Breed health schemes test dogs for inherited conditions before breeding, with their uptake and effectiveness determining whether the prevalence of painful inherited diseases increases or declines.
Breed health scheme welfare impact depends on the gap between what is tested and what is acted upon by breeders and puppy buyers. Health schemes that identify affected dogs before breeding theoretically enable breeders to make selection decisions that reduce disease prevalence in future generations. In practice, scheme effectiveness depends on breeder uptake (voluntary schemes miss breeders who prefer not to know), on the breeding decisions made by breeders who do test, and on puppy buyer demand for health-tested animals. Breeds where health testing is a mandatory prerequisite for Kennel Club registration, or where breed clubs require testing before registering litters, show better uptake. The welfare impact of health schemes is most meaningful for conditions causing chronic pain or functional impairment - hip dysplasia, hereditary cataract, and Degenerative Myelopathy are welfare-relevant conditions where testing-informed breeding can reduce suffering in future generations. The expansion of genetic testing panels has outpaced the scientific evidence base for some conditions, creating uncertainty about the welfare significance of variants detected. Collaboration between geneticists, veterinarians, and breed clubs to prioritise the most welfare-relevant conditions for mandatory testing is needed.