why we Disagree With some recommendations from some Wolfhound Clubs
The biggest threat to the health of your Wolfhound, in our opinion, is inbreeding (euphemistically called line-breeding). While some Wolfhound clubs recommend unnecessary tests and holding puppies to 10-12 weeks (no matter their physical maturity), they generally ignore the unspoken scourge of purebred dogs - a dangerously high Coefficient Of Inbreeding or COI. A COI of 5 or higher is clearly dangerous but we think the breed average of 3.85 is also very high and may be the cause of the higher level of health problems in purebred dogs. One of our breeding goals is to produce healthy dogs, that are still good examples of teh breed, by dramatically lowering the COI. Our most recent litter had a COI of 0.38. It is possible to produce quality puppies without engaging in the dangerous practice of inbreeding but it is more expensive for the breeder because there is an almost constant need for new genetic materials from different dogs. Yet line-breeding is commonly practiced without any warning to the public from most Wolfhound Clubs.
We have spoken to our Vet and heard from many other breeders, who have asked their Vets about testing asymptotic puppies for Liver-Shunt. Without exception none of the Vets recommended the mass testing of apparently healthy puppies for liver shunt. A puppy born with liver shunt will be under-sized, low energy and may exhibit symptoms such as head shaking, walking in circles or pressing their heads against a hard surface. If any of those signs of health issues exist then our Vet recommends investigating the cause but sees absolutely no justification in the recommendation to test every Wolfhound puppy for liver shunt. It would take a completely unethical breeder to sell a puppy showing any of these signs of health problems.
After a puppy has been weaned and achieved a healthy body weight, there is no reason, we can find for the puppy to remain with the breeder. We let our dams decide at what age to wean their puppies naturally. They rarely feed longer than 6 weeks and we have never had a dam fail to wean before 8 weeks. We continue to feed a milk substitute with dry dog food, plus give minerals and vitamins for bone growth for months after weaning. The new owners are capable of doing this as well. 8-9 weeks of age is optimum for bonding with the new owner so we also disagree with what appears to be an arbitrary rule that puppies should be kept by the breeder for 10-12 weeks of age.
We have spoken to our Vet and heard from many other breeders, who have asked their Vets about testing asymptotic puppies for Liver-Shunt. Without exception none of the Vets recommended the mass testing of apparently healthy puppies for liver shunt. A puppy born with liver shunt will be under-sized, low energy and may exhibit symptoms such as head shaking, walking in circles or pressing their heads against a hard surface. If any of those signs of health issues exist then our Vet recommends investigating the cause but sees absolutely no justification in the recommendation to test every Wolfhound puppy for liver shunt. It would take a completely unethical breeder to sell a puppy showing any of these signs of health problems.
After a puppy has been weaned and achieved a healthy body weight, there is no reason, we can find for the puppy to remain with the breeder. We let our dams decide at what age to wean their puppies naturally. They rarely feed longer than 6 weeks and we have never had a dam fail to wean before 8 weeks. We continue to feed a milk substitute with dry dog food, plus give minerals and vitamins for bone growth for months after weaning. The new owners are capable of doing this as well. 8-9 weeks of age is optimum for bonding with the new owner so we also disagree with what appears to be an arbitrary rule that puppies should be kept by the breeder for 10-12 weeks of age.