to health test or not …. that is the question?????

the kennel club publishes for anyone to see the litters registered and the health test results are online for anyone to look up, it does this 4 times a year , the publication called the breed supplement is posted to those who subscribe

in the last breed supplement we found that

there were

21 litters registered in that 3 month period

17 litters were born from both parents having no health tests at all

2 litters were born where one parent was health tested ( this was the same dog both times )

2 litters were born where both parents were health tested ( these were my 2 litters)

I posted this on my personal wall on facebook where i have over 1000 dog breeding friends and in a couple groups and it seemed breeders were also worried that a lot had no kennel name either , I cant find my breed supplement to give the exact figures ( I don't remember it actually being high myself)

but the question is , the statement I was making was regarding health testing , however in general it seemed the bigger worry/ most spoke about issue was those who were breeding as " unknowns"

so are people actually saying they are more concerned for knowing who the breeder is and how to contact them if there is an issue , than finding a breeder reducing the chance ( but never ruling it out completely)

are people at the stage they want to be able to contact a breeder with a kennel name to tarnish their name if needed rather than worrying about buying from tested parents?

is health testing really super important?

is it the last thing that is a worry and infact price?

location? show wins? ease to get someone to court?

or home raised? actually whats more important?

is a kennel name really the top or near top of the list...…

would not having a kennel name have stopped you buying a puppy?

did not having one parent health tested stop you?

did having neither parent health tested stop you ?

we bang on about health tests , but at the same time we mention looking at the whole dog

remember the dog who had 00 hips and who looked fab but had epilepsy shown and did really well ????

it seems to me, of late, and especially at Christmas when the famous beethooven films are all on, is that actually most just want a Beethoven lookalike...….

we sat at my table over Christmas with family , playing games, suddenly my mobile,, and landline were going mad, 3 texts came in in that same hour and 4 emails calls on both phones with calls waiting ...… guess what was on tv?????

what on earth is going on??????

do people care about health tests? do they care that the breeder cares?

for us , we health test we will always health test if its too risky to test a dog then they surely have an issue so shouldnt be bred from anyway???

are people focusing only on health , and is that rightly or wrongly so??

why when faced with the same issues as a newfoundland or bernese- 2 other giant breeds do saint breeders test so very much less , with most not testing at all

whats the real thoughts here..... feel free to let me know your feelings , whoever you are