Here is my scenario..gorgeous male puppy has it all (for my liking)..head,coat,tail,topline,angles, movement etc. But he is missing a bottom premolar on each side. He also maybe missing one top one, but I think this one may just have not cut through yet. I was originally planning to place him if he had missing teeth, but I look at him and think I would be crazy to place such an outstanding boy in all other aspects. What would you do?

I have 3 words for you - Lenches Teddy Bear. Seriously, you do have to look at the whole picture - plus, are his siblings missing teeth, relatives missing teeth? To me it is not the end all if the dog has everthing else you are looking for. I have had pups with a couple of missing teeth and the parents had full dentition. Dogs with missing teeth have produced dogs with full dentition. You just need to be careful who you breed him to.

You don't say how old he is. But if he has it all and you have the room..Keep Him

I have 3 words for you - Lenches Teddy Bear.

Yes. And there are a lot of us living with it now. WHY would you perpetuate issues like this? Keep him to yourself.

You will have to search for non-tooth fairy judges always, and he may not get as many stud fees as you hope for because of it. I have one myself.
I would not allow him to breed with a girl that is also missing teeth either, but thats just me.

Thanks, puppy is 7 months. Is there still hope for the premolars?

The majority of lab people do not think missing teeth are a really big deal. The only caution would be, do not use him with girls who also have missing teeth. Give your boy a chance.

If you really want to know if the premolars will come in, you can take him to the vet and have him x-rayed. If they are there or not, then you will have your answer. As for keeping him, that is up to you for your own use.

That was already said.

At 7 months the premolars should already be there, they erupt at 4-5 months.

As others have said, there are far worse faults than missing teeth. I have descendants of Teddy Bear and fortunately, have had decent luck with successive generations. I have made a point to breed back to full dentition AND dogs known to produce full dentition. I have gotten some missing teeth, but predominantly, have produced offspring with full dentition.

On the flip side, I have a girl (not related to Teddy) who does have all her teeth and no major issues with dentition behind her. Thus, some of the stud prospects I am considering for her are missing teeth.

Once again, it's important for breeders to work together and not try to mask or hide the faults a dog has. After all, they will just come back to haunt you.

So, if YOU like the boy, keep him for yourself and run him on. If he passes clearances and you do stand him at stud, just be forthcoming that he is missing teeth. Aren't we supposed to be breeding for ourselves first and foremost anyways? If you think the boy might be of value to your breeding program despite some missing teeth, KEEP HIM!

Our Rudy is missing 2 lower opposing premolars. He finished relatively easy; considering how hard it is to finish Labs.

He is quite able to hold ducks and anything we want him to. I think there are worse faults. We own his mother and grandmother; they both have full dentition, as does his sire, grandsire, and farther. We also kept a bitch littermate who has all of her teeth and has had a litter that all has all of their teeth.

Where I'm going with all of that is, you can have a bunch of full mouthed dogs and still get one missing teeth. You also can take the fact that his pedigree is not full of dogs missing teeth and use that to make sound breeding decisions.

Ever breeder has different "deal breakers", so I'm not telling you that you should keep him, if that's yours, but if we through out every dog with a fault...

There are no perfect dogs, so if this is what keeps this dog from being perfect in your eyes, or close to it, it wouldn't bother me much.

Mike

Not necessarily; I've had dogs whose premolars came in later. One bitch grew in 1 that was absent at 11 months! She was short 3 others, however. She was the product of 2 parents and familial lines with complete dentition.....

I don't bother x-raying for teeth that never come through; there are worse issues to worry about in our breed.

If he clears everything and pleases you, then you could always freeze his semen for yourself, and then place him. Just a thought.

"I like big white, clean teeth, scissor-bite, although I myself do not bother about the number of pre-molars. That is for Continental judges, to fuss about missing pre-molars".

Quote from "Advanced Labrador Breeding" by Mary Roslin Williams, Mansergh, GB.

I would never throw out a, otherwise stunning Labrador just for missing teeth....JMHO

KEEP HIM!
To place him in a pet home is ridiculous if he has everything else and passes his clearances!
To the people who are so fanatic on teeth, GROW UP!
There are worse things....

I would keep him!

missing teeth are a very small thing.. it does not affect the dogs life.. there are worst things to worry about.. LeeAnne

ask Nancy Arbuckle

I'd run him on too! There are many worse things that missing teeth...

I have a bitch with three missing molars. Finished her with no problems and she had three litters ... all puppies had all of their teeth that I'm aware of (have some here still and contacted lots of the puppy buyers a while back to confirm it before breeding her kids). Perhaps I got lucky but I agree with others that you have to look at the whole dog. None are perfect so figure out what you can live with and ignore other people. Everyone will have an opinion.

Big difference between a boy and a girl. I might not keep a boy without full dentition unless there was a reason I wanted him for myself. I would keep a bitch if she is as nice as you think.