-lar fibres which support the lens breakdown or disintegrate, causing the lens to fall into the wrong position within the eye. If the lens falls into the anterior chamber of the eye glaucoma and loss of vision can quickly result.

DNA testing - Orivet offers testing for the presence or absence of this precise mutation.