Cumbreck Miniature Schnauzers

Our adults are eye tested by a KC/BVA vet, sometimes we have them tested as unregistered dogs so therefore results are kept private & not made available to KC breed supplements or the schnauzer club people. We usually do not eye test the puppies this can be done by the new owners if they so wish when the dog is 10 months -1 year old or soon after purchase, maximum price for eye testing a single dog for GPRA, PRA, PLL & Cataracts is £42 with a KC/BVA vet.  We have never yet had a dog fail its eye examination upto the age of 8 years old which is the cutoff line suggested by the eye specialists, this is because cataracts can be caused by old age after this. 

Cataracts & juvenile cataracts (which is what pups can be tested for) can be seen with the naked eye anyway so you don't normally need an eye vet to tell you if a dog or pup has cataracts. Breeders who litter screen their pups ( which means an eye vet tells them if they have any signs of problems) cannot guarentee that a pup who tests clear at 6-12 weeks won't come down with a problem at 6 months, it is not 100% a guarentee your pup is going to have healthy eyes forever, i would be surprised if any pet owner eye tests their pup as an adult, very few do, the risk of catching parvo virus, kennel cough or some other disease from the vet practice in unvaccinated puppies is something which concerns me, keeping a pup until over the age of 12 weeks so its vaccinated and then to eye test it isn't something new owners want to wait for, which is understandable as everyone wants to bond with their puppy at the early stage of 8 weeks when they are ready for that bonding process. I am not saying it is wrong to eye test pups as that is every breeders perrogative to do what they wish, but don't make it out more than it really is, some make a rather big hullaballoo about people who don't eye test pups, the KC have not made it compulsory to eye test adults before breeding let alone test baby pups. 

The best way of avoiding cataracts and PRA is to not use adults who have family members with the disease (research, research, research is what every breeder should do, like i did when looking for a mate for Tilly, the white male we had lined up i found had a grandsire with hereditary cataracts at 4 years old!, not something i want to add to my line nor would i feel comfortable selling pups from a line that has had a positive HC result ancestor, so we opted to travel further to a stud of known good health and eyes behind his lines for as far as we can find over 8 generations of his pedigree) some may say easier said than done to find a line thats had clear eye tests for at least 5 generations due to the gene pool but we would rather do that than risk using a dog/bitch who has unhealthy eyes behind him/her's bloodline. Some lines are more prone to eye & health problems than others, i think we fell lucky on our foundation dogs as they have only ever been to the vets for eye testing which have all been clear upto 8 years old & routine vaccines.

 All our puppies have breeding & export bans in place on the KC registration papers mainly because we do not want them to end up in homes where they are wanted solely for the purpose of breeding, we also have a rogue colour gene in our dogs which tends to throw non show standard colours so placing bans enables us to limit this gene being passed on to other peoples lines who do not like anything out of the norm. Personally i like the fact that our dogs are different & i like the colour spectrum that throws back to some of the original breed colours. In Germany and USA they still get colours like we have so we are not alone in the world!

If you do ever consider wanting to breed the dog you have from us then you must write to us & explain the reasons why & you must have the dogs eyes tested first, i will then consider lifting the breeding bans (upon payment) if the dog warrants being good enough to breed from, that dosen't mean it has to be a show winner but it must have something to offer the breed as a whole & have good structure & above all a great temprement, the colour is of least importance, this is even stated on the breed standard, but the dog must be sound. If you purchased a puppy for pet and family purposes, and later decided to breed the dog or bitch, then the balance is due to the breeder Cumbreck, of the price difference from pet price to full value breeding stock price, we sell puppies at pet price with endorsements which is vastly different from the price of a pup with no endorsements. This shall become due and payable to Cumbreck as soon as possible before breeding takes place or bans are removed. Your reasons for breeding must also be valid & not financial minded, anyone who says they make money from breeding dogs is having a laugh as its not a cheap hobby. If you want a pup back out of your dog for yourself & have done plenty of research into the pros & cons of breeding then i do feel this warrants lifting a breeding ban as i myself breed my own dogs primarily to keep a line of dogs i know is temprementaly sound & of good health.