Hi New Puppy And A Few Very Important Question. He Is Shy

[Brockton94]

I called the vet today. The one of the breeders, and I was told that Meekos dad had never weighed one seventy five, he had weighed 165 at heaviest. I think it might have been a mistake, because the lady's grandson was there and he was the one writting it down. The vet said she was a reputable breeder, but that could be fake, I'm calling the breeder tomorrow to try to find out if it was a mistake or whatever. I think he looks pure husky he doesn't look mixed with a freighter to me but you never know

[jmscott]

They aren't mixed most of the time, just bred well over the standard. In a lot of cases I see people expecting them to be big dogs (with the assumption they are related to wolves more than your basic poodle) so they breed big dogs. Or they only breed for pets, so see no reason to stay within the standard.  

 

If you are planning to talk to the breeder, a better question would be to have them explain exactly why they chose those two dogs to be bred. The goal of breeding should always be to add some aspect of that dog for the betterment of the breed. And also ask which health tests were done on the parents (and you should be able to look up the results, which can give you an early alert on any inheritable issues). If none were done, I would ask if any of the relatives of that dog have been health tested. (and look up those results)

[jmscott]

I like this website for the visual explanation of the breed standard.

http://www.mikulov.org/links/analysis.htm

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

It depends on the dog , before skyla was spayed she was 33kg which would put her at 72lbs thing is she wasn't overweight or anything(she's put on a few lbs since but we are working on her loosing them) he could generally be a big dog that's all not fake registered or anything just big ,, I wouldn't worry

[Brockton94]

Yeah, that's good, I don't care if he is too big for the standard, we don't intend to show or breed him. Meeko is just gonna be the family pet and my jogging partner when he is old enough. When I called the breeder she told me she picked the parents because they both had good temperaments, though his dad was energetic but very intelligent, his mom was calmer and smaller. He is kind of rowdy but he is taking to his training well. Also she told me both Meekos parents had their eyes tested, I forget what the test was called, but that they both were healthy. Also neither parent has shown signs of hip displaysia. Well thanks for all your guys's advice. Meekos doing fine now though sometimes I wish he was back to chilling all the time

[Elyse]

Was the eye test called OFSA? Their OFSA score should be 'Excellent'. I'm not sure what the hip score test is called, but I'm sure somebody could enlighten me. 

And mine is around 75 pounds. Although, I don't believe he is a purebred husky - I highly suspect he is part Malamute. 

I don't show mine, breed, or race him either...but he has come with his fair share of health problems. Such as early onset arthritis (at 4 years old), which could have been from how he was brought up as a puppy, but also could have been from poor breeding (I adopted him so I have no idea). His eyes have also started to cloud over - the vet didn't say anything about it, so I'd assume that's normal for his age? (8.5 years old)

 

 

Just look at his ears (wide set), and his deep chest. That screams 'Malamute!' to me. 

 

 

Size comparison. He's around 26" from ground to withers. He looks kinda 'stocky' to me, but not as much as a Malamute. Which is why I'm thinking he's a cross. 

 

 

[jmscott]

At 8 I wouldn't want to see any eye issues. 

 

As for the puppy's parents, they should have either CERF or OFA (eyes) and OFA, SHOR, or PennHip (hips) scores that you can ask your breeder for. For example, here is Nana's father, Eji: http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1494892#animal

 

You can see that he has both a CERF (Eye certification) and a OFA (hips) their scores and the date they were tested. 

 OFA Number  Registry   Test/Film
 Date   Report Date   Age   Final Conclusion  SH-346717 CERF Mar 21 2012 Mar 21 2012 23 TESTED: 11,12 SH-17877E24M-VPI HIPS Apr 16 2012 May 3 2012 24 EXCELLENT

 

Dogs must be 2 before they can be tested (this is one of the reasons you don't see responsible breeders using dogs under this age), so Nana can't be tested yet, but since both parents are OFA excellent, she stands a good chance of having the same score and we won't have to worry so much about her hip health as she ages.

 

Also neither parent has shown signs of hip displaysia

since there is no way to know what their structure was without an xray I would have Meeko's looked at when he is 2, even if you plan to neuter. (The cost to register OFA is about $40, so theres no reason to not do them. And if they just didn't list the scores, often it is because they didn't get a good score.)

 

It is good that they have tested the eyes. Did they give you the parent's reg #s so you can look them up?

[Brockton94]

She said it was scored excellent, I think she might of told me some of this and I just didn't pick up on it when we met to give the dog. I'm going to get both redone, the eye and hip one, because I figure better safe than sorry

[jmscott]

I know it can be so exciting when you meet the pups. Its also nice for breeders when they can get test results on the pups they breed.