Sooner or later a litter produces a puppy with something wrong — a heart murmur, a missing eye, deafness, a limb that will never work properly, or a temperament that worries you — and how you handle that puppy is the most exposed test of your standards that breeding offers.
The most important first
- Get a diagnosis and a prognosis from your veterinarian before you talk to any buyer: what the condition is, what it will require and cost, and what is genuinely unknown.
- Disclose in writing and have the buyer acknowledge it: the finding, the date, who diagnosed it, the likely care and the open questions.
- Screen harder, not less. OFA guidance on congenital deafness is that families taking a deaf puppy must have adequate knowledge and resources, that bilaterally deaf dogs should be neutered and never bred, and that unilaterally deaf dogs can make good pets but should also not be bred.
- Expect to give more support for longer, and put a return route in writing: kennel-club guidance expects rehoming to include a requirement to return the dog if the owner cannot continue to care for it.
- A few conditions mean suffering that cannot be managed, and then placement is not the kind answer — that judgment belongs with your veterinarian.
Know what you are placing before you offer it
The first obligation is diagnostic rather than commercial. A small, quiet puppy may have a cardiac defect or may be a slow starter; a puppy that ignores sound may be deaf in one ear, in both, or simply asleep. Work through evaluating puppy health before placement, then put the question to your vet and get the answer in writing, alongside the records in veterinary care and medication for puppies.
Where an objective test exists, use it rather than your impression. Congenital deafness is the clearest example: the brainstem auditory evoked response test is the only accepted diagnostic method, can be performed from 35 days of age, holds good for the dog’s lifetime, and distinguishes unilateral from bilateral loss — which watching the litter will not, since a puppy deaf in one ear behaves almost normally in a group. Which of the two you have changes the disclosure, the price and the home you look for.
Behavioral concerns are harder: behavior at eight weeks is only a weak guide to the adult dog: in one long-term study only one of ten puppy traits carried through to adulthood, although broader reviews find puppy behavior is not entirely random over time either. Avoid labeling a puppy for life on thin evidence. Record what you have actually seen, dated and repeated, as observing and documenting individual puppies sets out, and where the pattern is marked, ask your veterinarian about a behavioral referral rather than guessing.
A common case: the retained testicle
A male puppy whose testicles have not both descended by about eight weeks may be cryptorchid; the diagnosis is usually confirmed at around six months. The condition is heritable, so the dog should not be bred, and because retained testicles carry a higher risk of cancer and of painful twisting (torsion), veterinarians generally recommend neutering. Put this in the disclosure, explain why, and tell the buyer that sudden pain or swelling in the groin or belly needs a vet the same day.
Disclosure in writing
Verbal disclosure is worth nothing six months later. Write it down and give the buyer a copy before any money changes hands. It needs to cover the finding in plain words; when it was noticed and by whom; the diagnosis, with a copy of the veterinary report; what is known about the prognosis and what is not; what the condition will require in care, cost and restriction over the dog’s life; whether it is known or suspected to be inherited; and what you are doing about it in the rest of your program. Then add the buyer’s signature and the date.
Two further pieces belong with it. If your registry allows endorsements or restrictions, this is where you use them, and say in writing that the dog is not to be bred from where that is the guidance for the condition. Keep the disclosure with the rest of the paperwork in documents and the puppy pack rather than as a loose sheet, and tell the other puppies’ buyers where the finding has implications for littermates — an inherited condition is information they need, and it feeds back into genetics and inherited health and your next mating decisions.
Writing it down is not just good manners. Several kennel clubs expect it: Dogs Australia’s Code of Practice asks breeders to obtain the new owner’s written, signed acknowledgement of any health issue or disability, and The Royal Kennel Club’s guidance for its Assured Breeders scheme (closed on 31 December 2024) asked for any veterinary treatment before sale, and the care it will need, to be disclosed in writing. The Canadian Kennel Club lists non-breeding agreements among the documents buyers should receive. Check what your own registry and local law expect.
Price, contract and the honest bargain
Breeders commonly reduce or waive the price of an affected puppy, and as a general principle that is reasonable, since the buyer is taking on cost and uncertainty. But the reduction does not transfer your responsibility, and it is never an alternative to full written disclosure.
Rather than reaching for wording, treat this as a set of decisions your contract has to answer. Who pays for the condition’s foreseeable treatment, and for how long. What happens if the prognosis proves worse than stated. Whether the dog may be bred from, and how that is enforced. What the return arrangement is, and on what notice. Whether follow-up information is expected, which connects to collecting health and longevity data. The structure sits in sales contracts and consumer law and buy-back, returns and rehoming.
A suitable home, not the first willing one
The temptation is to accept whoever is enthusiastic, because candidates are fewer and the puppy is getting older. Resist it: this is where assessing prospective puppy buyers matters most, and where the matching in matching puppy to home becomes non-negotiable. OFA guidance on congenital deafness is explicit that placement of a bilaterally deaf puppy is at the breeder’s discretion and that families must be screened for adequate knowledge and resources; the same principle applies to a cardiac condition needing monitoring, or to a puppy that will always find the world frightening.
