My pup is coming up to 5 months of age and he is still slightly overshot (I'd say his front teeth are approx 3 - 4mm in front of his bottom teeth). Is there any chance this may correct itself? (The correct bite is supposed to be a scissor bite). At what age does the bottom jaw stop growing? I was thinking of entering him for the LKA but obviously there's no point if he's going to be overshot. Also is a 3 - 4 mm gap badly overshot?

Thanks

hi guest,

what breed is your pup ?  I have an Irish setter (6 months) who has gone slightly overshot, which apparantly should eventually right itself.  I spoke to someone with an Irish the other day and she said her pup came right at about 8 months of age.

Claire :)

Guest I think it is difficult for people to say. Each individual dog is different never mind the breed.

Some do come right once all the teeth have changed some don't.

If there is nothing else which appears " wrong" it is worth running him on anyway to see how his teeth end up. 

Hello Guest, As has been previously said, not only can it depend on the breed, but the individual dog within the breed. Most people say that if it was okay at 8 weeks, it should come back okay by the time they mature. I certainly wouldn't worry about a 5 month old!
One person told me very recently (don't know how true it is), that if you take the average height of the overall dog when mature, say, 21 inches, then it can take 21 months for the bottom jaw to finally finish???? First time i'd heard that, and as I say, don't know how true it is??? And if it were true, I would imagine that the changes would be extremely minimal? However, having said that, I do know of a few male dogs in my breed who had perfect bites as Juniors ( i have examined them), but when they have reached 2 years, have actually gone level, so there may be some truth to it? I will e-mail the person in question, and ask them to explain it to me a bit better, and see where they got the info from.

Kay

A flatcoat jaw is regularly overshot at 4-5 months; it usually comes right by 6 months, but thinking about it, I think I would still prefer it a little over then, as there are more than a few adult level mouths in the breed.

Mind you, a level bite wouldn't be a major problem in my eyes - there are far worse things about, and it wouldn't be prioritised in a breeding plan; I'd just bear it somewhere in the back of my mind!

Other breeds who are purely show bred may think differently, of course.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats