Breed Health

Breed health is incredibly important to ensure that we have happy healthy puppies but also so that we can develop the Entlebucher Mountain Dog in the UK in a responsible way.

Whilst there are no rules in the UK to restrict us from registering a pedigree puppy with the Kennel Club we still adhere to best in practice guidance gathering information from all over Europe including Austria, Switzerland and Germany to seek advice on what tests should be conducted.

There are two types of tests which can be done; a DNA test and an actual physical test.  By far the best test is the DNA test which can prove whether your dog is clear (A), a carrier (B) or has the problem (C). Not all tests can be conducted using DNA sometimes it is because the gene that drives the disorder has not yet been found and other times it can be that these things develop over time.  

We do not just consider health tests but also Coefficiency (how close the stud and dam are related), the character we want friendly and happy dogs some of this is nuture and some of this is nature, and the conformity (how does the dog look) if we have a dog with socks which are two long then we try and match with a dog with shorter socks, so where one dog has a flaw then we match with a more perfect dog. 

It is sometimes quite difficult and there can be areas where you just have to compromise the key is knowing where to compromise and where not to!