In practice, ask what this condition demands and find a household that can meet it: a veterinary practice that knows it, the money for ongoing care, the patience for training a deaf dog, and no expectation of a dog that will do things this dog never will. Prefer a household that has done it before, and accept that finding one may mean holding the puppy weeks longer, with its own outings and visitors rather than a quiet pen.
In practice
A breeder BAER-tests a litter at seven weeks after one puppy repeatedly sleeps through noise, and a bitch fails bilaterally. Rather than placing her with the waiting buyer who says she does not mind, the breeder writes a disclosure with the neurologist’s report attached, reduces the price, endorses the registration against breeding, and takes three weeks to find a home that has raised a deaf dog — walking the puppy alone twice a week meanwhile. The contract names her as first call, with no time limit on the return route.
(Illustrative, composite scenario.)
Support afterwards — and when placement is not the answer
Say from the start that your involvement does not end at the door: a named point of contact, an expectation that you will hear from this owner more often than the others, and help finding the right professional rather than being one. Keep the return route genuinely open through staying in contact with puppy buyers — a home coping now may not be in three years.
There is a harder decision behind this. Some conditions are compatible with a good life that needs managing; some are not, and no home, price reduction or contract makes them so. The question is the dog’s welfare as a whole — the framing in welfare frameworks and the five domains — and it is a veterinary judgment rather than a breeder’s. End-of-life care guidelines define quality of life as the total wellbeing of the individual animal across its physical, social and emotional life, and expect a veterinarian to set out the options factually and to recommend euthanasia when palliation no longer meets the animal’s needs. OFA’s guidance lists humane euthanasia among the alternatives for a bilaterally deaf puppy — a reminder that these decisions are made openly rather than whispered about.
In some places the law also sets a limit. Under England’s dog breeding licensing guidance, a licensed breeder must check puppies for birth defects, make buyers aware of any, and must not offer for sale a dog with a condition likely to materially affect its quality of life. Ask your veterinarian, in writing, whether a puppy’s condition crosses that line, and check the rules where you live.
If you are facing it, make the decision with your veterinarian, early, with the condition and prognosis written down; the relationship in working with your veterinarian is what makes that conversation possible at short notice. Do not resolve it by placing a suffering puppy with whoever is willing to take it, and do not let your own reluctance postpone it for the dog.
When to call your vet
- Before you describe any defect, disability or behavior concern to a buyer — get a diagnosis and prognosis in writing first.
- A puppy that fails to startle to sound, or seems to hear on one side only — ask about a BAER test (possible from 35 days).
- A male puppy with a testicle not in the scrotum by about eight weeks; same day if there is sudden pain or swelling in the groin or belly.
- A hernia or swelling that becomes firm, painful or cannot be pushed back, or a puppy that vomits or stops eating.
- A placed puppy whose condition is worsening, or whose new home reports pain, distress or a poor quality of life.
- Repeated, marked fear or aggression across your dated notes — ask about referral to a veterinary behaviorist.
- If in doubt, call — your vet would rather hear from you early.
Work on it
A few minutes here will teach you more than re-reading the article.
Ask yourself
- If I found a defect in a puppy tomorrow, what exactly would I put in writing, and do I have a template?
- Have I ever let a price reduction stand in for a full explanation of what a buyer was taking on?
- Do the owners of a litter’s healthy puppies hear about a finding in their littermate, and should they?
Find out & check
- Ask your veterinary practice which conditions they can confirm with a definitive test — and at what age — for the problems your breed sees most, and what a referral for the rest would involve.
Do one thing
- Draft the headings of your disclosure sheet today: finding, date, who diagnosed it, prognosis and unknowns, expected care and cost, breeding status, return arrangement, signatures.
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Sources & further reading
- Orthopedic Foundation for Animals — Congenital Deafness. ofa.org
- American Animal Hospital Association / IAAHPC — 2016 AAHA/IAAHPC End-of-Life Care Guidelines. aaha.org
- The Royal Kennel Club — Kennel Club announces registrations model update and closure of the ABS (July 2024). royalkennelclub.com
- GOV.UK (Defra) — Dog breeding licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities. gov.uk
- Dogs Australia — Code of Practice (July 2023). dogsaustralia.org.au
- Canadian Kennel Club — Code of Practice (September 2017). ckc.ca
- Cornell Riney Canine Health Center — Cryptorchidism in Dogs (Retained Testicle). vet.cornell.edu
- Riemer S et al. (2014), PLOS ONE — The Predictive Value of Early Behavioural Assessments in Pet Dogs. journals.plos.org
Where evidence is limited, recommendations rest on established practice and expert judgment, and may be updated as knowledge develops. Nothing here is veterinary advice: diagnosis, prognosis and any decision about a puppy’s quality of life belong with your veterinarian. This is general information, not legal or financial advice: requirements differ between countries and change over time — have your own documents reviewed by a qualified professional in your jurisdiction.
Next steps
- Read next: From first inquiry to settled puppy: sales and the transition home.
- Related: Buy-back, returns and rehoming.
- Return to the area hub: Understanding and placing each puppy.