Verifiable, not just claimed
Health testing, explained properly
“Vet checked” means nothing — every puppy is vet checked. “Fully health tested” on its own means almost nothing either. What matters is which specific tests, on which specific dogs, and whether you are handed the actual certificates with scores on them.
Look up each of our dogs on the Royal Kennel Club's health test results finder, and ask us to email you the BVA certificates themselves — they carry the dog's registration number, the scoring date, and the score. Do this for every breeder you speak to. One who is reluctant is telling you something important.
What we test, and why
The Royal Kennel Club's Assured Breeder Scheme requires hip scoring for this breed, and recommends eye testing and a set of DNA tests on top. We treat the whole list as required. Any dog that has not been through all of it is not bred, full stop.
Hip score — BVA/KC scheme
X-rays taken at a year old or more, sent to a BVA panel who score nine features in each hip. You get two numbers, one per hip, and their total. Hip dysplasia is a malformed hip joint that grinds itself into arthritis; in a 40 kg dog it is the difference between an active old age and a painful one.
How to read a hip score: lower is better, and 0:0 is perfect. What matters is not a magic number but whether the total sits below the published breed median — ask the breeder what the current median for Old English Sheepdogs is, and what their dog scored. A breeder who cannot answer both has not really engaged with it.
Eye testing — BVA/KC/ISDS scheme
An annual examination by a panellist ophthalmologist under the joint BVA/Kennel Club/ISDS scheme. It screens for the hereditary eye disease this breed carries — hereditary cataract, progressive retinal atrophy, and multi-ocular defects among them.
Why annual matters: eyes can be clear at two and not at five, so a single certificate from years ago is not a current answer. Ask for the most recent certificate and look at the date on it. Ours are redone every year without exception.
Elbow grade — BVA/KC scheme
Graded from the same X-ray session as the hips, on a scale of 0 to 3 per elbow. Elbow dysplasia causes front-limb lameness and arthritis, and it is far less often discussed than hips in this breed.
What you want to see: 0 in both elbows. It is not required for Old English Sheepdogs, so most breeders will not have it. We do it because the X-rays are being taken anyway and the information is worth having.
Cerebellar degeneration (DNA)
A one-time DNA test, sometimes called hereditary ataxia. Affected dogs progressively lose coordination and balance from young adulthood, and there is no treatment. Because it is recessive, a carrier is perfectly healthy — the danger is only when two carriers are bred together.
What we do: both parents clear, or at most one carrier bred to a clear dog, so no puppy can ever be affected. A DNA test is done once and holds good for life, which makes there being no excuse for skipping it.
MDR1 drug sensitivity (DNA)
A one-time DNA test, and the one most likely to save your dog's life in an emergency. Dogs with the MDR1 mutation cannot clear certain common drugs from the brain — some worming and parasite treatments, some anaesthetics, some anti-diarrhoeals and chemotherapy agents. A standard dose can cause severe neurological damage or death.
What you get: your puppy's MDR1 status in writing, in their pack, to hand to your vet on the first visit. Even for a clear dog, that piece of paper belongs in your file.
What “Assured Breeder” does and does not mean
The Royal Kennel Club's Assured Breeder Scheme sets required and recommended tests per breed and inspects its members. It is a genuinely useful signal and worth looking for. What it is not is a guarantee about any individual dog: it tells you a breeder did the required test, not what the dog scored.
So do not stop at the badge. Ask for the certificates and read the numbers. We publish ours in full, with dates, on each dog's page.
The rest of what we run
None of these is required for the breed. We run them because the information is worth having, and because “not required” is not the same as “unnecessary”.
Primary ciliary dyskinesia
A DNA test for a defect in the tiny hairs that clear the airways, causing lifelong recurrent respiratory infection from puppyhood.
BAER hearing
An electronic test of each ear separately. Congenital deafness travels with white pigment, and this breed carries a great deal of it.
Elbow grading
Graded alongside the hips. Not required for this breed, and rarely done — which is exactly why we think it is worth doing.
Kennel Club Mate Select
We run every proposed pairing through the RKC's inbreeding coefficient calculator and breed below the breed average. Genetic diversity is a health test too.
What your puppy leaves here with
Health testing is about the parents. Here is what covers the puppy itself:
- A full veterinary examination, with the written report, in the week before go-home day.
- First vaccination and regular worming from two weeks, dated and recorded.
- A microchip fitted and registered before you collect, as the law requires, with the transfer to your name done on the day.
- Copies of both parents' hip and eye certificates and DNA results, so your vet has the family history.
- A two-year written guarantee against life-limiting hereditary defects.
- Five weeks of free insurance, live from the day you collect.
Questions we would love to be asked
What have your dogs died of? Has any puppy you bred developed a hereditary condition? Can I speak to a family who bought from you three years ago? Ask us. Ask every breeder.