question about undershot pup

hello, i have a question aimed at the more experienced people on this site. i have a 4 month old pitbull and im pretty new to this breed. there is some good breeding behind this dog, only thing is, since his adult teeth are coming in ive noticed he,s looking slightly undershot.im wondering, is it possable that the teeth can still mesh together ok with the bottom outside the top so as not to affect the dog to much at a performance level ? app. your help in advance

 

Lots of great dogs had undershots

 

It's not a bad thing.

 

One of mine has a slight underbite(only noticeable if you open her mouth) but still has a good scissors bite - she can hold onto anything...

As long as it is not severe enough to look like a boxer where you can see a 1"+ difference, it shouldn't be a problem. (I'm sure someone will chime in and say "I saw such and such dog with a big underbite and it was the best biting dog I've ever seen...blah, blah, blah", but in most cases that is not desirable)

 

nice 1 lads, i had a feelin it wasnt gonna be the end of the world alright. its good to get other opinions though. tanx again

 

Nothing wrong with a slight underbite. Just don't want a great big one.

 

i agree one of my best dogs is slightly under shot and had some good ones that was under shot

 

Undershot is not a big deal, But an overshot bite is a major disadvantage!

 

if you breed to it it will throw undershot. I know this sounds harsh but my advice is if its not perfect put it down theirs enough screwed up dogs out there as it is.when in doubt cull

 

Perfection to some may not be perfection to others. If one was breeding for show than an undershot would be bad to the breeder that wan'ts a perfect looker.
But show WILL NEVER BE THE RIGHT REASON for breeding any bulldog, ever!
The way I look at it, is Most all the screwed up dogs out there are bred for form and not sound function!

 

i thought about your post and was so upset about the replies you were getting that i had to post again.you say you're new to this breed and are asking for advice i'm assuming that at some time in the future you might want to breed.undershot is genetic it will become more prevalent every time this dog is bred its 4mo's old and already defective the person you bought it from should return your money or give you another dog that being said why would you want to start-off with a defective animal i'm not talking about perfection to one might not be perfection to another.i'm talking about a 4 mo old defective dog why waste the time and money raising something that you no is wrong or you wouldn't have asked.i no this isn't the popular answer but if you're ever going to be anything more than a puppy peddler you're going to have to make this kind of decision not every pup should live and be sold and if more people culled there would be a lot less screwed-up dogs

 

why didnt you ask if sire and dam had undershot bites,or have all the litter mates got undershot bites ?,the only thing you said that makes sense is it is genetic,but you forgot to add it can skip untold generations,and with correct breeding nigh be eliminated,so you may have just culled a decent producer or a tidy young'en for have teeth outa place.....congrats

 

WOW,cull it.If your dog has undershot doe's not mean its offspring will.thats crazy.I got 2 with undershots that i breed and not one out of two litters has had a under.I have breed 2 with out and got 2 out of 5 with undershot.

 

I agree,some are breeding for looks only.It's a fine line to walk.You want show dogs but they must be as you say sound at the same time.

 

undersot bite is not genetic in every case. and if its not genetic how could it be hereditary?

 

its a genetic fault PERIOD

 

lmao PERIOD

 

spoken like a true puppy peddler breed everything and the hell with the consequences what part about it (being undershot)and undershot being hereditary and genetic and therfore with a higher probability of it being passed on to future generations is so hard to understand and yet you still breed to undershot dogs and you try to tell a newbie with a 4mo old dog that this is an OK practice

 

I am curious as to the health testing you do before breeding any animals, and if you don't breed, which health test would you recommend? You are saying that an undershot is basically a genetic fault and those that exhibit it should be culled as they will pass it down to the next generation? In my humble opinion, it is only a genetic fault if it in some way adversely affects the performance of the animal, and causes it to not perform the task that breeder is looking to get from the animal. You cull undesirable characteristics. So if performance is desired, and the animal performs, why would you cull based on this characteristic??

It was also stated that if you bred an undershot animal, it will get worse as you breed further generations. Has anyone actually seen this happen? Or have any proof of this? Because in my experience with seeing undershot animals bred, some of the offspring were not undershot at all, in some cases non of the litter was. ALSO in animals without an undershot, there were sometimes pups with an undershot. Basically, I am saying if you want to eliminate undershot dogs in a breed, it is impractical to start with ONE dog and cull it. You would have to go through your yard, and every time you bred a dog, and he/she threw a pup with an undershot, cull them and the offspring, as they carry the "undershot genetics." Eliminating a trait is not as easy as just culling the ones showing it.

I am able to agree that an undershot is NOT desirable, my only point is to for someone to recommend that someone cull an animal based on this trait MUST indicate it will adversely affect an animal. And if so, there are several "genetic faults" that can be tested for, if performance is not the main focus. Surely each of the people who recommend culling this puppy must have hip x-rays done, cardiac test, a wide array of blood test to test for the various possible genetic issues in canines, test done of the eyes, etc etc etc. Basically, an undershot is simply a "fault" that you can see. There are various others that can be tested for and maybe we should cull based on those too??

 

ccourtcleve:
when i was breeding dogs (in the 80's) i always tested temperment and gameness i also always waited until they (the dog) was at least 2 yrs old that way if there were any (in my op) flaws in the dog they woud have shown up.I also always took the dog to the vet before breeding for a ck-up.the 1st week the pups were born i took them to my vet anything wrong with any pup the dog was put down i know this sounds harsh and maybe it is but resources being what they are and not unlimited i felt like why with a young newborn animal waste them on something defective. I admit that not every undershot or overshot dog or every dog with displashie (i know its spelled wrong) will throw every dog with these traits but every vet and everything i'v read heard and witnessed points to these traits being genetic and therfore they will have more of a prevalence to be passed on.Its breeders ignoring things like that that have ruined whole breeds of dogs (i.e. german shepards with displasea and dobes with thick skulls)or at least severly undermined the breed.But i feel that the whole gist of the original posters question has some-how been ignored or at least overlooked.He asked a serious question about an undershot pup he had.I simply stated (or at least meant-to) that as a newbie with a very young dog 4mos old i would not start off with a dog with a known fault visible even to his newbie eyes (and i say this with no intention at all of denigrating him or her or running them down)i just wrote this as some-one who's been involved with these dogs since 79 and thought that because he asked in an open forum a well thought-out question i would answer his question as honestly as i could and do what (in my op) was best for our breed of dog not the bottom line not what makes me feel good) but whats best for our breed.In closing i took no pleasure in culling dogs in fact it depressed the hell out of me but for any breed to be truly great like our dog its necessary and was done frequently