umbilical cord hernias, not suitable for breeding? - Page 1

Looking for opinions and I know I will get them here:) Would you consider a puppy with an umbilical cord hernia not suitable for breeding? I'm talking about a hernia small as a dime.... I see no problem with the personally but placed one pup in a home that does. Was wondering what the majority thought. I already offered to pay to have it stitched shut if it doesn't close on it's own but my vet said it would be fine and I've raised many pups with them and all have been fine too! 

Wondering how other breeders feel and if i'm wrong thinking it's okay? 

Thanks in advance! 
 

In my experience, there are what I consider 2 different types of umbilical hernias. I've had litters in which the dam is overly assertive in pulling/cutting the cord, causing a small hernia that way.  Other pups are born with one.  I know this because I personally deliver every one of my pups and see whats happening to each pup at birth.  I've had a couple of incidences in which the dam was so focused on the cords that they actually pulled the intestines out of the pup by hard pulling/cutting of cords.  So  I'd say I wouldn't recommend for breeding a pup born with the hernia, but if it was caused by the dams pulling than I would think its OK for breeding.  Just my thoughts/opinions, I'm sure there will be plenty others.

CMills I agree! 

I too think they're 2 different kinds environmental (caused by mom) and genetic (already existent prior to umbilical cord being torn by mom). 

I agree with CMills.

No problem breeding a dog with a hernia.

Buyer is ill-informed at best. At worst, has fallen into the "anti- breeder" mindset and this is just the start of your problems with them. If they don't trust you that you'll fix it if it becomes a problem, and that truly, this is not a big deal, you're in for a rough road.  Inguinal hernia is a different story than umbilical. Umbilical hernias go away by themselves usually. Leave it alone so long as it's just a delayed closure. It may be worth just taking that puppy back before things escalate, honestly, and the pup is caught in the middle. If the buyer has an issue with it, they clearly aren't terribly experienced, and if this kind of thing is going to cause friction between you two, then just imagine if all else isn't perfect for the rest of the puppy's life. It just sounds like there's more to it than just a delayed closure/umbilical hernia by your description, especially since you've already offered to rectify it and they're still griping...red flag, to me. Cut your losses would be my unsolicited advice! ;-)

Sometimes even if you beg, buyers won't let you buy the pup back. 

yep, i have to really watch one of my females as she is very aggressive and i have to do the cutting as she wants to pull the  cord out before the pup is even out, i never had really bad ones , but still get them , so what i did since i have had this type of buyer to is put into contract that they are getting a puppy with a hernia and was told and i also discount to cover some cost , i usually take off 200 dollars.  you should make sure you tell your buyer that the pup has one and let them make the choice at that time.
i also think it fine to us one for breeding, never had any problems at all. a true genetic hernia does not come around very often.

I had a litter of 3 and all of them had one. When this same mom had large litters, not one puppy had a hernia.   Too many pups for her to be focused on. Only 3 pups I guess she just had too much time on her paws and was constantly pulling, or licking at the cord. Even after the cord fell out she was still after that spot. By the time the pups were old enough to move around on their own, all three had hernias.  The biggest was as big as a nickel. we kept the puppies until they were 4mos old and all the hernias were gone. Of course we would take the time to gently push them back in while they were laying around with us while inside. Every time we would handle them or play with them, we would gently push them in. By 4 mos old, all gone. Those types of hernias, I do not consider genetics and I would consider them for breeding. Hernias that don't go away without surgery, I would NOT include in my breeding program or advise anyone else to use for breeding. JMO