I have a puppy with an overbite who I have been running on as this puppy is just outstanding otherwise. I thought I would hang on to her for a year as many have urged me to do, in case it does correct.
She is now five months old and it is getting worse. The lower canines were ahead of the upper ones but now that her adult teeth are coming in, they have moved back and the gap does not seem to be changing.
I will hang on to her for a little while longer but my question is, even if by some miracle this bite does correct, what are the odds that she will produce bad bites? Am I just buying myself more bad luck down the road if I keep her, even if her mouth corrects?
Would love to hear from somebody with direct experience.

I have a girl with parrot mouth and it is different from an overbite. Her lower jaw is short and narrow. Her jaw fits just inside her upper teeth and the k-9's are in the wrong position (behind the top k-9's). When she lays on her back you can see her upper front teeth going over the skin on her lower jaw. We had to have one of the k-9's reduced to the level of the other teeth when she was 9 months old as it was putting a hole in the roof of her mouth. She has done great and has no issues. By 12 weeks the bite was really off and it never improved. We took her to the U of M and they said she would produce the same issue if we were to breed her, so we spayed her.

we had an overbite puppy who went as a pet...his bite was AWFUL till he was 11 months old....I could not believe it was the same dog when it corrected itself...he is now 5yrs old and has a perfect bite. He was neutered but his mother & sister never produced another bad bite.....might be worth waiting a little longer for the outcome of your girl's bite.

interesting how many stories of bad overbites I have been hearing of.....

Maybe your hearing more about it because of the internet and not because there is more incidence of it? A bad bite is not the worst thing to happen to a dog, bad hips, elbows, eyes, heart and what worries me most is that so many labs are getting cancer at such a young age like the goldens. I would never breed to a dog with a bad bite but there are other worst things to happen to them!
Aloha,
Jackie

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Replying to:

interesting how many stories of bad overbites I have been hearing of.....

Bad bites are bad bites. No matter how perfect
she may be otherwise. Bad hips,eyes,elbows,
TVD,PRA,gay tails etc ect.

IMO, breeders should only keep the most
sound offspring to carry on with.

We all have had what appeared to be that
perfect look, pedigree etc. And the best
we have produced. However, if that perfect
puppy has something that will be carried on
to their offspring and on and on maybe, we
should try again or have kept the 2nd and
3rd pic as well??

I think that sometimes people have to look at the sire and the dam. I don't believe that all bites are gentic, there are how many bones in the structure of the jaw? So, you have both parents that are passing on 1/2 of the makeup of the jaw in the puppy. I have seen overbites that usually straighten themselves out, that is not uncommon. I have also seen parents and granparents with good bites produce bad bites. So, it isn't all genetic, I think the jury is still out on this one! Also, it depends on what the rest of the litter had. If all the bites were fine then I wouldn't worry about it. If you had allot of undershot bites, then I would not recomend breeding this dog.

I coown a bitch that is now 9 mos. At 5 mos I was at the coowners house and opened her mouth and about fainted, there was a gap of probably inch and a half. Her lower jaw was that far off. In two mos it went back to a normal scissor bite?? I had a dog that had a scissor bite till he was 18 mos. At which time it went level and stayed that way. So frustrating. Insn't breeding fun.

Breeder - maybe I misunderstood but it is time to get something straight. There is a very strong chance that every single Labrador out there has something undesirable that will be "carried on to their offspring... and on and on".

If you meant that it is wiser not to use a dog with a visible disorder - and especially one that is suspected to be hereditary - then I am with you all the way. But if only genetically perfect dogs should know the joys of parenthood, then it may be time to throw in the towel as a breeder!

I would wait another month or so... I've looked in the mouths of pups who were in the midst of changing over from baby to adult teeth and been shocked, only to find that everything straightened out once the adult teeth were sufficiently in. But if it was an overbite before the baby teeth fell out, I think there's less of a chance it will all come together.

I agree with Nancy. I had a femake pup whose front teeth were a jumble of crooked when she started getting her adult teeth. I made myself NOT LOOK for three weeks--when I did, she had a perfect scissors bite.

Have a young dog now who went undershot on me--normal scissors bite at the beginning. I just quit looking. Now she is level and it may continue to scissors as her adult teeth fill in. She is just now 6 months old.

MK

I disagree. Genetics is a tricky thing and just because parents or grandparents have correct bites does not mean they don't carry a reccessive for bad bites.
Yes, there are "many" bones in the jaw, but how they come together is purely genetic unless there is some injury prior to maturity, which is uncommon.
I think that if you are producing bad bites, you need to take a look at your lines. It's coming from somewhere...

I would myself not consider breeding from a Labrador with an incorrect mouth. By all means, hang on to it a little longer as it is an outstanding puppy but if it does not correct itself I would sell it as a pet. The Labrador is not a rare breed and we do not need to use incorrect mouths in our breeding programs. It would of course be a different matter with a rare breed. I wish you the best of luck with your future breeding, no doubt there is a really good one around the corner with a good mouth...you just wait and see.