[jontus]

How serious a fault would you consider an outward-turning front left foot? It showed up just after four months although she was not overwalked or allowed to jump up or down anything.

The bitch is bread from champion parents, grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides.

She has an excellent temperament and adheres closely to the standard and will be shown soon to assess this further.
However, I am curious to know how limiting a weak paw is when it comes to breading. Could it be compensated for if the stud dog has a history of strong fronts?

 

[Soundtrack]

Sometimes it's caused by an injury, sometimes diet, sometimes it seems to just happen. It is considered a serious fault. The Canadian standard states that any unsoundness of the legs or feet should absolutely disqualify a basset from taking a prize.

That said, I did once have a bitch with this fault, I finished and bred her. One of her pups and one of her grandpups had this problem as well, but both of them were raised on a food which I consider too "high test" for basset puppies, so I'm not 100% sure what caused it....

I guess for you it would depend just how far the turn out was, hers was minor enough to be able to stack her fairly straight in the ring. But good front are considered hard to breed, so if this is the foundation bitch for your breeding program you might want to consider whether you want to start out with this limitation and have to deal with it in the future.

[ August 29, 2004, 02:05 PM: Message edited by: Soundtrack ]

 

[jontus]

Thanks for your response. I was hoping she'd be a foundation bitch but because of the problem I'm waiting for another bitch of suitable promise from my mentor kennel.

I'm disappointed this fault has cropped up because in every respect she's wonderful. She also has an extremely good temperament. All the same, I love her to bits.

I guess it's a case of wait and see. Thank you for your comments.

Best wishes.
Jontus