Thanks Jackie! I realized about the canines as soon as I posted, hence the " duh" in my next post! :rolleyes: I guess I wasn't reading w/ my eyes open! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Has anyone ever had a dog with a wry bite or undershot jaw??

Jeannette, I've seen Greyhounds, Borzoi, Lurchers that had drastic changes in their bites until they obtained full size. Not sure about GSDs.

I have a friend with a pretty severe one- but I don't know his pedigree off hand. Just guessing from where the dog came from he is most likely west german working lines. He is old now- and he didn't pan out to do sport anyway- not because of his bite but because "he was too serious"...

We often joke that someone pulled on his nose too much as a puppy.

I call him beaker- he looks like he has a beak LOL His name is Seger- so it is close enough for him.

Next time I talk to her I will see what I can find out.

I really think it is more or less a fluke thing like cleft palate- unfortunately for you- this problem just waits to show up later.

Thanks Deanna <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hey OED Bob, did any of those breeds ever have a wry bite or undershot jaw at full maturity?
My vet made this seem like it isn't that uncommon to see, yet I'm surprised that it seems not many people on the board have experienced it.( which is a good thing for them!!)

Originally posted by Jeannette Polowski:
My vet made this seem like it isn't that uncommon to see, yet I'm surprised that it seems not many people on the board have experienced it.( which is a good thing for them!!) Today i went to vet with my 5 months old female GSD (she is german showline) because her canines did not fall out (i got worried because of this post on fridey). In the meantime i loosened up bottom left one while playing with her (new one is touching palate) and vet told me to do the same with other ones and that it will fix it self after baby tooth are gone.

Happy Easter!

Any of the really long or short faced dog breeds experience bite and dentition problems (even though the breed standard may not call it a problem).

My son, and several of our friends, have AKC belgian breeds. Every one of them holds their breath for the first two (or more years, depending on how long it takes to finish the dog). Wry bites, loss of contact and progression from over- to level to under- shot bites is common. I love watching the strange shapes their heads go through...

I don't remember the exact way the skull grows, but in long headed breeds the bites can go through some wild contortions until each maxillary quadrant is finally grown.

Dobies also have bites that can change considerably as they grow -- at least the AKC long headed kind. My ex and I have some nice bitches from american/british lines ( http://www.danika.com/udc/dog16.html Robin is retired with my ex, our others are relatives).

They had pretty little scissors bites as puppies, that became level as adults and one of them at 12(not Robin), is slightly undershot. It's not just due to tooth wear.

I kind of thought that wandering bites were the norm for long headed breeds. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

My 13 week old Terv is definitely going through some wild head changes! His upper jaw is growing faster than his lower jaw, giving him a horrendous hook nose. His breeder says that is the norm - looks really funny right now, though!

My male Lab had a really short muzzle, and an undershot jaw. He developed severe dentition problems, including crowded teeth, which needed to be removed. He eventually lost all the lower incisors due the crowding. His breeder noticed this at an early age with him - I'm thinking right around 5 months.

I guess what I'm saying is, with the Lab - he had problems right from the start, which did not self-correct. With my Terv pup, at 13 weeks I know it's still too early to tell how his bite will end up. We are hoping for the best there!

I had a litter of 4 pups that were linebred on Troll and Xento as well. One pup had an underbite at 8wks, at 10wks was a level bite. Owner hasn't said if it's corrected itself yet. But in those 2 wks, bite was already trying to correct itself.

WEll Kathy, it sounds alot like your lab parallels my pup, since the problems really became evident at that time( 5 months).
I personally don't think that the problems will self correct <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> , I really wanted to see if anyone ever had a case as bad as mine that did.

I've had dogs all of my life, but mostly mutts, until recently when I had gotten my first GSD and fulfilled a life long dream....Anyway, I never had any dental problems in a dog before and actually never gave it a thought as a possibility when I was looking for a pup. The thing I was thinking was that I should worry and hope that the hips turn out fine, but now I see that there are SO MANY things to worry about!!!

Angela, my pup seemed perfect at 8 weeks old....so this was a big surprise <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I just can't see how this could self correct, it is pretty crooked...I wish I knew how to set up a link to show the digital pics the vet took while he was under anesthesia. Anyone care to PM me how to do that??