Dog breeds known for their health.....

Meowy Catkin said:
I don't know about bread and tea... but the ones at the riding school were each given a fresh (uncooked) egg for 'breakfast' every day. :):p
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Mine get a small egg most days. The boys of raw fed dogs and endlessly laying mini chickens!

I don't want to jinx anything but my whippets seem surprisingly tough. Neither are KC and are working bred, one def has a dash of something else in him as well. Thyev never had stitches either, and I have patched them up myself a few times. No known heart problems either. When Dylan was racing fit the vet used to get very excited when he came in as he had a really slow heart rate as he was so fit. Now he's a middle aged couch potato its not quite the same!
 
If they're dogs not registered and there's no paperwork/testing/pedigree/ID/microchips how to we safeguard against close family inbreeding in the community? Whether mutts or not.
Again it's just a question I'm throwing open for debate. How do we know Bonzo isn't Fido and he's mated his sister? Or is inbreeding only bad in pedigree dogs?
 
Lurchers bred by a fast diminishing population of 'dogmen' who worked them, knew their lines and, either culled substandard ones or removed them from the hunting community. It did not stop some of the dogs killing themselves while working of course but the ruthless selection kept the lines healthy. There are still some around but the pups are in great demand from knowledgeable people, booked in advance, and not often advertised.
 
My trainer would have said something similar about hounds. If it can't work, it's no good and is removed from the gene pool. No health testing. Similarly the service or sports dogs back in the day. If they could clear a pallisade, they were healthy.
 
They weren’t my sort (being proper lurchers not long dogs) but Hancock lurchers were always a thing a few years ago? I think they were beardie x long dog types?

I don’t know any more having reflected on this all afternoon, maybe my expectations are too high ? I cannot think of a single breed without some health issues, even every mongrel I’ve had has had health issues of some kind related to one of its ancestors (bad teeth, poor conformation, dodgy temperament...)

Perhaps I’ll stop looking for ‘perfection’ and enjoy all the gorgeous rescues I have ?❤️❤️
 
Aru said:
All breeds have some issues it's generally a matter of the severity and degree of the issues seen within the breed.

I'm a terrible person ask me a breed and I'l give a pros and cons list. Apparently I ruin breeds for people all the time.

If you had to ask me what I thought was the healthiest breed in the world....

Greyhound most likely

Australian cattle dogs or Kelpies are pretty high on the list but hard work

Finnish lapphund :p
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ACDs, Kelpie, Malinois keep appearing on the list of breeds I think I’d like to own. But maybe the idea is better than the reality ?
 
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As any HHOer who has seen him in person or on video :p will know, my older GSD is extremely robust, touch wood.

I've had them all my life and have chosen lines/dogs well IMO, dogs which have lived to old bones, apart from two littermates, one who was very poorly as a pup and had a litany of issues in his short life, bless him, and a sister who was physically healthy but absolutely cuckoo mentally.
The information was available as regards the male's issues, in hindsight, I now know what to avoid.

Current dog is nine and comes from lines known to be healthy and long lived. A big factor for me also is that he is compact and small to medium sized as per the breed standard.
However the flipside is that his energy and joy de vivre would make him an even bigger pain in the behind for the average pet owner.

'Big dogs break' in my experience with GSDs and the trend for oversized/heavily built animals on both working and show sides of the house has a lot to answer for.
They're not and never were a giant breed and they shouldn't have heads like chows but all I see on Facebook is people cooing over knuckle and bone.
And the 'old fashioned, big boned, straight backed' sales pitch amongst pet breeders who think that this somehow negates the possibility hip dysplasia and boast of how tall and heavy their dogs are is an utter nonsense, indeed there is more pressure on the joint.
People remember bigger dogs as kids because *they* were smaller.
 
I may be biased, but Manchester Terriers have few health issues without the breed. Parents should be test for VWD (Same as dobes) but other than that they’re a pretty hardy lot.
That’s one of the reasons I went for one; plus they’re a rare native breed, super intelligent, and stunning to look at. Bonus is they hate water and mud and are super easy to keep clean! Hard work in the adolescent stage but then most are..!
 
ponyparty said:
I may be biased, but Manchester Terriers have few health issues without the breed. Parents should be test for VWD (Same as dobes) but other than that they’re a pretty hardy lot.
That’s one of the reasons I went for one; plus they’re a rare native breed, super intelligent, and stunning to look at. Bonus is they hate water and mud and are super easy to keep clean! Hard work in the adolescent stage but then most are..!
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Hereditary Von Willebrand's and increasing number with kidney issues linked to one bloodline. I wish someone would tell mine she's supposed to hate water and mud...!! ;)
 
DabDab said:
What I always find curious about the trend of describing whole breeds as 'unhealthy' in dogs is that there isn't the same tendency to describe whole horse breeds as unhealthy in the same way. Why is that?
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Talk to your equine vet, believe me we have some opinions...!!! The one's that pain me most are halter QHs, I hate treating them
 
druid said:
Talk to your equine vet, believe me we have some opinions...!!! The one's that pain me most are halter QHs, I hate treating them
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But whole breeds are not known as unhealthy in the same way and there isn't the same stigma associated with owning certain breeds as a result.

I couldn't ever bring myself to own a traditional cob because of the skin conditions and tendency to be obese, but if someone talks about buying one there won't be a queue of people to tell them how awfully unhealthy that breed is.
 
Is there less emphasis on pure horse breeds in general...? Bearing in mind this is coming from someone who has old happy hackers at home, and has otherwise been out of the horse world for a long time, so there's every chance I'm wrong. :p

I get the impression that for the average horse owner the actual breed is less important than size or intended function, and there's no stigma associated with crossbreeds or general 'types', as long as it does what it's needed to do.

Plus you don't get brachycephalic/chondrodystrophic horses in nearly the same way as you do dogs, even the most ill bred horse can generally run and breathe...!

Interesting about Von Willebrands, the schip club offer a rebate to encourage testing and hold their own database, though the KC don't publish results. I have often wondered why they encourage it as it's not a known problem in the breed. They are robustly healthy little shites, though the gene pool is frighteningly small.
 
freisian horses are known for health issues. Again, a fairly small gene pool.

most horse breeds have a bit of something else in there somewhere down the line, which probably makes them healthier in the long run I think.
 
As a lay person I would observe that there seem to be a tendency to categorise (for example) show horses as unhealthy rather than a particular breed? Are there fewer examples of each pure breed being shown than there are with dogs??

I’m fed up with seeing overweight/obese show horses/cobs - in the same way I’m fed up with seeing overweight/obese/not fit for purpose hounds in the show ring
 
Sorry, not read all the replies but I’ve always found a good old mutt tends to last longer, or at least run into less trouble!

We have 3 cross breeds. Our oldest is an 11 year old Dane x Husky. She’s slowing down a bit now but we’ve been so lucky with her that she’s had no real issues in her life.

My friend hasn’t had several German Shephards and they’ve had numerous health problems. The KC registered ones legs went and he struggled in his last few years. The non-KC registered one was diagnosed with dog lupus and died aged 7. He had suffered from health issues all his life as a result of the lupus- needed his toe amputated, suffered with ear infections and sores. He died from an undiagnosed tumour on his spleen that burst one morning. By the time my friend got him in the car and to the vet, he was dying. Fortunately they managed to end his suffering, but it was a very traumatic experience for the family.
 
druid said:
Hereditary Von Willebrand's and increasing number with kidney issues linked to one bloodline. I wish someone would tell mine she's supposed to hate water and mud...!! ;)
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Ah yes the kidney issues thing. That’s a fairly recent discovery if I remember rightly? Seem to recall some drama on the fb group, I left it not long after that so I’m not really in the loop any more.

OMG yours likes mud and water?! ? don’t get me wrong, Frank would pursue a ball or quarry through mud/water/fire - but when just walking/sniffing around he always chooses not to get his feet wet and finds a way round ? and good luck getting him to go outside to pee or poop if it’s raining ?
 
scats said:
He died from an undiagnosed tumour on his spleen that burst one morning. By the time my friend got him in the car and to the vet, he was dying. Fortunately they managed to end his suffering, but it was a very traumatic experience for the family.
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I lost one at ten to Hemangiosarcoma, also knew nothing until it was too late, it's present in a number of breeds sadly.
 
CorvusCorax said:
I lost one at ten to Hemangiosarcoma, also knew nothing until it was too late, it's present in a number of breeds sadly.
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Awful isn’t it. The vet said it was actually really common and a lot of dogs die of it. I think my friends poor dog was just one very unlucky chap in general. He spent most of his life on medication for various things. Really sad. He was such a lovely gentle chap and he didn’t deserve any of it.
 
My friend breeds Cavaliers her seem to live long acive lives often making mid to late teens still fit and healthy mind you they are all health tested, eyes hearts joints etc even have MRI for syrinx problems so I guess her crusade to rid the breed of ts awful reputation will one day be rewarded. I like gundogs and mostly have never had much go wrong upto about 12. The dog with the greatest longevity was my Newfoundland bitch she lived until she was nearly 17 one of the oldest if not the oldest newfie ever She had a lot of puppies always big litters and was never spayed
 
I think for most of the more human-developed horse breeds there has probably been more permitted cross overs/use of non-studbook reg. animals than there has been in dogs too? Or at least more recently in time? You can use most of the TBs/warmbloods and have various registration options for instance.

I'm always surprised that the older 'heritage' breeds with now small numbers or breeding animals don't seem to have issues - unless I've just not heard of them. (not friesians, thinking more suffolks etc)
 
ponyparty said:
I may be biased, but Manchester Terriers have few health issues without the breed. Parents should be test for VWD (Same as dobes) but other than that they’re a pretty hardy lot.
That’s one of the reasons I went for one; plus they’re a rare native breed, super intelligent, and stunning to look at. Bonus is they hate water and mud and are super easy to keep clean! Hard work in the adolescent stage but then most are..!
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Mine died of acute kidney failure at 7 years old. Breeders told me it’s a known thing in MTs and there was research being done at AHT.

That said I agree they are wonderful dogs.
 
ihatework said:
Mine died of acute kidney failure at 7 years old. Breeders told me it’s a known thing in MTs and there was research being done at AHT.

That said I agree they are wonderful dogs.
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that’s awful and so sad. They are cracking little dogs. I do remember something being mentioned now, in the last year or so, about kidney failure. I don’t suppose you could share what bloodlines your MT was from? By pm if you prefer.

as far as I’m aware though, most of them do live a fairly long life, 15-17 years seeming quite common
 
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