Puppy Health Checks and Health Testing

Puppy Health Checks and Health Testing is very important here at Aisha Boerboels.

As responsible and ethical breeders, Aisha Boerboels aim is to breed to improve health and temperament of our Boerboels within the SABBS breed standard and breed traditional boerboels.

Aisha Boerboels was established in 2015 and since then our aim has always been to improve and enhance the Boerboel Breed. We achieve this by planned matings and using the best, carefully selected dogs. We routinely health test our breeding dogs.

Using health tested breeding dogs greatly improves the health of our offspring. We carefully select the best breeding dogs to continue our breeding lines.

Vet Visits

It is important that your boerboel is able to visit the vets and receive treatment. Often the time that treatment is required, your dog may be in pain or scared. This is not the time to desensitise your dog to a vet trip.

This needs to occur at a puppy age. Convincing a 10kg puppy that the vets is a nice place to visit is much easier than convincing a 80kg scared adult.

All Aisha Boerboel puppies are health checked to ensure healthy and balanced dogs. Health Checking of puppies and breeding from Health Tested dogs is only part of our efforts to produce the best boerboels and best boerboel puppies possible.

All puppies that leave Aisha Boerboels will have received a number of checks by a veterinarian prior to you collecting or receiving your puppy. This ensures that all puppies are healthy and ready to leave.

Here we can see Aisha Big Meech receiving his first vaccination, micro chip and vet check. Aisha Big Meech is a black Boerboel puppy. He is full brother to Aisha Jade.

A typical puppy vet check will involve heart check, teeth check, eye check, ear check, hip and elbow check, genital check, weight and an overall health check carried out by the vet.

Dogs that are to be exported out of the UK require additional veterinary preparations depending on the destination and may require additional time before a dog or puppy can be shipped internationally.

Vet visits can be quite daunting for a young puppy but here we can see Aisha Big Meech taking things in his stride. At Aisha Boerboels, we raise our litters in a busy kennel. All our puppies are accustomed to hustle and bustle and vet trips like this are important development for a young boerboel.

It is important that all puppies become accustomed to being handled by a vet and the types of examination carried out by a vet should be familiar to a dog.

It is also a common problem at appraisals that dogs cannot be properly appraised as the owner or handler cant demonstrate the dogs bite or cant measure the dog. At an appraisal this will result in your dog being marked down but in a vet scenario, could result in your dogs life.

Don’t wait until your Boerboel is 80kg to visit your vets or desensitise your dog to vet handling.

Health Checks or Health Testing?

When we refer to Health Checks, we mean checks carried out by the vet visually and by examination.

When we refer to Health Testing, we mean checks carried out by way of X-Rays of the major joints (usually hips, elbows and knees) carried out by specialised veterinarians and the images assessed by a recognised body. These images are then graded by an organisation such as The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and given a score to reflect the health of the joints.

As part of the Health Testing carried out at Aisha Boerboels, we also conduct DNA testing on our breeding dogs to screen for hundreds of genetic illnesses and conditions.

All of the litters that we produce are from Health Tested parents who in turn are from health tested parents and so on. Whilst this does not eradicate genetic illness or prevent illness, it does offer us the best insight.

We have a number of Stud dogs at Aisha Boerboels and also provide a Stud dog service to other breeders. By using our stud dogs, other breeders also have access to our health tested dogs within their breeding program.

It is our belief and practice that before any mating, a breeder should health test both dogs. Only by routinely health testing can a breeder ensure the best breeding dogs. Health testing breeding dogs should be a minimum requirement for breeding, particularly with large, heavy dogs such as a Boerboel.