We offer free health testing for any puppy purchased from our kennel. This helps us monitor the population, see what we're producing in terms of health, and can help us make more educated decision in the future. 

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To qualify you must own a Hachidorisou Shikoku and the dog must be 2 years of age or older. Intact and altered dogs are accepted. If altered you must provide proof of spay/neuter. Pediatric spay/neuter is not preferred but is accepted at this time. It is possible in the future we will not cover the full amount when testing pediatric spayed/neutered dogs, dogs altered before 12 months of age, because they do need those hormones for proper growth and development. Pediatric spay/neuter can cause an increased risk in orthopedic problems in the future. 

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Health testing will be performed here in Virginia so anyone interested must be willing to make the drive. We do not offer reimbursement for travel expenses or time spent.  We do not offer cash to get a dog tested at your own vet and will not reimburse money spent at a vet not of our choice. Our vet is very reasonably priced and we spend roughly $1,200-1,500 per dog when health testing. This cost can vary by state, vet office, and vet experience. And one thing to note with health testing is that expensive is often NOT a sign of better quality or expertise but rather the opposite. 

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Testing for all dogs will include the following:

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Pennhip

OFA Hips

OFA Elbows

OFA Thyroid

OFA Dentition

OFA Cardiac

OFA Patella

UC Davis VGL Genetic Testing

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This health testing will go towards collecting more data on the overall health of the dogs we are producing, what certain lines are producing, and hopefully give insight into what we can or should do in the future. We are still learning so much about this amazing breed so all data is important. 

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If this is something you are interested in taking advantage of I encourage you to reach out to us. We only test one dog per month, with a total of 12 dogs per year. At the current moment (3/3/24) we are booked out until October 2024. 

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***OFA Eye certification: Our ophthalmologist has limited availability and is often not available. We will allow eye certification to be done at your own local eye specialist with stipulations. Message for more information about eye certification.