Our
Health
Testing.

Every dog in our breeding program undergoes comprehensive genetic health testing through Orivet before being considered for breeding. These tests screen for hereditary diseases and conditions known to occur within the breeds we work with, allowing us to make informed, responsible breeding decisions.

We carefully review every dog's results and would never intentionally breed from a dog affected by a hereditary condition identified through comprehensive breed-specific genetic testing. Our breeding decisions are made with the goal of producing healthy puppies while maintaining the long-term genetic health and diversity of the breed.

Transparency is one of our core values. That's why we include copies of each puppy's parents' Orivet genetic health testing results in every puppy's go-home pack. We believe our families should have confidence in the health testing we've undertaken and a clear understanding of the steps we've taken to give their puppy the best possible start in life.

Hip Scoring

The long-term health and soundness of our dogs is one of our highest priorities. That's why all of our breeding dogs undergo hip scoring before being considered for our breeding program.

Hip scoring is an important tool that helps identify dogs with healthy hip conformation, allowing breeders to make informed breeding decisions and reduce the risk of passing on a genetic predisposition to hip dysplasia. By carefully selecting parents with good hip scores, we are giving our puppies the best possible genetic foundation for healthy joints.

However, it's important to understand that hip dysplasia is a complex condition influenced by both genetics and environmental factors. While responsible breeding significantly reduces the risk, no breeder can guarantee that a puppy will never develop hip dysplasia. Factors such as rapid growth, excessive weight, inappropriate exercise during development, jumping off furniture or sliding around floors as a puppy, injury, and nutrition can all play a role in how a puppy's hips develop.

Our commitment is to stack the odds in our puppies' favour by breeding from carefully health-tested parents, while also providing our families with guidance on raising their puppy in a way that supports healthy joint development throughout the critical growth period.

We don’t breed dogs who fall outside of the breed average, which is currently 11.

We also commit to full transparency in our program, which is why all our breeding dogs appear on the AKNC register with publicly visible results and under the prefix “Hawkesbury Groodles'“. You can see this list here: https://orchid.ankc.org.au/Home/SearchResults#page-20

Through our years of breeding we have had two dogs fall outside the breed average who were retired from our program immediately. We encourage those looking for a puppy to be diligent in researching their breeder and the hip scores of the parents.