AmberGretchen
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2005
- Messages
- 7,770
basil - that''s an interesting point about the MVD and when it develops. I admit I don''t know much about the issues in Cavs as I''ve never owned them or really done a lot of research on them. I do know there are some diseases like that, where they develop after breeding age and where the genetic test may not yet exist to find out if a dog is at risk/a carrier. I guess, like everything else, its a question of trying to get the best information you can - if you can find a breed where all of the known issues either develop early in life and/or have tests, that will help, but of course nothing is ever 100% because accidents happen as do genetic mutations. But the odds would be much lower.
We used to breed working labrador retrievers (my parents had a ranch and the dogs were used on the ranch as well as used as gun dogs by many of the people that purchased them). The labs had show champion lines going back many generations, but also were working stock. Then we had Akitas for a while - my mom imported a couple from a breeder in the UK as they weren''t very common in the US at the time and there weren''t really good show lines that she could breed with what she already had. One of the dogs, a beautiful red boy, was "mine" - I did my junior handling in dog shows with him, which was funny as he was definitely bigger than I was
We used to breed working labrador retrievers (my parents had a ranch and the dogs were used on the ranch as well as used as gun dogs by many of the people that purchased them). The labs had show champion lines going back many generations, but also were working stock. Then we had Akitas for a while - my mom imported a couple from a breeder in the UK as they weren''t very common in the US at the time and there weren''t really good show lines that she could breed with what she already had. One of the dogs, a beautiful red boy, was "mine" - I did my junior handling in dog shows with him, which was funny as he was definitely bigger than I was