We cannot stress this enough. . . .this is an important subject. It is involved but let us break it down for you. Every dog used to breed should "in our opinion", be health tested to clear the dog of immediate issues. It is essential that the dog is not manifesting anything that is life threatening or that they could hand on in genetics to their offspring. Even though you have a puppy from two health tested parents that is not to say that at some point that puppy could not come down with some illness that is for the most part unexpected.

There are dogs in the breed that notably sent illness forward. Unfortunately, those dogs were extremely beautiful and so the main body of Bouvier des Flandres Breeders, incorporated that pedigree in to their program. Luckily when Bajoron started their program we started with structurally sound dogs that did not hold this pedigree, and we bred to another dog that held the same health cleanliness with the same clean pedigree over all. Our next two litters, NOT so much. While it was unfortunate, it was a blessing, and we were able with the help of our mentors, to unravel the mystery of how Cataracts, Glaucoma, Heart Disease and came forward. Over the years we tracked through our conversations with other breeders, owners of Bouvier, who had Heart Disease, Glaucoma and Cataracts on the same avenue as the pedigree we had used in our second and third litter. Therefore Glaucoma, Cataracts and Heart Disease all share a common set of Bouvier genetics just as our mentors had indicated in our summit meeting that we had over the subject. Sadly, all our mentors are passed away now. Our notes and memories of this enlightenment are still clear and speak volumes as we push forward in our breeding programs.

Our reaction to the illnesses were such that we did not breed those lines we were told and discovered had Glaucoma, Heart Disease and Cataracts, essentially the dogs that were relatives to he sires of our second and third litters. We abandoned those lines and did a 180 degree turn to other lines that helped to strengthen our program. Fortunately, at that point in time there were enough un related dogs to the affected lines for us to save ourselves from having to breed with unhealthy lines.  With selective breeding and use of dogs that carried forward excellent structure, sound temperaments and backing up those choices with health testing that was OFA protocol, we came to realize our choices were sound. It was not a haphazard choice, but it was a plan that saw us keeping copious notes and we made choices based on what we had learned.

We did import a couple of dogs but did not use all of them as our criteria was picky in all areas of temperament, structure and the way they produced. The pedigrees suggested that the lines were clean but European health standards are not the same as our standards in the United States. Hips and elbows are stress the most with other testing not as prevalent in proclamations. All breeders worldwide need to be very concerned about their lines.. The Europeans carry the same lines as the United States and Canada carry that have produced SAS, Glaucoma and Cataracts. The same issues present worldwide. The health problems come from the foundation dogs and as such, are prominent worldwide. It is through careful selection that a breeder must proceed.

As for longevity in the Breed, a Bouvier will generally live to 10-12 years old comfortably. Just like the human race they get tired, they get arthritis, and it is not unusual to make it to 13 maybe even fourteen but don't let the breeder tell you that they have dogs that make it to 15+. The quality of life and this declaration is just not sound. There is currently one breeder who claims this, and it is a total falsehood to declare this as their dogs have the same sorts of backgrounds as the other dogs produced in many cases.

If you want to learn more about the issues of the bouvier please click on the links above to take you to these areas. Knowledge is power but it is also like opening a book to a novel 1000s of pages long!