A friend of mine has just contacted me for advice and I am not totally sure so here goes; They bred a litter of 10 Boxer puppies and one male had an undescended testicle she is worried about the Bitch she has kept and if she should breed from her or will she pass this tendancy on. The stud dog does not regularly produce puppies with this disorder and it was the bitches first litter.

I know the affected male should not be bred from but as this was the only one from a large litter I feel the bitch should be OK but as a precaution she should make sure any future stud dog does not regularly have pups with this condition, or am I wrong?

Debbie

I think you're right, Debbie. If nothing (of any species) that was related to an individual with a congenital or hereditary problem was not allowed to be bred from, the planet would be a very empty place! Certainly the affected dog should not be bred from, but the others are no more than carriers of the tendency at most. As long as they are not mated to other carriers, all should be well.
:)

The genes that produce the sex characteristics on the X & Y chromosomes

The gene that produces the testicles is carried on the X chromosome which male dogs inherit from their mothers

The father provides the Y chromosome.

Therefore bitches that produce males with no testicles. one testicle or undescended testicles are carriers & really should not be bred from as is a 50/50 chance for each male puppy to have the fault & also for the females to be carriers

An unentire male used at stud will only produce unentire sons if the bitch is a carrier, but ALL his daughters WILL be carriers & so the fault will passed on

According to the breeder (just spoken to her) she had the pups vet checked at 6 weeks and both were present now for some unknown reason he has got only one, so is it passed on or just a freak of nature? It seems strange if it is hereditary that only one has the problem out of the litter of 10 I think at least half were boys. It's one of those things we will probably never know!

Thanks
Debbie

How old is the dog? I have recently got a cavalier puppy who at 7 weeks had an undescended testicle, but now at nearly 14 weeks both can be felt, though one is still a bit higher than the other. I had been told that some dogs can have an undescended testicle upto about 6 months of age, and the vet said to wait till he was at least a year old before worrying too much. Also, is he being 'fiddled with' alot to see if it has descended, as i've been told they can retract if checked too often. As i hope to show my pup i was starting to get a bit worried, checking alot, then i decided to leave him alone. When i took him to another cavalier breeder to get her opinion on him, about 10 days after i last checked, she found both.
Hope this helps

Erin

Sometimes the can be retracted for an unknown reason possibly a trauma or being checked too often;)