Opinions Needed On Overbite GSD (10 months old) - Page 2

I had a puppy whose jaw really grew at a weird pace. It all corrected itself but not only did the lower k9s grow into the upper palate, the upper molars grew into the lower palate. The roots of the lower molars were exposed and every vet said that the molars would have to be removed. I talked to a number of breeders and they said to wait it out, it would correct itself. Low and behold it did. It would have cost thousands and thousands of dollars to pull or set teeth the right way.

The majority will correct itself but then there are dogs who won't. I think if you have a schooled eye you can tell the difference from the beginning. I've seen a lot of overbites in BYB bred dogs that won't ever correct themselves and developed a good eye for those that will and those that won't. Usually those that won't don't have a very well developed and strong jaw to begin with.

I breed GSD's and Labrador Retrievers and years back I had a litter of Shepherds and

a litter of Labs whelped a couple of days apart, I had 2 shepherd pups with considerable overbites,

and a lab pup with an overbite, I had never attributed it to being inherited, I had never had

any bite problems in both breeds, and the shepherd pups were a repeat breeding.

I ended up changing the brand of kibble I was feeding, and to this day have never had

another problem with bites, feeding the wrong food can mess with genetics also......   ;) 

feeding the wrong food can mess with genetics also......   ;) 

Sorry, but I feel that this statement is not correct.

 

I believe that poor food can mess with physical development (including tooth/jaw), which could result in bite issues, but food cannot change anything that is genetically hardwired, like missing teeth.    

Well said Koots. In the case of my dog, I think we all agreed that genetics rather than environmental damage was the cause - but this even so was new in a kennel which had always before produced good scissor bites. And if it was the food, every other pup from that and other litters seemed to have developed a normal jaw on the same diet !