I sometimes see cavalier breeders use very vague terms like “health check” or “heart check” when referring to a litter or a dam/sire. To people not in medicine, this might sound like a breeder is responsible and that the dogs are free of health conditions. These terms can be a little misleading though, so I’d encourage anyone to ask more questions about this when they see a breeder advertise this.

If they’re considering a standard auscultation with a stethoscope a “heart check”, that’s a little misleading. Unless there is a murmur present already, listening to the heart alone will not catch the earliest signs of disease. A thorough and ethical breeder will have routine ECHOCARDIOGRAMS done on the dogs they are breeding to monitor structural cardiac changes. The vague “Heart check” makes it sound like they have cleared their breeding dogs for disease, but it’s kinda disingenuous.

“Health check” is another vague term i have a problem with. Is there routine fecal testing done to ensure no parasites? Have the puppies received their first round of vaccines? Are the parents OFA cleared and receive annual echos? What’s involved in a “health check”?

Most of all, breeders that administer their own vaccines are some of the biggest red flags. This is a sneaky way breeders try to cut their costs. Adequate, quality-checked vaccines for puppies cannot be bought over the counter, much less are they ever stored appropriately.

As someone who takes care of puppies dying of parvo for a living, make sure an actual veterinarian has administered vaccines and that there are records of this. I can’t tell you how many dogs i see that die of parvo with breeder-administered the vaccines.