Hi everybody. I bought an 8 week old male choolate lab today and when we turned up at the breeders she said that since we viewed and left our deposit they had noticed our little boy had a slight abnormality with his jaw. His bottom jaw is a bit too short and his bottom teeth dig in top of his mouth. She said it wouldnt cause a problem as we have no intention of breeding or showing and we decided that we still wanted him. We have been waiting nine years for a pup and for the last 8 weeks we have counted every day to picking him up so as we had got there couldnt face coming home puppy less. I just wondered if anyone has any experience of this. Is it going to cause him problems in anyway. He is going to the vets on monday and I am terrified that the vet is going to say I shouldnt of bought him and also if he has this abnormality could there be more lurking unseen? Sorry to ramble. He has only been here 9 hours and he seems really settled and happy and the breeder seems to have looked after her pups superbly.

What you are describing bottom jaw shorter than top jaw would be an OVERSHOT mouth.  Now if the gap is slight then it may come right as the lower Jaw grows for longer than the top jaw.

An undershot mouth is the type that a boxer or bulldog has where the bottom jaw protrudes in front of the top, and is normal for most of the shortfaced breeds.

If the fault is slight then it shuldn't cause him problems, but you won't really know for sure until he gets his second teeth.

Puppies heads change quite a bit as they grow. I like a little overshoot in a Labrador puppy of this age or I find they go level when they grow instead of the correct bite.

Too much will not come right but a little will.

Best wishes, John

Same with Cocker puppies - I would rather a pup is slightly overshot at this stage as these bites generally end up perfect. As the lower jaw continues to grow after the upper jaw, it's not surprising that very tight scissor bites can sometimes end up as level or worse so a slightly overshot jaw in a very young pup is certainly no reason to panic.

Jane

how much overshot will correct itself? are you talking a couple of mm or more?

Yes, depends on the breed but with a lab the lower jaw will make that up with ease. Now cm would worry me