Our Breeding Program

As a professional breeder, we believe that raising quality puppies is a science. We are always looking to improve our babies and stay up to date on new research. You will notice that we don't always have puppies available. We limit our home to a low number of adult dogs to ensure each of our dogs and puppies receive sufficient one-on-one time and care. Our puppies are raised in a clean, well-kept room inside our home. We also have friends and family who have our dogs in their homes. We do health testing on all of our adult dogs and breeding prospects. The key to creating healthy puppies is only breeding healthy parents.  Through DNA testing, we are able to eliminate common ailments found in the Lagotto Romagnolo. 

Every dog is born with certain genes that are inherited from each parent dog. These traits decide whether your dog has curly hair or floppy ears. Maybe she is brown or orange, or both. While these traits are fun and exciting to learn about, there are other things that DNA testing can show us. Geneticists have found certain markers for many ailments that affect the health and longevity of the Lagotto Romagnolo. A dog will have 1 of 3 different results for each DNA test. 

CLEAR - this means the dog tests clear of the genetic marker. A CLEAR tested dog will not produce AFFECTED offspring. Clear dogs can safely breed dogs that might be carriers.

CARRIER - this means the dog may carry the genetic marker, but will NOT be AFFECTED by the disorder. These dogs can still be bred safely and have unaffected puppies, but must be bred to a CLEAR dog. It is important to note that while it would be great to only have CLEAR dogs, it would significantly decrease the gene pool to pull all CARRIER's from breeding programs. We hope to eventually have only CLEAR dogs in our program.

AFFECTED - affected dogs must not be bred. They may or may not show symptoms of a disorder, but will transfer the AFFECTED gene on to puppies. 

Benign familial juvenile epilepsy (BFJE) is a neurological disorder encountered in the Lagotto Romagnolo breed. Affected dogs suffer from focal-onset epileptic seizures in puppyhood. The seizures invariably resolve spontaneously by four months of age. In some cases, carriers might also present epileptic signs. BFJE is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner.

Hyperuricosuria (HUU) is an inherited disorder in dogs that can cause hyperuricemia and predisposes affected dogs to the development of urolithiasis (urate stones) in the kidneys and bladder. The disease is very common in Dalmatians but is seen in several other breeds as well. Hyperuricosuria is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. 

Lagotto storage disease (LSD) is a progressive neurological disorder characterized by cerebellar ataxia. Histological examination reveals neuronal vacuolization in the peripheral and central nervous systems. Aggregation of vacuoles can also be seen in several other tissues, but only vacuolization of the nerve cells seems to be relevant. Lagotto storage disease affects the Lagotto Romagnolo breed. The disorder is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner.