Health testing
What we test, and why
Every dog we breed from is health tested before it is ever bred, and the results are published on that dog’s own page — not offered on request. Testing does not guarantee a perfect puppy. What it does is let us make each pairing with our eyes open, and let you see exactly what we knew when we made it.
The panel
- Hips and elbows. Radiographs read by OFA at two years or older. A giant breed carries its weight for a long life; joints that are wrong at two are painful at eight.
- Cardiac. An echocardiogram by a board-certified cardiologist, repeated through the dog’s breeding career rather than done once. Dilated cardiomyopathy is the single most serious hereditary risk in Danes, and it can appear years after a clear first exam.
- Eyes. An annual CAER exam by a veterinary ophthalmologist.
- Thyroid. A full autoimmune thyroid panel, not a single T4 value.
- DNA panel. Breed-relevant genetic screening, so two carriers are never bred together.
Reading the results
Hips come back Excellent, Good, or Fair — all three are passing scores, and a Fair hip on a well-built dog is not a reason to walk away. Elbows are graded Normal or by degree. Cardiac and eye exams are pass/fail and carry a date, which matters as much as the result: an echo from four years ago is history, not a clearance.
On a DNA panel, clear means the dog does not carry the variant, and carrier means it does but will not be affected. A carrier bred to a clear dog cannot produce an affected puppy, which is why we keep good carriers in the program rather than cull sound dogs from a small gene pool.
If a result on one of our dogs does not make sense to you, ask. We would rather spend twenty minutes on the phone than have you guess.
See it dog by dog
Every dog’s page lists its own results. Start there, and ask us about anything you want to see in full.