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Doing it right isn't for the faint of heart

It seems as if the dog god has decided once again to frown on my plans.

First we had the PLL fiasco with everything in my kennel testing out to be either a carrier or at-risk. After the genetic test for the PLL marker came out I tested a litter that I had just had - turns out the father was at-risk and the mother was a carrier. Each puppy had a 50/50 chance of either being a carrier or at risk - and 4 out of 5 puppies tested as at risk. So much for those who said that the numbers would even out in the litter! Fortunately, all of my puppy buyers understood the issue and took it with more calm than I had.

Having witnessed the effects of PLL myself, I swore off any breeding that could possibly create an at risk dog - so no carrier to carrier or carrier to at risk crosses will EVER be made here. I will spay my prize bitch before I issue a painful sentence to a puppy who was created through no fault of its own.

And here we go again with the bad news.

A year of waiting on a litter.

A year and a half of studying pedigrees and looking for the best male to compliment my bitch.

Two years of waiting for all necessary testing to be complete.

Ten years of finally having enough knowledge to put two dogs together to create something spectacular.

And three seconds to have your bubble burst so badly that you don't even want to breed another dog again.

I called the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals today to get hip and elbow results for my Rodear.

The good news? Her elbows look great.

The bad news? She is mildly dysplastic in her left hip.

Both of Rodear's parents have "Good" hip ratings and none of their puppies (that I know of) have ever had less than "Good" ratings on their hips. So it seems to be a first, but with my conservative breeding philosophy and with many ethical considerations, I cannot in good conscious breed Rodear and cross my fingers that the hips on her puppies would be fine.

Back to the drawing board I go... and of course after I had to inform the potential puppy owners on my list of the cancellation of the cross.


As a warning for those who breed ANY dog and says that their vet "looked at the x-rays and thought they were "fine," my vet thought for sure her hips would be fair or good. It is why I leave the ratings to the experts. After all, you wouldn't go to a general practitioner to treat your cancer, now would you? Caveat emptor to those who trust the word of a non-expert.

Comments

  1. MetaSeptember 27, 2011 at 1:07 PM

    I'm very sorry Rebekah, if there's any way I can help you let me know. Sorry to see such a big dream dashed. :(

    ReplyDelete

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