Minimum Health Guarantees per breed

[gopokes]

As a prospective pup buyer, what are the health guarantees that you'd need to see to buy a dog from a breeder? Most reputable breeders offer health guarantees, but some vary slightly (1 yr vs 2 yrs for genetic diseases etc). What are your 'have to's" for health guarantees for your pup? Are there different things you'd emphasize depending on the breed? Thanks!

[JONOV]

As a prospective pup buyer, what are the health guarantees that you'd need to see to buy a dog from a breeder? Most reputable breeders offer health guarantees, but some vary slightly (1 yr vs 2 yrs for genetic diseases etc). What are your 'have to's" for health guarantees for your pup? Are there different things you'd emphasize depending on the breed? Thanks!

Guarantees? Honestly...barely worth the paper they're printed on in the real world. The best one that I've heard is one that contributes $250 towards spaying/neutering your dog and a 50% discount on a future puppy.

The guarantees that imply a full refund usually mean that you give the dog back, and by the way, you're going to have to take the dog to a vet of the breeders choosing to get the diagnosis confirmed, and are you cool with the breeder putting the dog down? Because there's a good chance they might.

I'd rather see a hip x-ray and do a lot of research.

Hips, for anything, although I can't say that I've seen a lot of Pointers or Setters with OFA or Pennhip ratings. Elbows aren't a bad idea either. You really need to look into it for the breed and talk to a lot of people. I know of one Pointer that has crummy hips, they didn't X-ray, because it doesn't seem to be commonly done for them.

For retriever breeds (Labs, goldens, boykins, etc...) I'd want hips and elbows, maybe EID.

Some things are hard to quantify. I've seen a lot of breeders (specifically GWP) that are very active in the show ring, breed club, etc, that brag about their dogs being CHIC certified. Honestly, it seems like a money-grab to me, testing for things that really aren't all that common or requiring tests that common sense could tell you about. IE, eyes; don't need an opthamologist to tell me if the dog has ectropic or entropic eyes.

[orhunter]

I never consider it. I figure the integrity of the people I get dogs from to be good enough. If there's a problem, we'll work something out. Having to deal with a health guarantee is the last of my concerns.

[Dmog]

I personally like seeing a hip and genetic disease guarantee, which as previously stated, means the breeder taking the pup back well after you have invested time, money, and emotions into the pup. I also expect the breeder to put a spay or neuter clause on their guarantee, meaning if you want the hip guarantee, you will refrain from spaying or neutering until 18-24 months old. If you see this clause, typically the breeder is putting forth a baseline athlete with good joints and its up to you to keep it that way.

[AverageGuy]

With GWPs, hips and thyroid are the two screenings that are most important.

As noted a health guarantee is a tragedy if it has to be fallen back upon because a great deal of bonding and work with the pup will have taken place before it becomes apparent that the dog is not sound.

Which brings up the real crux of the subject: Buy a pup from a line of dogs which have been screened from multiple generations for at least hips and thyroid and in doing so, dramatically lower your risk of ever needing to fall back on a health guarantee on a pup you have invested a lot of money, heart and soul in.

[JONOV]

With GWPs, hips and thyroid are the two screenings that are most important.

As noted a health guarantee is a tragedy if it has to be fallen back upon because a great deal of bonding and work with the pup will have taken place before it becomes apparent that the dog is not sound.

This. Hips especially. Thyroid is only tragic if you have hopes of breeding, thyroid is manageable with medication. FWIW the VDD doesn't require thyroid testing.

[AverageGuy]

With GWPs, hips and thyroid are the two screenings that are most important.

As noted a health guarantee is a tragedy if it has to be fallen back upon because a great deal of bonding and work with the pup will have taken place before it becomes apparent that the dog is not sound.

This. Hips especially. Thyroid is only tragic if you have hopes of breeding, thyroid is manageable with medication. FWIW the VDD doesn't require thyroid testing.

Friend posted a photo of his ES yesterday on FB at the age of 4, before the dog's thyroid went haywire and it lost all its hair. Dog has never been the same since. It can be a bigger deal than your post suggests and is very much worth screening for and avoiding.

[Dmog]

My 9 yo Griff has been getting a Thyro-Tab twice a day since he was 5 yo. It started as his energy level dropped and hair on his ribs was thinning. Thought it was food at first and switch it up and added fish oil. Hair loss proceeded to get worse. Took him in and found his thyroid wasn't producing like it should. Took about 30 days and he was back to acting like a pup and hair came back. I held out hope we would be able to reduce from 2 a day to one but no cigar.

I think this disease may have effected his stamina a bit but he also has some joint weakness developing. I'm sure that is from me taking my vet's advice to neuter him at 6 months old due to an undescended testicle. I'm not sure this was good advice looking back on it.

Treating the thyroid issue has kept him alive and in the field. Vet told me at that time that he wasn't ready to say the thyroid issue was heredity. If it is, then by all means a person should be screening for it if possible when deciding to breed as it does effect the efficiency and life span off your hunting partner as does many other non heredity decisions we make for our pups. ie quality feed, exercise, optional surgeries/vaccinations, method of vehicle enter/exit, and weight control to name a few.