I am looking for someone who knows or can tell me where to look to find out if whether a dog that is toed-in would pass this on to their offspring. I have a 11 month old male who is very nice with the exception of his front feet being toed-in and would like to know if it's possible to still use him as a stud, when he's old enough to be ofa certified, or if I should have him neutered. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mike

If he is very nice in most ways, I would just run on him until he matures. I have had feet that turn out a little that come around as the chest fills out. How are his elbows?

I find if there are elbow problems, they tend to toe out or "east west". Can't say I have EVER discounted a dog or bitch for that matter because they toe in.

I have seen this pass onto the offspring. I have had this before and neutered the dog and placed in a pet home. There are too many nice studs that dont have this problem that I can use. Why take a chance and waste your time and money by breeding to a inherited trait?

Unless you've been successfully involved in breeding Labs for many, many years and are speaking fine tuning, look at the whole dog. If you start nit picking in the early stages, you'll forever be coming up empty.

I hate to point out the obvious - all "traits" are inherited. Some are great, others not so much. You have to look for the balance and hope the good outweighs the bad. Determine your priorities. If a little toe in or toe out is a "dealbreaker" in your breeding program, then don't breed the boy - regardless of any other good traits. If other features are more important, then use him judiciously where you don't double on the issue. Most of all....if you do use him for his other good qualities, don't keep the offspring with his worst fault for your next generation