Hi!  Peoples' experiences needed.
I owned a Lab that lived till 14 but suffered from testicular cancer (non-aggressive) for the last couple of years.  Eventually, we had connective problems elsewhere and had to say goodbye to our lovely boy.  I liked the lines he came from and seem to be swayed towards his 'type' as I have just found a litter I like but crunch! in the pedigree is the same dog that was the sire of my old boy - albeit several generations back.  Is it common that there would be a heriditary liklihood here?  I have heard of one or two other dogs with the same problem, which co-incidentally had the same dog in their pedigree BUT he was a popular stud dog...
Thanks
Caroline

To be honest Caroline 14 is a good age and I believe that if you had had the dog neutered then obviously it wouldnt have had testicular cancer as there wouldnt be no testicles.  Every dog has to die of something and if my dogs lived to be 14 I would be delighted.  I think sometimes you can look too deep into these things and although you might find different  lines they might have a different condition which could be worse.

Hope this helps

As thomas-the-spot says if you have a dog castrated there is no possibility of testicular cancer but to be honest I wouldn't really describe this as a case of genetic predisposition but rather a consequence of great age.  Cancer is to a large extend a disease of old age.  If you are lucky enough to have a dog live to 14 there is a very good chance that it will be cancer that they die of.  Sometimes I think as a cause of death it can be less distressing to dog and owner than other conditions like chronic heart failure.  Personally the pedigree would not put me off at all as the longevity of your dog is far more interesting than what carried him off in the end.

As the others have said, if you are looking at the same lines and have found a litter sired by the father of your previous dog (though, if your dog was 14 when he died, the sire must be pretty old to still be at stud, so that might raise a few alarm bells to ask pertinent questions) - personally, I think I would be quite happy.   However, do check the point out about the age of the sire...... is this puppy KC registered??

Margot

I think the dog is just in the pedigree Margot :) Oh the thought of a 16 year old stud

Well - I did wonder!!

(Put it down to age - and the effects of handing crabbits/hemsters et al ;) )

As the others have said if the dog got to the age that he did before developing cancer I wouldn't worry.  Let's face it these days we don't die of old age there's always something else that's got to be found and very likely cancer is found.