Signs of Dog Inbreeding

There are several signs of dog inbreeding which may be a physical defect or a medical defect. The physical defects can be obvious when a litter of inbred puppies is born and it includes features such as asymmetrical ears, eyes or limbs. Smaller-than-normal-size litters with low birth weight puppies may point to an inbred litter. Adult or adolescent dogs may exhibit a compromised immune system leading to sickness or display heart defects and heart disease.

  1. Physical Defects

    • Inbred dogs may produce puppies with physical defects such as enlarged heads, kinked tails or missing tails at birth. This can be a result of the combination of the same gene in each parent that is closely related. A cleft palate on a puppy signifies a genetic birth defect. A smaller version of a cleft palate may be evident in an extreme over or under bite with protruding teeth. An inbred puppy may also display uneven characteristics as one larger and one smaller eye or his eyes may be misaligned. Ears may also be uneven with one larger than the other or one placed further back or down on the head than the other in a noticeable manner.

    Birth Weight

    • When dogs inbreed the litter will generally have an overall decrease in birth weight. The puppies will be smaller for their type of breed and most often, there will be fewer puppies per litter than is expected for the type of breed. Lower fertility due to inbreeding will pass down as a trait to the litter and result in each litter having smaller litters of puppies themselves. Inbred puppies will grow slower than non-inbred puppies and will achieve a smaller adult size due to low birth weight and slow growth.

    Heart Disease

    • Inbred dogs have a higher occurrence than normal of heart defects and heart disease. Their genetics may combine so that the recessive genes in each of the parents combine and act as multipliers. This can result in respiratory failure, heart disease, tumors, cancer and many other medical complications in an inbred dog.

    Immunity

    • Puppies that are inbred may have compromised immune systems and will have a large occurrence of colds and sicknesses as an adult. Some of the puppies that are inbred will have no immunity to any germs and will die from an increased infant mortality rate before they are able to receive their first set of puppy vaccines at six weeks old.