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Health & Our Guarantee

 

All of our dogs at Rosebud Labradoodles are members of the family.  We know that you feel the same way about your new puppy too. That is why we are doing everything possible to ensure that your new family member is going to be with you and healthy for a long, long time.  No one can guarantee a perfect dog, but we do feel confident enough in the quality of our dogs to warranty them against the development of a genetic condition.

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Here at Rosebud Labradoodles we have put many hours into making sure the genetic component of breeding should produce the healthiest puppies possible. This is why we go above what is required to achieve the Gold Paw standard of testing required by the Australian Labradoodle Association of America (ALAA).  We know that there is much that can be done to ensure that we are breeding only genetically healthy dogs and that is exactly what we do through our genetic screening program with Paw Print Genetics.  Our breeding dogs are tested for the following genetic diseases:

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  • Degenerative Myelopathy (Canine degenerative myelopathy, DM)

  • Exercise-Induced Collapse ( EIC)

  • Hereditary Nasal Parakeratosis (SUV39H2)

  • Neonatal Encephalopathy with Seizures (ATF2)

  • Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Cone-Rod Dystrophy 4 ( Progressive retinal atrophy - cord1, Progressive  retinal atrophy - crd4, Progressive retinal atrophy - crd4/cord1, PRA-cord1, PRA-crd4, PRA-crd4/cord1)

  • Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration (PRA-PRCD, PRCD)

  • Von Willebrand Disease I (VWF)

  • Skeletal Dysplasia2 (COL11A2)

  • Centronuclear Myopathy (PTPLA)

  • Cystinuria (Labrador Retreiver Type) (SLC3A1)

  • Familial Nephropathy (Cocker Spaniel Type) (COL4A4)

  • Glycogen Storage Disease VII, PFK Deficiency (PFKM)

  • Myotubular Myopathy I (MTM1)

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These are simple recessive diseases in Australian Labradoodles, which means that both parents must carry one copy of the mutated gene in order to create offspring who are affected by the disease. Our breeding dogs are clear of all of these genetic diseases so it is impossible for any of our puppies to exhibit these diseases.

We feel all of these genetic tests are extremely important to test for in our breeding parents based upon studies done on a sub-section of the Australian Labradoodle population and evidence that our breed has enough carriers of these inheritable diseases to make adding these tests worth while.

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Why don't all breeders do genetic health screening on their breeding stock?   These tests cost a lot of money and could exclude fabulous dogs from other breeding programs if they were found to be carriers of any of these diseases.

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In addition to all of these genetic tests, our dogs are also screened for physical genetic disorders as well.  

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Eyes

All our breeding stock, male and female, have passed CERF examinations, and are re-tested every 18 months.  CERF is a general eye exam by a certified veterinary ophthalmologist (specialist) who examines the eye for any heritable eye diseases.

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Hips

There are different ratings for canine hips: Excellent, Good and Fair are all "normal" ratings.  The next is a borderline hip rating, followed by three degrees of dysplasia: Mild, Moderate and Severe.  We only breed dogs within the Excellent, Good and Fair ratings.

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We x-ray the hip and elbow joints of all our breeding dogs to check for abnormalities, whether by injury or genetics.  However; that does not mean that we only breed the perfect dogs together.  As the diseases of hip dysplasia are elbow dysplasia are influenced by a number of genes and environmental factors, it is not an exact science.  It is always best to breed "perfect" quality dogs together, who have excellent hip joints, normal elbows, flawless eyes and no health issues of any other type; however, in the real world, keeping to the excellent categories would serve only to irreversibly diminish the gene pool.  Further, the quality of joints of the siblings, parents, aunts and uncles of the dog in question can be as important as those of the dog itself.

The statistics published by the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) show that  breeding two dog with "Good" hips together would produce 10% dysplastic offspring.  Breeding two dogs with "Fair" hips produces 20% dysplastic offspring, while breeding a dog with "Excellent" hips to a dog with "Fair" hips produces 10% dysplastic pups as well.  However, very few of these dogs will ever limp, or show any clinical signs of dysplasia until their senior years, if at all.  Regardless, by the time any canine reaches the age of 8-10 years, many signs of aging can be present.

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Elbows

In comparison, while hips are rated "Excellent, Good, Fair, Borderline, or different grades of dysplastic", elbows are rated only as "Normal" (perfect) and then different grades of dysplastic.  We only breed dogs with a rating of Normal.

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As a breeder, we must always know who is being bred to whom within our program so that the lines are improved and the pups are of equal or better quality than their parents. If we disqualified all of the dogs with the slightest issue, we would lose large percentages of the breeding population in every generation, compounding a gene pool problem that is historically present in purebred dogs and far more dangerous to the dogs than any heritable disease.

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These statistics are based upon huge studies of up to 500,000 dogs of all different breeds.  There is nothing specific to Labradoodles. All of these statistics also reflect clinical and sub-clinical dysplasias. 'Clinical' would be a dog who is actually lame.  'Sub-clinical' is a diagnosis of dysplasia based on a poor joint conformation from x-rays.  While we are always concerned about sub-clinical dysplasias in breeding, we don't warranty unless there is a clinical problem, as there are many dogs with no symptoms who are enjoying happy lives with less than superior joint.

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PUPPY HEALTH WARRANTY

We do everything within our power to breed a healthy litter of labradoodle puppies.  We guarantee that your puppy will be in good health at the time of purchase and delivery.  We will keep him/her until 8-9 weeks of age and provide veterinary exams and the first set of vaccinations.  Within 3 days of receiving your puppy, please acquaint him/her with your own family veterinarian.  If your puppy has any health issues at this time, you may request a refund or replacement puppy.  We also provide a two year health warranty for any hereditary disorders such as hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, PRA, and vWD.  We do not cover tooth issues, EXCEPT if a puppy has a base narrow canine ADULT tooth that is poking into their soft palate, we will cover up to $500 for that tooth to be pulled or filed and capped during a spay/neuter/sterilization procedure.  

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Cosmetic Defects

Nature is not perfect and there may be minor cosmetic defects. A puppy may have an underbite, overbite, base narrow canines, and other slight dental defects. Most will self-correct as the puppy grows and the baby teeth fall out, and the adult teeth come in.  A puppy may have an umbilical hernia but it either closes over time on its own or if not then it as well as other minor issues such as retained or undescended testicles are easily corrected at the same time the puppy is spayed or neutered.

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