Genetic health testing before breeding can eliminate or reduce the frequency of heritable diseases that cause lifelong suffering in pedigree dog breeds.
Heritable disease welfare harms are preventable: a Labrador with hip dysplasia experiences chronic progressive pain throughout its life from a condition that responsible breeding could have avoided. DNA testing allows breeders to identify carriers of recessive conditions and avoid pairings that produce affected puppies. Health testing programmes have measurably reduced the prevalence of some conditions. The welfare case for mandatory pre-breeding health testing is strong — it is the only intervention that prevents welfare harm before birth rather than managing it afterwards.