Genetic health testing before breeding is one of the most impactful welfare interventions available to dog breeders. Testing programs identify carriers of heritable diseases before affected puppies are produced.
Responsible breeding welfare starts before conception. Breeders who health test both parents before breeding are actively working to reduce the probability of producing puppies that will suffer from inherited disease. Hip dysplasia causes a lifetime of pain; degenerative myelopathy causes progressive paralysis; hereditary eye diseases cause blindness. All of these conditions exist in predictable genetic patterns that testing can identify. The breeder who tests and only breeds dogs clear of known heritable conditions is exercising genuine welfare responsibility. The breeder who does not test is either uninformed or indifferent to the welfare of the puppies they produce.