Subvalvular Aortic Stenosis (SAS)
This inherited heart defect is caused by a stricture in the left ventricle of the heart, which results in a murmur that ranges from slight to severe. Diagnosis can be made as early as eight weeks, but the preferred age is sixteen weeks old. Screening should be done by a board-certified veterinary cardiologist, and any dogs used in a breeding program should be re-evaluated every twelve to twenty-four months to be sure they stay clear.
A breeder who considers the whole dog — not just one aspect of a dog — is worth pursuing. Health, temperament, and conformation must all be considered together, not one at the expense of another. All the parts make up the whole. The very best breeders make sure they take all these elements into consideration before choosing to breed a particular dog.
No dog with any sort of heart murmur should be used in a breeding program. Prospective buyers will do well to be sure both parents have been cleared for this heart defect. You can sometimes obtain a great deal of information from discussing the breeder's family of dogs and finding out which problems occurred and what the breeder has done to stay clear of them. No dog is perfect, and no breeder makes the perfect choices all the time. The important point to determine is whether the breeder made an effort to avoid problems in the lines. He or she should be constantly searching for the healthiest and most problem-free dogs possible.
Get to know your breeder. Find out his or her breeding philosophy. Make sure you are comfortable with the reasons for those choices. You may be living with those choices for a very long time.
