At NorthPaws, we believe in responsible, ethical breeding practises that prioritise the health and well-being of our dogs. We are committed to producing happy and healthy puppies that will make great pets for families and individuals alike.
We are continuously learning at NorthPaws and will share what we learn with our buyers.
NorthPaws has read The Government’s guidance document “The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations" 2018 guidance for the conditions for breeding dogs
Lucy's Law is named after a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Lucy, who was rescued from a Welsh puppy farm in 2013. A campaign was run in Lucy's name, focusing on the welfare of puppies when sold by third parties; dogs like Lucy are often forced to breed multiple times a year, with puppies being taken from their mothers at just a few weeks old and sold on to pet dealers and pet shops.
Lucy's Law was approved by Parliament on 13th May 2019 and came in to effect in England on 6th April 2020. The law makes it illegal to sell puppies and kittens under 6 months old unless the seller:
NorthPaws follows the Kennel Clubs guidance relating to health testing for our dogs.
The Kennel club have two categories of testing: required and recommended.
Required testing:
These are health tests and screening schemes that must be carried out by breeders and need to be carried out on any male and female dogs before they are used for mating
Recommended testing:
These tests can include anything that impacts the health or welfare of the breeding dogs, or the puppies they produce
Required:
DNA testing – EF (Episodic Falling)
DNA testing – CC/DE (Curly Coat/Dry Eye)
BVA Eye Screening
KC Heart Scheme
Recommended:
BVA/KC CM (Chiari-like malformation)
BVA/KC SM (Syringomyelia)
As Cavapoos are not a purebred the Kennel Club do not have direct guidance re the testing for this breed, however NorthPaws have used Laboklin (KC recognised Clinical Laboratory) to carry out all the DNA testing for a Cavalier and Poodle:
Degenerative Myelopathy
Von Willebrand Disease
Neonatal Encephalopathy
Muscular Dystrophy
Macro-thrombocytopenia
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (prcd & rcd4)
Episodic Falling
Dry Eye/Curly Coat
Line breeding is also known as Inbreeding and occurs when puppies are born to two dogs who have relatives in common.
The history of dog breeding is an eye opening one. In the late 1800s records of dogs in the UK began and a law restricting crossbreeding was set. This meant that the genetic population of dog breeds became very small, creating ‘island populations’ and meaning related dogs were mating causing a rise in the inherited disorders we know about today.
In an effort to reduce birth defects, the spread of known and unknown inherited disorders, responsible breeders will check the inbreeding calculator (co-efficient/ COI) for their dogs before making a mating match.
This calculates the probability that two copies of a gene variant have been inherited from an ancestor common to both the mother and the father. The lower the degree of inbreeding, the lower the inbreeding coefficient.
A puppy will inherit half its genetics from mum and half from dad, the genes form to make pairs.
Genes come in two types: dominant or recessive.
Dominant genes render recessive genes harmless, in effect they overpower them. Acting like a switch they turn off the recessive gene, preventing it from causing harm.
Possible combinations:
Dominant + Dominant
Dominant + Recessive
Recessive + Recessive
Impact of these combinations:
Normal + Normal = clear (Healthy)
Normal + Faulty = carrier (Healthy)
Faulty + Faulty = affected (Diseased)
What does this mean for breeders and their owners?
Health Screening allows us to identify the recessive/faulty genes however, by eliminating these dogs from breeding programmes will result in yet more genes begin lost in an already historically diminished gene pool.
We must endeavour to not cause more ‘island populations’ resulting in no new genetic material and thus increasing the chances of faulty genes meeting.
NorthPaws will use the same process of selecting a stud as we do for assessing the suitability of our bitches:
Co-efficient:
This is our starting point, we use the Kennel Club COI calculator for this process. For our F1b Cavapoos we look at the link between our F1 Cavapoos purebred parent to the stud we are choosing. If the stud we are looking at is closely related to our girl then we do not go any further.
Health Screening:
No matter which breed we are looking at we ensure that at least the required testing has been carried out. We then assess this against our girls results to ensure we are not going causing faulty genes to meet.
Temperament:
We have the pleasure or getting to know our girls from at least 8 weeks of age when they join our household so we are well aware of their temperaments,. In order to understand the temperament of a stud we talk extensively with their owner and meet them prior to mating.
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