North Texas Boston Terrier Club - Buying a Puppy

Does the breeder utilize health testing and is knowledgeable about the breeds health issues?

By Meilani Marischino
ALL breeds have health issues. Some breeds have more health issues than others. A responsible breeder will be knowledgeable about what health issues afflict their chosen breed(s) and will do what they can to help reduce these issues from being passed down. This can include doing pedigree research, removing afflicted dogs from their breeding program and utilizing health testing. There are quite a few tests out there that breeders can use to help rule out health issues. The most popular are OFA which is for patellas(knees) and hips, CERF for eyes and BAER for deafness. These tests can help prevent defects such as Luxating patellas, Hip Dysplasia, Juvenile Cataracts and deafness from being passed down to future generations.

In *my* experiences, BYB's and pet stores/commercial breeders, do not utilize health testing and some of them do not know what it is. Some irresponsible breeders believe that a basic vet visit is suffice. It's not. A lot of congenital defects cannot be detected by the naked eye. Some of these tests, such as CERF and BAER, can only be done by specialists. Some irresponsible breeders think they're slick and will try to pass off a basic vet vist as "health testing". View Health Testing

If a breeder says they do health testing, ask to see the results! They should look like what I posted. If they don't have the results on hand, see if they are on the registries. For example, Shelby's breeder is listed on the OFA database. You can even see Shelby's results on there. If a breeder doesn't show you results and/or isn't listed on any of the registries, it's safe to say they don't do health testing and you should steer clear!

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