How to Choose a Healthy Puppy

Each breed has their own concrete characteristics, so a puppy should have almost all of them, that means he should fit, more or less, within the ideal type. This is why a physical check of all puppies, from the esthetic point of view, is not valid. What we can do, instead, is evaluate his health, and we can do it using a series of parameters that are common to all breeds: eyes, ears, mucous, abdomen, hair, etc.The eyes should be joyful, lively, and overall clean. Abundant lachrymal secretion is a bad symptom: if secretion is liquid could be caused by an irritation (conjunctivitis); if it's dry (rheum) is alarming, cause may be distemper. Beware: if only one of the puppies present symptoms of serious infection, probably the rest of the litter is also ill, and that puppy, perhaps the weaker, is the first to have the signs. The ear's interior must be clean with no odor at all. Bad odor could be produce by acarus. Mucouses must have good pigmentation (black); till two months pigmentation can be incomplete. Don't worry about some pink spot when the puppy is too young; however if it continues after two months, becomes a defect. The puppy has not the definitive denture, but the milk one, therefore you can't guess if it will complete. But you can see if the cierre, that changes according to breeds, is correct. The perianal zone must be clean. Yellow spots in the anal orifice indicate the dog has suffered diarrhea, and therefore, intestine problems or parasites. In almost all breeds, at two months, the puppy must have the testicles hanging on completely in the scrotum; they are not always at sight, but you can touch them. In some breeds like the husky, testicles descend at three, or even four months. The lack of a testicle (monorquidia) or both (cryptorchidia) is a hereditary problem that excludes dogs from exhibitions and reproduction; therefore, in this case, we'll ask the breeder to give us a guarantee covering these problems. Remind that apart from being an hereditary defect, that is transmitted to the descendants, may cause trouble to the dog. In fact, the testicle retained in the abdomen receives excessive hot, and can degenerate in tumor, that will need surgery. The abdomen, terse or swollen, may be a symptom of intestine parasites. Have in mind, however, that after eating all puppies have a smooth and inflated abdomen. If this is the case, watch them again after some hours, the abdomen's skin is smooth and pink, without pustules or reddishness. He hair of the puppy is bright and almost without odor (excepting the normal litter's odor).The presence of one or two fleas is not a reason for alarm, cause it's almost impossible to eliminate them completely from a litter, specially at a breeder's place. On the contrary, a huge infestation may cause serious health problems (anemia), and in any case indicates the breeder has failed.