Looking for a puppy?

Look past the pretty picture

healthpuppy

It's amazing what a little fur can hide
What you can't see CAN break your heart

She's so cute and she looks perfectly healthy. But, she can't escape her genes or her early upbringing. Her mother has sub-valvular aortic stenosis and hip dysplasia. Her father has cystinuria. Neither of her parents were screened for these conditions prior to being bred and the chances are good that she has inherited these potentially fatal diseases. Additionally she has spent most of her short life having had little human contact and she is fearful and shy. Adorable yes, and a large heartache for her new family.

To find out how to lessen your chances of getting a puppy with these and other diseases that are not visible through all that fur please use the resources available on this site. The time you spend now finding a reputable breeder will be well worth it.

NCA Recommends

The Newfoundland Club of America considers the following tests as necessary for all Newfoundlands: Hips (x-ray), Elbows (x-ray), Cystinuria (DNA or parentage) and Hearts (cardiologist). Please be sure and discuss the status of these tests with your responsible breeder. Additional tests include CERF (eyes) Thyroid (blood tests) and Patellas (x-ray). DNA Banking is also strongly encouraged.

Health Clearance Abbreviations

HE- OFA Excellent Hips

HG- OFA Good Hips

HF- OFA Fair Hips

HP- Hips Pending OFA

O-OVC Hips/elbows

L- OFA Elbows Clear

LP- Elbows pending OFA

P- OFA Patella Clear

HrC- Heart Clear- Cardiologist

HrS- Heart Clear- Specialist

HrP- Heart Clear Practitioner

HR- Heart clear

T-OFA Thyroid Clear

C- CERF eye clearance

OFA- Orthopedic Foundation for Animals

OVC- Ontario Veterinary College

CERF- Canine Eye Registry Foundation

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A note about Health Clearances:

What is CHIC?

In short, CHIC is a database of consolidated health screening results from multiple sources. Co-sponsored by the OFA and the AKC Canine Health Foundation, CHIC works with parent clubs to identify health screening protocols appropriate for individual breeds. Dogs tested in accordance with the parent club established requirements, that have their results registered and made available in the public domain are issued CHIC numbers.

Do test results have to be normal?

No, CHIC is not about normalcy. CHIC is meant to encourage health testing and sharing of all results, normal and abnormal, so that more informed breeding decisions can be made in an overall effort to reduce the incidence of genetic disease and improve canine health.

Learn more about CHIC

Newfoundlands are a CHIC Breed - the following are the breed requirements:

Hip Dysplasia	OFA evaluation
	PennHip evaluation
	OVC evaluation
	GDC evaluation
Elbow Dysplasia	OFA evaluation
	GDC evaluation
	OVC evaluation
Congenital Cardiac Database	OFA evaluation with examination performed by a Cardiologist
Cystinuria	DNA test by a qualified laboratory: PennGen, VetGen, Optigen, HealthGene, or Veterinary Diagnostics Center.
	Alternately, progeny may be cleared by parentage. Please refer to the OFA Website for their policy on "Clear by Parentage".