Sadly, when the American Bully was created, very little was considered regarding the health of the breed.  Twentyish years later, ethical breeders are working to give the breed health and longevity.  Health testing is an important tool in creating that reality over time.  

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In some old breeds, health testing is very black and white.  In bullies, there is such an alphabet soup of issues that is not always the case.  Responsible breeders work towards a goal of improving.  Unfortunately, there are so few breeders health testing, and some with ironclad resolve against health testing (the thought of, if I don't know, it won't hurt me) that it is difficult.

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On each of our dogs' pages, you can see the health testing we are doing.  It may not always be perfect.  Unfortunately, as a breed we are just not there yet - especially considering how few are testing and the myriad of problems in the breed.  Health is very important to us and a primary goal we are working towards.

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I can't guarantee your dog will be PERFECT.  I can guarantee that we have integrity and we will stand behind our dogs.  We want you the puppy buyer and for our puppy to be HAPPY.

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Currently, these are breed statistics.

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414 hips tested:  54% normal

383 elbows tested:  59% normal

162 hearts tested advanced cardiac:  78% normal

117 hearts tested basic cardiac:  96% normal

(from OFA database)

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That said, many people do not send in bad results.  So, if failing, they are underreported.  In testing our first dogs, 60% failed heart.  We are happy to report that ALL of our current dogs in our program are passing heart.  The two litters we have had from Hanzo x Miley and Loki x Cinnamon had no murmurs, checked by Dr. Nunnelly at Iuka Animal's Choice Vet Clinic.

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When talking to Bully breeders, you are going to hear a lot of excuses.  It is expensive and can be  heartbreaking to health test your dogs, but it is the only responsible path for the breed.  Do NOT believe "My lines are healthy" (Ok, prove it!)  "I have never had any problems."  (Often, they did...they either just don't know it or they are not talking about it.)  "My dogs seem fine."  (They will seem fine, til they are not.  One of our first bullies dropped dead at 4 from heart with no previous issues.  I have seen dysplastic dogs run and play and seem like they have no issues.)  Or, then there's the "I am waiting to receive my results."  (If they are, they will have a copy of the health testing paperwork from the vet.)  ​

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If you are reading this as a bully breeder, I ask for the breed that you join us in working on health.  It's a group effort and a long term project, one that would have been a lot easier had this breed been started with health tested dogs.

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NOTE:  Embark has added some things to their results that make it confusing when you see "Embark Clear" then you see notations on their results.  Basically, CRD4's will show up on Bully embarks BUT they mean nothing as Bullies apparently do not have the modifier gene necessary for the disease to show up.  Copper toxicity and mast cell tumors are just warnings the conditions can appear in the breed or in other breeds, and not indicative of a problem in the individual dog.  

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