Dwarf Health Survey – 1999

Prepared by Peggy Watson Email: Pyrstaf@aol.com

18 records submitted

This is the basic data asked for, basic statistics of height, weight, age, etc.

Age	Death age	Height	Weight	Under/ Over/Normal	Age at H/W	Male/Female	Altered/Intact	Marked/White
2		14”	37	n	2 yrs	female	intact	white
2		14”	43	o	2 yrs	female	altered	white
2		16”	42	n	2 yrs	female	altered	white
2		13”	30	u	2 years	female	intact	white
2		14”	40	u	2 years	male	intact	marked
2		12”	37	n	1 yr, 8 m	female	altered	marked
–	9wks	–	–	–	–	Female	–	–
1		18”	35	n	1 year	female	altered	marked
2		15”	42	n	14 mon	female	altered	marked
–	7 mon	–	–	–		male	intact	–
–	6 mon	–	–	–		male	intact	–
2		14.5”	44 lbs	n	14 mon	male	intact	white
6		15”	46 lbs	o		Male	Intact	marked
3		13”	36 lbs	n	3 years	female	altered	marked
1		13”	30 lbs	n	1 year	Female	altered	white
5		13”	32 lbs(V)	N	5 years	Female	Intact	white
5		13”	35 lbs	N	5 years	Female	spayed	marked
1		14”	26 lbs	N	6 months	Female	Spayed	Marked
		Avg 14.3”	Avg 37 lbs			M=5, F=13		W=7 M=8

This section of the survey reflects the health problems found in the surveyed dogs. A (V) after the notation indicates that a veterinarian has verified this opinion. It may be a regular vet or a specialist. All other comments are owner comments.

Common points were heavy coat and relatively good health. Most described a hearing loss to some extent, although 2 dogs were reported with normal hearing.

Health problems in Litter	Hearing	Vision	Heart	Internal Organs	Structure	Coat	Dewclaws
yes	slight loss	normal	normal	Neurological problem	poor	profuse	normal
yes	slight loss	blind	normal	normal	fair	profuse	normal
yes	slight loss		normal	normal	fair	profuse	normal
no	normal	normal	normal	normal	high in rear	profuse	normal
no	normal	normal	normal	normal	excellent	profuse	normal
?	poor	cross-eyed?	fine	fine	short legs, foxy-looking	profuse	normal
–	Hard of hearing	–	–	?	Long in body at 9 weeks	–	–
no	limited	ok	ok	ok	short upper arms	thick	yes-removed
no	slight loss	Normal (V)	normal	normal	sound-hips and elbows checked(V)	heavy	missing 1 in rear
no	slight loss	Normal (V)	normal	normal	sound-hips and elbows checked(V)	heavy	fine
no	slight loss	Normal (V)	normal	normal	sound-hips and elbows checked(V)	heavy	fine
no	slight loss	Normal (V)	normal	normal	sound-hips and elbows checked	heavy	normal
	Deaf	Normal	Normal	Normal	High in rear	Heavy	normal
no	slight loss	Normal (V)	Normal (V)	Normal (V)	high in rear poor front	heavy	normal
No	Impaired	Good	Normal	Normal	No bowing in legs, proportionate	TONS	Triples in rear
No	Impaired	Normal	Normal	Normal	–	–	Normal
no	impaired	Normal	Normal	Normal	–	–	normal
?	Slight loss	Normal	Normal	Normal	?	Heavy	normal

These are the statistics on the whole litter and how many dwarfs were born. It also averages the number affected in each litter.

Number of Pups In Litter	Number Alive at 6 weeks	# of dwarfs in litter	Percentage affected
7	7	3	43%
7	7	3	43%
7	7	3	43%
8	8	2	25%
8	8	2	25%
?	?	2	?
?	?	1	?
2	2	1	50%
9	6	4	44%
9	6	4	44%
9	6	4	44%
9	6	4	44%
2	2	1	50%
9	9	1	11%
12	8	1	12.5%
5	5	2	40%
5	5	2	40%
?	?	1	?

These are owner comments on temperament and quality of life. These are the owner’s own words.

Temperament	Overall Health	Quality of Life	Intelligence	Acceptance among other dogs
excellent	good	high	very smart	good
excellent	perfect	high	very smart	good
excellent	good	high	very smart	good
excellent, extremely smart	perfect	very high	very smart	good – but is pushy
excellent, extremely smart	perfect	very high, spoiled rotten	very smart	good
friendly, well behaved	good	good	obeys sometimes	good
sweet, loving, gentle	perfect	excellent	good	good
confident, outgoing, happy	good	excellent	above average	good
confident happy	good	excellent	above average	good
more alpha, challenged other males	good	excellent	eager to please	males not accepting of other males
good, confident, loving, outgoing	good	excellent	above average	full acceptance
excellent	excellent	excellent	very intelligent	good
dominant but friendly & pleasant	good	excellent, spoiled	EXTREMELY intelligent	good, but is the boss
–	Good	Good	–	–
–	Good	Good	–	–
Friendly, sweet	Good	Good	Smart	good

These are other owner comments submitted and often gauge overall health, and list unique characteristics:

has had normal heats beginning at 22 months
likes to play with other dogs
largest at birth, routine physicals have been done, has regular heats, has attended obedience school
Very sound dog
was a registered litter, backyard breeder, happy dog
happy puppy
vet checked very thoroughly
hit by car and killed at 6 months
killed by another dog at 7 months
has a CD title and displays excellent training skills
Extremely intelligent, manipulative, spoiled
Has never had heats that the owner has noticed – happy dog
Happy dog
Rescue dog