As it happend in other breeds too, it also has happened to the Australian Shepherd that the one or other genetic disease has occured during the decades of breeding. That is why it is so incredible important that you take a close look at the pedigrees of the breeding dogs, compare them, find out about the lines used and exchange ideas with other breeders, have genetic tests and examinations carried out, and carry out prophylaxis as best as possible, so that the puppies have the best possible start in life and on their life path ahead of them thanks to their genetics.

Health is our top priority. First and foremost, we want to breed healthy dogs with an intelligent, willing and friendly character. That is why, in addition to all x-rays, examinations and genetic tests, we have also had pedigree analyses carried out by IDASH (International Directory for Australian Shepherd Health). These analyses provide breeders and owners of purebred Australian Shepherds with specific, pedigree-based health information for each dog so that they can make breeding decisions based on improved background knowledge of health and desirable traits. We can say with full conviction that we are looking at two dogs who genetically have everything they need to produce perfectly healthy puppies.

Fortunately for most genetic diseases there are now genetic tests that can find out whether the dog suffers from this disease, is a carrier and can therefore pass it on to its offspring or is completely free of it. But there are also diseases for which it is not yet clear how they are inherited and for which it has not yet been possible to test. A responsible breeder has to look exactly where these diseases have appeared in the respective pedigrees and assess the risks. We have paid particular attention to avoiding epilepsy in our breeding program. It is believed that around 4% of Australian Shepherds have epilepsy - a terrible disease. You can only work on the health of the breed if, as a breeder, you are sufficiently informed and completely transparent with your own dogs and their offspring. Unfortunately, the reality is that many breeders try to hide their own cases within their breeding and do not remove affected dogs from breeding, which we deeply reject! We compared Hayley's and Dingo's pedigrees with various international lists and health databases and could not find any epilepsy occurrences in their direct relatives (generations 1-3). The Australian Shepherd Health & Genetics Institute (ASHGI) recommends that direct relatives of an affected dog (parents, offspring and full siblings) should not be bred. Half-siblings should not be bred further if there are relatives within 2 generations who have or have produced epilepsy. Other close relatives (including half-siblings who do not belong to the above) can continue to be used for breeding if the partner has no history of epilepsy in the direct family history. For our breeding, however, we would also decide against this. The degree of inbreeding also plays an immensely important role. According to the latest research, inbreeding is a genetic stress that hinders the development and the organic processes as a whole to varying degrees and that is linked to many different diseases. We are therefore particularly proud of the extremely low coefficient of our dogs.

Dingo and Hayley show excellent analyses and test results and we are very happy to soon have our first litter with them in the house. One female will be allowed to stay with us to continue breeding with her.