What health checks do good breeders provide?

[bob2]

I am curious as to what health checks and gurantees a good breeder of Border collies should provide?
thanks for all suggestions
bob2

[smiffy]

well the average hip score for a border collie is 14 but i dont think its that much of a problem in the breed but you should only buy from eye tested parents and it would be helpful if the pups had been eye tested too. many ppl think that 'collie eye' is when a collie stares you out as they would in the field but its actually a distortion of the retina and its full name is collie eye anomly (sp)
also there is deafness in the breed which is of higher rate in dogs with the white and merle gene. it would be helpful to know whether there had ever been any deafness in the line because even if an entire litter of pups born to a deaf mother (deaf from birth) are hearing they could still carry their mothers deaf gene and so give you a deaf dog in your litter.
the kennel club require that deaf dogs are put down as they say they have no quality of life. thats piffle! i have two deaf dogs and our rescue takes in deaf dogs of any breed and we work with them on sign language.

[bob2]

Actually there is quite a number of Border Collies that have variuos degrees of Hip Displasia. We breed,train and trial Border Collies in the 4 major herding organizations and it is quite a problem...

Another problem is that most of the cases are never reported and that many people never test for it.. The OFA data base in no way is representitive of the number of know hip displasia cases that are present.

CEA is much less prevelent.... it just depends on which sources you use..

and how many Border Collies that particular source deals with on a yearly basis..

IN the herding world it is a problem that we are trying to address as it is not only painful and crippling to the dog but to the owner who depends on the performance of the dog in working livestock wether for trials or actually ranch work. This is one of the main reasons that folks acquire working dogs from a breeder that has tested the parents and that the dog be xrayed/tested at 12 months. We have acquired several dogs with severe Hip displaia from reputable breeders in the herding world and when you consider the amount of training that goes into a good herding dog it very costly.... So knowledable herding folks always want to know about HD testing in parents as well as the particular dog. Alsoi the scoring system differs quite a bit between the U.S. system and other countries...
it is less ambiguous in the U.S. grading system.. It is either Good,fair,or bad..... In other countries there is more grey area of judgement..


bob2

[RedyreRottweilers]

I think seizuring is a significant issue in BCs as well.

Testing varies from breed to breed. In Rottweilers, responsible people screen hips, elbows, hearts, and eyes, and many times Thyroid, vWd, and patellas as well.