For The Love Of Labradoodles

At around 8 weeks of age we take our puppies to our Veterinarian, they are given a comprehensive health examination which is above and beyond the type they would normally receive at first vaccinations. We have a extensive list of body parts that we get the Veterinarian to examine and then have this recorded on the puppies personal certificate which is confirmed by the puppies microchip number. They check for things like any obvious heart problems, jaw problems, ligament problems, hernias etc.If any health concerns are noted at this examination they are recorded so the new owner can then see them. It is very rare that we have a medical issue with one of our puppies as we have been rigorous with our parent's health testing but on occasion the odd one may have a small issue but it is important that we are able to identify this at a early age so our families are well informed etc.All breeding puppies are given the same health checks and they have to be perfect in every way for us to continue with them in our breeding program. They will then continue on to have their x-rays performed at a older age.These checks done at 8 weeks can not determine problems we cannot see as with all live animals including humans there is no real crystal ball that can predict what may happen through life, all we are trying to do is reduce the likelihood of what we can see and help prevent it etc.

The BVA system stands for the British Veterinary Association and this system was developed there.The scoring system is done on both hips and is broken down into 10 areas, each recording a score, this is tallied and the final score is given. A dog should not be used if it scores a 4 in any one individual area as this proves there is a sign of degeneration at this early age of screening etc.It has been known for some breeds of dogs to score very highly and thus not be suitable for breeding with. The total number/score can in some cases be over 100.Our dogs have consistently scored in the low figures for many years now and on some occasions if we feel the female dog concerned can add many other good traits to our breeding program but has a slightly high score we will allow that dog to remain providing we use a stud with very low scores as this should ensure the healthy outcome of the puppies. This female will not score over 15 however and our ideal score is to use dogs who are under the breed average in Australia.The breed average for the Australian Labradoodle is 12.75 in total in Australia and we use this method mostly because in Australia there are a huge number of Australian Labradoodles tested and the breed average is more accurate. However we will not compromise our studs scores and they must be low for us to use them in our breeding program.The elbow scores are graded from 0 to 3. We will not use a dog with a score over 1 on both sides as a score of 0 or 1 is acceptable for breeding , in our history we have not had any issues or reports of elbow dysplasia with our dogs . At 12 months of age our breeding dogs are taken to our veterinarian to be given a very light anesthetic. This enables the veterinarian to take still digital images of the dog's hips and elbows. These images are then sent via post on CD to Australia for scoring.

PennHIP is a different method of testing the hips and its  more accurate in predicting likelihood of progressing onto early arthritis/ hip dysplasia. These x-rays can be done as early as 16 weeks, however they need re-doing at 12 months and we only do this at a young age for a early indication for a breeding dog heading overseas mostly as the need to give the dog concerned two anesthetics is not desirable and a second is needed at 12 months for elbow x-rays anyway so we normally opt to just test at 12 months of age for this reason.This system is done electronically and measures certain angles, laxity and evidence of DJD ( Degenerative Joint Disease). The scores are given as percentiles and the recommendation  for the Labradoodle is to stay within the breeds  own average ,  we discuss the results with our vets to ensure we are breeding forward soundly and improving our lines in each generation thus ensuring we put pairs of breeding dogs together that will help to ensure we are improving the stability of the hips as we go. This type of scoring system is a more modern way of testing for hip dysplasia and it means we will be phasing out  BVA x-rays and only utilizing this method of testing into the future , these x-rays are  sent to the USA for scoring. 

​For us here at Kiwi Pride DNA testing has been something we established as early as 2002 when we first started breeding our beautiful labradoodles. We decided  very early on to utilize what tests we had available back then to help to set the bar high with our breeding program. We were able through testing  our original breeding lines to eliminate retinal atrophy a blindness disease that was prolific within some of the pedigree lines we were using and thus any imported lines we bought in from overseas were also clear of this debilitating disease.Since then we have been working hard to make sure we keep this clear status in tact and have recently tested all of our working stud dogs within our program for not only this blindness disease but also many more diseases that have recently been made available to us. We are simply delighted with the results of all  tests undertaken to come back clear ( we will list some of these below).We hope over the coming months to carry on and test all of our females within our program also.

Some of the tests carried out include:

Exercise Induced Collapse , Autosomal Hereditary Recessive Nephropathy, Cystinuria, Mytotubular Myopathy X Linked, Neonatal Encephalopathy, Von Willebrands Disease, Degenerative Myelopathy, Centonuclear Myopathy, Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy/Krabbes DIs, Narcolespy and Progressive Rod Cone Degeneration - PRA 

While also for us doing Trait tests for: Long Hair Genes and color typing which will aid in our selection of mating's moving forward.

So rewarding and exciting!